texas man executed for 10-month-old boy's death - Polidicks

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A convicted child sex offender was executed Wednesday for the beating death of a 10-month-old boy he was baby-sitting at a home in Dallas. Jesse Joe Hernandez smiled and laughed at times before receiving a lethal injection for the slaying of Karlos Borja 11 years ago. "God bless everybody. Continue to walk with God," the 47-year-old Hernandez said. Moments later, he shouted "Go Cowboys!" in honor of his favorite football team. As the drugs took effect, the condemned man repeated his appreciation for those he knew who had gathered to witness the execution. "Love y'all, man," Hernandez said. "... Thank you. I can feel it, taste it. It's not bad." He took about 10 deep breaths, which grew progressively weaker until he was no longer moving. Ten minutes later, at 6:18 p.m. CDT, he was pronounced dead. No one related to the slain child attended the execution, the fourth this year in Texas. It was carried out about two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied last-ditch appeals for Hernandez. Ten-month-old Karlos was taken to a Dallas hospital in April 2001 with a skull fracture and bruises to his head, thigh and abdomen. A week later, he was taken off life support and died. His 4-year-old sister had similar beating injuries to her head, ears and eyes but survived. Hernandez's DNA was found in Karlos' blood on a pillowcase and on the child's clothing. The boy's sister drew stick figures for detectives to help describe her attack. Hernandez denied beating the children but later told a detective he may have hit the boy with a flashlight. He did not include the flashlight reference in a written confession in which he said he "just exploded" and struck them with the back of his hand. "They were being very bad by crying a lot for nothing," Hernandez wrote. Howard Blackmon, the former assistant district attorney in Dallas County who prosecuted Hernandez, recalled seeing photos of the badly bruised boy connected to tubes while in the hospital and his sister's red, bruised forehead. "I don't think Hernandez admitted to any intent to kill," he said. "He did admit to striking." Jurors saw those images and also learned that Hernandez had a previous conviction for molesting a child and drug possession, had beat his ex-wife with a baseball bat, burned a girlfriend's child with cigarettes and was found with a shank while locked up in jail. Court records showed Hernandez and his wife of six years had been living with the two children and their 22-year-old mother about three days in a Dallas house that had no running water. Hernandez and his wife were to watch the children while their mother was working as a waitress. On April 11, 2001, Hernandez's wife left to run some errands. When she returned he told her the kids were sleeping and not to disturb them. Hours later, after their mother returned from work, the girl complained her head was hurting and the mother took her to a hospital. While they were gone, Hernandez's wife checked on Karlos, discovered his injuries and called paramedics. Police were then notified. In trying to stop the execution, Hernandez's attorneys unsuccessfully argued that his trial lawyers were deficient because they didn't pursue evidence that the boy was prematurely removed from life support and had toxic levels of the drug pentobarbital in his blood. The same barbiturate is used in the execution process in Texas. The attorneys also claimed an initial appeals lawyer did not investigate the case beyond the trial record and that failure cost Hernandez his lone opportunity to raise substantive legal claims following his conviction. Brad Levenson, director of the Texas Office of Capital Writs, said a more thorough investigation could have shown Hernandez wasn't responsible for the child's death. The Texas attorney general's office opposed any delay, questioning whether the high court even had jurisdiction in the case because constitutional claims weren't raised earlier in state courts. At least six other condemned Texas inmates have execution dates scheduled for the coming months. [url]http://news.yahoo.com/texas-man-executed-10-month-old-boys-death-232400115.html[/url] Good riddance.

I wonder what it feels like to be strapped in while a dozen faces watch you drift off to hell.

Why we even give scum like this the satisfaction of a quick death is beyond me. Capital punishment is a waste of money and effort. Let them spend life in prison.

So the guy has kids, but strikes them down, causing blood? Fucking moron, those kids are going to be scarred for life, and their mother is going to have regrets because of the man.. Not a good scene.. and to think.. shit like this happens nearly every day.

[QUOTE=Disotrtion;35337413]Why we even give scum like this the satisfaction of a quick death is beyond me. Capital punishment is a waste of money and effort. Let them spend life in prison.[/QUOTE] Do you realize how much more money keeping a prisoner alive requires? An absurd amount.

[QUOTE=SatansSin;35337418]So the guy has kids, but strikes them down, causing blood? Fucking moron, those kids are going to be scarred for life, and their mother is going to have regrets because of the man.. Not a good scene.. and to think.. shit like this happens nearly every day.[/QUOTE] Did you not read the article? He brutally beat a baby to death.

[QUOTE=Smoot;35337426]Do you realize how much more money keeping a prisoner alive requires? An absurd amount.[/QUOTE] yeah forget the fact that life imprisonment solves absolutely nothing and is inhumane, I don't want my tax dollars going to criminals!!

[QUOTE=Smoot;35337426]Do you realize how much more money keeping a prisoner alive requires? An absurd amount.[/QUOTE] I believe it actually cost more to execute a prisoner than it does to keep one alive for their whole life. I could be wrong though.

[QUOTE=Smoot;35337426]Do you realize how much more money keeping a prisoner alive requires? An absurd amount.[/QUOTE] Do you realize the death penalty costs more than life without parole? [url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29552692/[/url]

[QUOTE=Smoot;35337426]Do you realize how much more money keeping a prisoner alive requires? An absurd amount.[/QUOTE] no wait, it's the other way around. [url]http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty[/url] [quote] “The additional cost of confining an inmate to death row, as compared to the maximum security prisons where those sentenced to life without possibility of parole ordinarily serve their sentences, is $90,000 per year per inmate. With California’s current death row population of 670, that accounts for $63.3 million annually.”[/quote]

[QUOTE=thisispain;35337509]no wait, it's the other way around. [url]http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty[/url][/QUOTE] I'm curious what the extra expenses are. I was always under the impression that "death row" was just some ward in the state super-max along with all the other life without parole guys. That your stay at said unpleasant place was the same as the rest of them except you die later on rather than rot away in a cell.

11 years to put this guy down? I thought you could buy guns like Chicken McNuggets down in Texas.

[QUOTE=oakman26;35337534]Doesnt it cost more to keep, bed, feed, entertain, and control an inmate?[/QUOTE] The execution it self cost horrible amounts of money because it has to look pretty.

[QUOTE=Hysteric;35337570]11 years to put this guy down? I thought you could buy guns like Chicken McNuggets down in Texas.[/QUOTE] To play along with your generalizations I'm sure we would hang someone before we wasted ammo on them. Come to think of it, Texas has never used a firing squad.

fucker should get the death penalty oh wait

[QUOTE=OvB;35337557]I'm curious what the extra expenses are. I was always under the impression that "death row" was just some ward in the state super-max along with all the other life without parole guys. That your stay at said unpleasant place was the same as the rest of them except you die later on rather than rot away in a cell.[/QUOTE] My guess would be all the appeals and high court and supreme court hearings and the chemicals are hardly cheap.

[QUOTE=tdnoob;35337787]My guess would be all the appeals and high court and supreme court hearings and the chemicals are hardly cheap.[/QUOTE] The chemicals are only a few hundred dollars, but court costs alone add up in the millions. EDIT: The chemicals are basically, potassium chloride to depolarize the muscle cells in the heart to cause it to stop beating, heavy duty sedatives given in a high enough dose to cause respiratory failure, and a heavy painkiller if i remember.

not gonna sugar coat myself to look like the good guy, this fucker deserved it

One of the rare cases where I think it was fine to give him the death penalty. If you take any innocent life on purpose, especially a young child's life when they have so much potential ahead of them, you don't deserve yours in my eyes.

[QUOTE=Smoot;35337426]Do you realize how much more money keeping a prisoner alive requires? An absurd amount.[/QUOTE] you have this backwards. executions cost more. [editline]28th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=BusterBluth;35337573]The execution it self cost horrible amounts of money because it has to look pretty.[/QUOTE] no it's because of appeals processes. if you want executions to be cheaper then you'll have to learn to sleep at night knowing that even more innocent people are being executed as a result.

[QUOTE=BusterBluth;35337573]The execution it self cost horrible amounts of money because it has to look pretty.[/QUOTE] The majority of those costs are about keeping the inmate alive on death row. I'm not sure why death row inmates cost more other than the execution process but apparently they do.

[QUOTE=Meller Yeller;35338051]The majority of those costs are about keeping the inmate alive on death row. I'm not sure why death row inmates cost more other than the execution process but apparently they do.[/QUOTE] no, it's not. again, it's about court fees for all of the appeals that death row inmates are granted.

[QUOTE=SigmaLambda;35338061]no, it's not. again, it's about court fees for all of the appeals that death row inmates are granted.[/QUOTE] Do you not read the sources you get your information from? The majority of the higher costs are from confining the prisoner to death row. If you just up and executed someone the very same day, it would be much cheaper than housing a prisoner even with court fees and whatnot (not that it should or would happen)

Good.

[QUOTE=Smoot;35337426]Do you realize how much more money keeping a prisoner alive requires? An absurd amount.[/QUOTE] Putting em on death row costs more money.

[QUOTE=Meller Yeller;35338083]Do you not read the sources you get your information from? The majority of the higher costs are from confining the prisoner to death row.[/QUOTE] if by "the majority" you mean "not the majority" then you're totally right and if by "you're wrong, sigmalambda" you actually mean "you're totally right, sigmalambda" then you're double-right. [url]http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42[/url] [url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29552692/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/execute-or-not-question-cost/[/url] not only is putting people on death row more expensive, but trials in which the death penalty is even an option are more expensive as well.

[QUOTE=Hysteric;35337570]11 years to put this guy down? I thought you could buy guns like Chicken McNuggets down in Texas.[/QUOTE] It takes so long simply because the court makes damn sure they are executing a guilty man. Also, prisoners can usually appeal decisions, so that just adds years to the process. I don't think there is some sort of minimum amount of time before a person can be executed, but the courts, again, really like making sure the sentence is appropriate and for a guilty person. It seems weird and almost counterproductive, but once you realize that the possibility of sentencing the wrong person is a very real possibility, it kind of pays to take so long.

[QUOTE=zombini;35337815]The chemicals are only a few hundred dollars, but court costs alone add up in the millions. EDIT: The chemicals are basically, potassium chloride to depolarize the muscle cells in the heart to cause it to stop beating, heavy duty sedatives given in a high enough dose to cause respiratory failure, and a heavy painkiller if i remember.[/QUOTE] except for the fact that the only place to obtain said chemicals is in the EU and the EU banned exporting them to the US

[QUOTE=LordCrypto;35338916]except for the fact that the only place to obtain said chemicals is in the EU and the EU banned exporting them to the US[/QUOTE] ???... I'm 99.9% sure the US has and can produce those chemicals. Why wouldn't they?