EXECUTION 2023

EXECUTION CARRIED OUT TEXAS DAVID RENTERIA 16/11/2023, 22 years after child abduction, killing

HUNTSVILLE, Texas − David Santiago Renteria spoke his last words Thursday night, strapped to a gurney at the Huntsville Unit, minutes before being executed in the 2001 abduction and killing of 5-year-old Alexandra Flores.

Renteria, 53, was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital Thursday, Nov. 16, on a dark, cold and rainy evening at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s prison. His time of death was 7:11 p.m. CST, prison officials said.

With his family and Alexandra’s family present, Renteria gave his final statements.

Killer’s final words

Renteria prayed before singing a hymn in English and another in Spanish after witnesses, including relatives of his victim, entered the death chamber and watched through a window a few feet from him during his execution.

Looking at his victim’s relatives, Renteria also said: “There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about the fateful events of that day and what transpired.

“There are no words to describe what you’re going through, and I understand that.”

He told his sister and a friend, watching through another window, that he was “good… strong”.

“I love you all, I truly do. I’ll see you in the next life,” Renteria added.

He then began reciting The Lord’s Prayer as the drugs began flowing. “Our father, who art in heaven” is as far as he got.

“I taste it,” he said of the drug, before mumbling something and all movement stopped.

The Renteria family watched the execution from a different room from Alexandra’s family. Glass windows separated the witnesses from Renteria.

This photo released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate David Renteria. Renteria, a Texas inmate convicted of strangling a 5-year-old girl taken from an El Paso store and then burning her body nearly 22 years ago is facing execution. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)

Alexandra’s sister, Sandra Frausto, and brother, Ignacio Frausto, attended the execution.

Renteria’s sister Cecilia Esparza and a friend also were present.

Esparza collapsed when she walked into the viewing room, and prison officials brought her a chair and she cried. Renteria told his sister through the glass, “I love you.”

Last days on Texas death row for one of El Paso’s most notorious killers

Renteria spent his final days meeting with visitors, laying in bed, watching TV through a cell door and sleeping, a Death Watch report states. The times listed below are in Central time zone.

On his execution day, starting at 12:15 a.m., he sat on his bed and began writing. The report does not state what he wrote.

He began packing up his property about 2:30 a.m., before sitting on the floor and reading a book around 4 a.m., the report states. He then continued packing up his property and cleaning the floor between 5 to 7:30 a.m.

Renteria was allowed to talk to fellow inmates at 7:30 a.m., before meeting with visitors from 8 to 11:30 a.m., the death watch states.

He was then transferred from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, to the Huntsville Unit to await his execution.

A victim of Renteria’s from a different criminal incident and her mother also attended the execution. Renteria was previously convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for indecency with a child in El Paso.

The execution was also attended by 14 state law enforcement and governmental officials.

Renteria grew up in the Lower Valley and was a tribal member of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, according to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

While in prison, he rededicated himself to his Roman Catholic faith, the coalition reported.

Renteria’s execution ends a nearly 22-year legal battle waged in what has been described as one of the most heinous crimes committed in El Paso.

“I’ve always been a supporter of the death penalty and from a law enforcement perspective, I just think some people are too dangerous to be in our society and that is certainly one individual who I think that that the death penalty is absolutely appropriate,” El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles said. “It’s a long time coming. I think it’s been what? Twenty-one years. I was actually the assistant (El Paso police) chief, (Carlos) Leon was the chief when that horrific crime occurred. It was really tough on everybody. I can’t even imagine what that family went through and what they’re still going through today.

“Hopefully, this will give them a little bit of relief to help them in their recovery that is going to take the rest of their lives, Wiles said. “I can’t even imagine losing my 5-year-old daughter to such a horrific crime.”

Justice served for Alexandra Flores in 2001 abduction nearly 22 years later

Renteria’s execution came two days before the 22nd anniversary of the day he kidnapped 5-year-old Alexandra Flores from an El Paso Walmart, strangled her to death and then burned her body. It also comes six days before his 54th birthday.

Renteria abducted Alexandra Nov. 18, 2001, as she was Christmas shopping with her parents at an El Paso Lower Valley Walmart.

Her parents realized she was missing and searched the store but could not find her. Alexandra was seen on store surveillance video exiting the store about 5:15 p.m. with Renteria.

Alexandra’s body was found about 7:10 a.m. the next day in an alley 16 miles (25km) away.. She was naked and partially burned in a carport near Downtown El Paso.

An autopsy revealed Alexandra was strangled to death and then set ablaze, court documents state. Investigators later revealed there were no signs of sexual assault.

A palm print on a plastic bag found over Alexandra’s head was determined to be from Renteria, court documents state.

El Paso Police Department investigators discovered that a vehicle registered to Renteria was at 9441 Alameda Ave. at the time and date of Alexandra’s disappearance. Renteria also told police he was at the location at the time and date of her disappearance, court documents state.

Renteria went to trial for the death of Alexandra in September 2003. He claimed in his trial that Barrio Azteca gang members forced him to kidnap the girl and someone else was the person who killed her, court records show.

A jury convicted him of capital murder and he was sentenced to death.

Appeals court justices heard the case in 2006 and upheld the conviction. However, the justices ordered a new sentencing phase of the trial.

The resentencing was ordered because of “exclusion of evidence showing the defendant’s remorse violated due process by preventing defendant from rebutting the State’s case when the State left jury with false impression and emphasized it,” the justices wrote in their opinion.

A May 15, 2008, El Paso Times article reporting David Santiago Renteria was given the death penalty during his resentencing hearing.

A May 15, 2008, El Paso Times article reporting David Santiago Renteria was given the death penalty during his resentencing hearing. 

KTSM 9 NEWS

DAVID SANTIAGO RENTERIA v. THE STATE OF TEXAS (Original)

El Paso Sheriff Deputy Peter Herrera’s family speaks after death penalty sentence

EXECUTION CARRIED OUT ALABAMA Casey McWhorte 11/16/2023

Casey A. McWhorter, sentenced for murder on May 13, 1994

Casey McWhorter (ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS)

An Alabama man who shot and killed his friend’s father in a premeditated robbery in 1993 has been put to death, killed by lethal injection on Thursday — over 30 years after the initial crime. Before he died, however, he had a dire message for other youth who were going through a tough mental time like he was.

Casey McWhorter was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death after slaughtering 34-year-old Edward Lee Williams, 34, at the age of 18. He and two other teens, Williams’ 15-year-old son, conspired to steal money from his home and kill him. He went to the home to commit the crime but didn’t have the intention of actually following through with the killing, he said in a recent interview.

But the situation escalated after the older Williams came home during the robbery and surprised the teens. He said they had been in the home grabbing various items when he came in and began fighting with his son over the gun he had. That’s when McWhorter came out of one of the back rooms. Williams immediately noticed him and started swinging at him, and so he did the only thing he could think to do — he shot the other gun that was in his hand at that point, and it hit Williams in the abdomen despite McWhorter saying he had aimed for the legs.

Casey A. McWhorter spent most of his adult life on Alabama’s death row. Thursday night he died there.

The state of Alabama executed McWhorter, 49, by lethal injection in the death chamber of the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He was convicted of capital murder in 1994 in connection with a 1993 Marshall County robbery and homicide. He went to death row when he was 19. He had been 18 three months earlier, when the murder was committed.

The drapes of the media witness room opened at 6:30 p.m. McWhorter was lying in a bed partially covered by a tightly drawn white sheet. His head and torso were slightly elevated. He was lying cruciform, with both arms facing palm up. Restraints for his body were on top of the sheet. Two IV lines came from a small window in the back wall of the death chamber. One appeared to enter his right arm near the inside of his elbow, and the other appeared to enter his left arm at the inside of his left elbow.

Warden Terry Raybon read the death warrant and governor’s order of execution. McWhorter was given the opportunity to say last words.

His final words were: “I would like to say I love my mother and family. I would like to say to the victim’s family I’m sorry. I hope you found peace.” He then also took a jab at his executioner, the prison warden, who faced many accusations of domestic violence accusations decades ago, calling him a “habitual abuser of women.””

At 6:33 p.m. McWhorter closed his eyes. A minute later he shifted his legs, clenched his fists and moved his fingers.

He was approached by his spiritual advisor.

At 6:35 p.m. he was moving his fingers. And at 6:37 p.m. he raised his head, made a yawning motion, appeared to gasp and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. At 6:39 p.m. he appeared to stop breathing.

His spiritual advisor made the sign of the cross.

A few minutes after a corrections officer inside the death chamber bent to McWhorter’s ear and loudly called his name, the officer then touched his face and pinched the inside of his right arm.

At 6:47 p.m. the drapes to the media witness room were drawn.

McWhorter’s official time of death was given as 6:56 p.m.

McWhorter’s final meal consisted of Turtles candy, and he had visits with his mother, stepdad and a spiritual advisor, a prison spokesperson said. He also spoke with his attorney and his friends by phone. His death was the second execution in Alabama this year.

After the execution, a news conference was held inside the media center.

It took two “sticks” to access McWhorter’s veins, one to his right arm and one to his left arm, said John Hamm, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections. He read a lengthy letter from April Williams, the daughter of Edward Lee Williams, the victim of the homicide.

She was 16 when her father was murdered.

“My Dad was only 33 years old. He should still be here,” the letter read, in part. “He should be ready to retire.”

Gilbert “Bert” Williams, Edward Lee Williams’ brother, addressed the media.

“It took 30 years for this to occur. It’s a kind of unfortunate that we had to wait this long, but justice has been served,” he said.

Gilbert Williams compared McWhorter’s execution to “…the peaceful death to a murderous dog.”

There are three witness rooms in the death chamber, which is attached to the building that houses death row. One witness room is for the victim’s family, one is for the media and the inmate‘s witnesses, and one is for state officials. McWhorter had no witnesses.