Girl killer executed in Texas

The US state of Texas yesterday executed a man convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a seven-year-old girl in 1999 after her mother had spurned his advances, prison authorities said.

Guadalupe Esparza, a 46-year-old with a prior conviction for sexual assault, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 6.21 p.m. (0021 GMT Thursday), the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement.

The battered body of Alyssa Vasquez, the daughter of a woman Mr Esparza had met at a bar but who had rejected him, was found in a vacant lot near her home. Mr Esparza’s semen was found on the corpse of the girl, who was strangled.

“To the family of Alyssa Vasquez, I hope you will find peace in your heart. My sympathy goes out to you. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me. I don’t know why all of this happened,” Mr Esparza said in his last statement.

The victim’s mother, brother and other relatives were among those who witnessed the execution.

Mr Esparza was given the death penalty in 2001. His lawyers had sought to stay the execution by arguing their client was mentally impaired and ineligible to be put to death.

But a federal appeals court rejected the move, saying “the evidence indicates that Esparza was not actually mentally retarded” at the time of the crime.

It was the third execution this week in the United States. A fourth one is scheduled to take place today in Idaho.

Mr Esparza was the 42nd inmate to be put to death this year nationwide, and the 13th in Texas, which alone performs about a third of US executions.