A Mexican Mafia hit man convicted of beating and strangling a San Antonio woman because she didn't pay the gang's 10 percent tax on her illegal drug sales was set to be executed Wednesday evening.
The injection of Manuel Vasquez, 46, with a lethal dose of pentobarbital would leave Texas with enough of the powerful sedative to carry out only one more execution. At least six prisoners are scheduled to die in the coming weeks.
Texas prison officials, like those in other death penalty states, have found it increasingly difficult to find suppliers to provide drugs intended for capital punishment use.
Vasquez's lawyers filed no late appeals to delay his execution for the 1998 slaying of 51-year-old Juanita Ybarra. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case in October 2013.
Testimony at Vasquez's capital murder trial showed Ybarra had ignored the gang's "dime" tax on street drug sales in San Antonio, so Vasquez and two partners were ordered that she "had to go down."
"Most drug dealers do know," said Mary Green, an assistant Bexar County district attorney who prosecuted Vasquez. "I'm sure she was told if you're selling, you've got to pay the tax.
"I guess she didn't take it seriously."
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Fueled by a night of drinking and drugs, the hit men put on bandannas to cover their faces and socks on their hands to prevent fingerprints and barged into a room at a run-down San Antonio motel where Ybarra was staying with her boyfriend, Moses Bazan.
Bazan was beaten and stabbed but survived to identify one of the attackers, leading to the arrest of all three. He also said he saw Vasquez ask one of his companions for a phone cord and saw Vasquez strangling Ybarra.
One of the men, Johnny Joe Cruz, testified against Vasquez under a plea deal that carried a seven-year prison term. The third man charged, Oligario Lujan, is serving a 35-year sentence.
Court records show the three were carrying out orders from Mexican Mafia boss Rene Munoz, who spent years on the Texas Department of Public Safety's 10 Most Wanted List until his arrest in 2012.
Investigators also found blood of the victims and Vasquez's blood on clothing left in the trunk of a car he used, disputing Vasquez's claims he wasn't involved in the attacks.
Vasquez had a lengthy record and had been in and out of prison at least twice. One conviction involved the beating of a man who died after his body was set on fire, and he was tied to the 1992 slaying of another drug dealer who wasn't paying the gang's drug tax, which authorities say still exists.
Records also show Vasquez' father is serving a life sentence for a 1976 murder, and a brother and cousins are or have been in prison.
Next week, inmate Randall Mays is scheduled to die for a 2007 shootout where two East Texas sheriff's deputies were killed. For them to be carried out, executions set for April in the nation's most active death penalty state will require a new lethal drug supply.
Some states have started considering other options. Utah's Legislature gave final approval Tuesday night to a proposal to allow executions by firing squad if there is a drug shortage. Legislation to allow firing squads also has been introduced in Arkansas, while a Wyoming firing-squad measure failed. In Oklahoma, lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow the state to use nitrogen gas to execute inmates.
"I remain optimistic we'll be able to carry out executions according to the schedule," Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, has told The Associated Press. "Time will tell."
