Texas death row inmate files lawsuit to allow pastor to touch him as he dies

Kailey E. Hunt, Corpus Christi Caller Times
·2 min read

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Corpus Christi man set to be executed next month has filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after being denied his request to have his pastor lay his hands on him as he dies.

John Henry Ramirez alleges in the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas that the conditions of his scheduled lethal injection execution set forth by the TDCJ violate his First Amendment rights.

Ramirez's request for the "presence of his spiritual advisor in the execution chamber before and during his execution," as well as his request "that his spiritual advisor lay his hands upon him at the time of his death" in accordance with his Christian religious beliefs, were denied by the TDCJ, according to the lawsuit. Ramirez claims the denial of those requests violates his rights under the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person's Act of 2000.

Ramirez, 37, was sentenced to death by the state in 2008 for the fatal stabbing of 45-year-old Pablo Castro, a local convenience store clerk, in 2004.

Ramirez was a 20-year-old kitchen worker when he and two women confronted Castro outside a Times Market in Corpus Christi in search of money to buy drugs.

According to an earlier Caller-Times article, Ramirez beat and kicked Castro and stabbed him 29 times with a 6-inch serrated knife. The three left with $1.25.

The women, Christina Chavez and Angela Rodriguez, were arrested a short time later and sentenced to prison. Ramirez was arrested at the Texas-Mexico border in February 2008.

In February 2017, Ramirez's execution by lethal injection was stayed by a federal judge.

In 2020, a new execution date was set for Ramirez. However, that execution was also stayed by a state district judge after attorneys raised concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.

Ramirez is currently set to be executed by lethal injection on Sept. 8 at the Walls Unit in Huntsville.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Texas death row inmate files suit for pastor to touch him at execution