Convict in 'Good Samaritan' slaying executed
Fuentes is 23rd Texas prisoner to be executed this year
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A convict was executed Wednesday night for fatally shooting a man who tried to stop a robber in a convenience store holdup 10 years ago.
Anthony Fuentes, 30, denied he was responsible for killing Robert Tate, 28, who became known as a good Samaritan for his attempt to intervene in the robbery. He acknowledged he was with three others involved in the heist.
"Sorry that I have to put my family through this," he said. Among the witnesses were his grandfather and two sisters, along with two of Tate's brothers. "To everybody else, the truth will be known.
"It is wrong for the prosecutors to lie and make witnesses say what they need them to say. The truth has always been there. I just hope everybody has their peace. Today I get mine."
He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m.
Fuentes was the 23rd Texas prisoner to receive lethal injection this year. Another convict is set for execution Thursday.
The Supreme Court last month rejected a request to review his case. In late appeals seeking to stop the execution, his lawyers argued prosecutors knowingly allowed false testimony against Fuentes and suppressed evidence.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the appeal Wednesday morning.
A request for a stay of execution was rejected by the Supreme Court about 20 minutes before Fuentes was scheduled to die.
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