Texas prison officials must provide religious accommodations to death row inmate Ramiro Gonzales in order to execute him next week, according to a temporary order from a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Charles Eskridge issued the preliminary injunction on Tuesday, ordering that Texas prison officials grant all of Gonzales’ religious accommodations.
Gonzales is scheduled to be executed on July 13 for the murder of 18-year-old Bridget Townsend. The teen disappeared from southwest Texas in 2001, and her remains were found nearly two years later.
Townsend was the girlfriend of Gonzales’ drug dealer. Gonzales kidnapped her from her home in January 2001 after stealing drugs and money, the AP reported. In his confession, Gonzales said he took Townsend to his family’s ranch in Medina County, sexually assaulted and shot her.
Investigators did not find Townsend’s remains until October 2002, when Gonzales led authorities to the location after receiving two life sentences for kidnapping and raping another woman.
Gonzales’ requested accommodations include allowing a spiritual advisor in the chamber to hold his hand during the lethal injection, pray aloud, and put her hand over his heart.
“Receiving God’s touch is a sacred concept in the Bible, and even the lepers were touched by God,” Gonzales said in court documents last month. “The specific physical contact I have requested is vitally important to me as I am making my spiritual transition into the paradise of God.”
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has since granted all of Gonzales’ requests except for allowing his spiritual adviser to hold his hand. TDCJ officials argued that allowing the ritual poses a security risk since the guest would be too close to the IV lines. Officials also said the religious figure could block the view of authorities and witnesses.
On Wednesday, TDCJ spokeswoman Amanda Hernandez said her agency “is still evaluating the court’s decision.”
The injunction came in response to a civil complaint from Gonzales that accused the TDCJ of violating his religious freedoms.
In court documents filed last month and obtained by the AP, the Texas Attorney General’s Office argued the prison system has not placed a “substantial burden on Gonzales’ religious exercise.”
“Not only will his spiritual advisor be physically present in the chamber, thereby fulfilling Gonzales’s assertion of spiritual significance, she will also be intimately close in proximity to Gonzales and maintain physical contact on his chest over his heart,” they said.
Gonzales’ attorneys also asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for a stay of execution on Tuesday. Last week they asked Governor Greg Abbott to delay his lethal injection by 30 days so Gonzales could donate his kidney, as reported by The Dallas Express.
