Javier CRUZ

Cruz, 41, gave a lengthy gasp moments before he was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., 7 minutes after a lethal dose of chemicals began flowing into his veins.

He declined to give a last statement while strapped to a gurney in the death chamber of the Walls Unit, but earlier wrote a brief statement that read: "Thank you for setting me free. God bless you all. I love you Miguel. Take care of my angel Leslie."

It was signed, "Love, Javier Cruz."

The names referred to his brother, Miguel Cruz, and his daughter, Leslie.

Miguel Cruz and the condemned man's ex-wife, Sylvia Liendo, were among 5 people who witnessed the execution at Javier Cruz's request. They declined to speak to reporters.

While inside the observation room, Miguel Cruz comforted a crying Liendo with gentle pats on her back.

2 sons of James Michael Ryan, 1 of Cruz's victims, were among those witnessing the execution in a separate chamber. No witnesses attended on behalf of the other victim, Louis Menard Neal.

"This is not closure to an event, this is a result of the criminal justice system. We still have to daily deal with what happened to us," said Daniel Ryan of Tampa, Fla.

"The system worked for us. We're fortunate it worked as fast as it did," added James Ryan of Austin, the other son. "(But) you don't get a big charge of satisfaction...there's no pleasure in this."

Cruz was on death row for about 5 1/2 years, a length of time nearly 4 years shorter than average for death row inmates.

He pursued all appeals available to him, but recent changes in death penalty appeals procedures have quickened the process. The US Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch appeal Tuesday.

Earlier Thursday, Cruz, who grew up in Laredo, wrote letters and visited with his family for about 3 hours before consuming his last meal.

Cruz was convicted of capital murder in October 1992 for strangling Neal and Ryan in separate 1991 incidents.

Neal, 71, was slain June 7, 1991, in his 1-room, 6th floor apartment. His decomposing body, bound and gagged, was found hanging from a bathroom fixture 5 days later. He had been beaten with a hammer and strangled with a bathrobe belt.

In a plea agreement, Antonio Omero Ovalle, Cruz's accomplice, agreed to testify against Cruz in exchange for 2 concurrent life sentences in both cases.

According to court records, the 3 men had been listening to music and drinking vodka when Cruz asked Neal for money. When Neal refused, Cruz began beating him.

After hanging Neal from the shower railing, Cruz and Ovalle took a television, a radio, some suits and a gym bag.

Ryan, 69, was strangled in his home in Olmos Park on July 14, 1991. His nude body was found in his bed a day later. His Cadillac and television had been stolen.

Ovalle told police Cruz stole the items to buy heroin. Robert McClure, the Bexar County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Cruz, recalled describing him a "a creature who walks the earth in human form".

"What stands out in my mind is that he was a multiple killer and that he did it manually," McClure said.

Lawyer Bill Berchelmann, who defended Cruz at the trial, said Cruz himself was a victim because he grew up with an abusive father. That, Berchelmann said, fueled Cruz's drug-induced violent behavior.

"It's a tragedy all the way around. But it's a classic case of how drugs can turn somebody into something they otherwise wouldn't be," Berchelmann said. "When he wasn't on the drugs, he was really a civil person."

Fuentes: Associated Press & Rick Halperin

Javier Cruz, 41 - 98-10-1 - Texas

In Huntsville, with a reassuring nod to his brother and ex-wife, Javier Cruz was put to death Thursday, 7 years after he strangled 2 elderly Bexar County men and robbed them to support his heroin habit.

Cruz, 41, gave a lengthy gasp moments before he was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., 7 minutes after a lethal dose of chemicals began flowing into his veins.

He declined to give a last statement while strapped to a gurney in the death chamber of the Walls Unit, but earlier wrote a brief statement that read: "Thank you for setting me free. God bless you all. I love you Miguel. Take care of my angel Leslie."

It was signed, "Love, Javier Cruz."

The names referred to his brother, Miguel Cruz, and his daughter, Leslie.

Miguel Cruz and the condemned man's ex-wife, Sylvia Liendo, were among 5 people who witnessed the execution at Javier Cruz's request. They declined to speak to reporters.

While inside the observation room, Miguel Cruz comforted a crying Liendo with gentle pats on her back.

2 sons of James Michael Ryan, 1 of Cruz's victims, were among those witnessing the execution in a separate chamber. No witnesses attended on behalf of the other victim, Louis Menard Neal.

"This is not closure to an event, this is a result of the criminal justice system. We still have to daily deal with what happened to us," said Daniel Ryan of Tampa, Fla.

"The system worked for us. We're fortunate it worked as fast as it did," added James Ryan of Austin, the other son. "(But) you don't get a big charge of satisfaction...there's no pleasure in this."

Cruz was on death for about 5 1/2 years, a length of time nearly 4 years shorter than average for death row inmates.

He pursued all appeals available to him, but recent changes in death penalty appeals procedures have quickened the process. The US Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch appeal Tuesday.

Earlier Thursday, Cruz, who grew up in Laredo, wrote letters and visited with his family for about 3 hours before consuming his last meal.

Cruz wa sconvicted of capital murder in October 1992 for strangling Neal and Ryan in separate 1991 incidents.

Neal, 71, was slain June 7, 1991, in his 1-room, 6th floor apartment. His decomposing body, bound and gagged, was found hanging from a bathroom fixture 5 days later. He had been beaten with a hammer and strangled with a bathrobe belt.

In a plea agreement, Antonio Omero Ovalle, Cruz's accomplice, agreed to testify against Cruz in exchange for 2 concurrent life sentences in both cases.

According to court records, the 3 men had been listening to music and drinking vodka when Cruz asked Neal for money. When Neal refused, Cruz began beating him.

After hanging Neal from the shower railing, Cruz and Ovalle took a television, a radio, some suits and a gym bag.

Ryan, 69, was strangled in his home in Olmos Park on July 14, 1991. His nude body was found in his bed a day later. His Cadillac and television had been stolen.

Ovalle told police Cruz stole the items to buy heroin. Robert McClure, the Bexar County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Cruz, recalled describing him a "a creature who walks the earth in human form," during the 1992 trial.

"What stands out in my mind is that he was a multiple killer and that he did it manually," McClure said.

Lawyer Bill Berchelmann, who defended Cruz at the trial, said Cruz himself was a victim because he grew up with an abusive father. That, Berchelmann said, fueled Cruz's drug-induced violent behavior.

"It's a tragedy all the way around. But it's a classic case of how drugs can turn somebody into something they otherwise wouldn't be," Berchelmann said. "When he wasn't on the drugs, he was really a civil person."

Cruz becomes the 15th condemned inmate to be executed this year in Texas, and the 159th overall since Texas resumed capital punishment on Dec. 7, 1982. Cruz becomes the 4th condemned inmate from Bexar County (San Antonio) to be executed this year.

(sources: Associated Press and Rick Halperin)

  

Javier Cruz was convicted of murdering James Ryan and Louis Neal. Both murders occurred in San Antonio, Texas.

On June 7, 1991, Cruz and Antonio Ovalle were hanging out under the Nolan Street Bridge in San Antonio when they were approached by seventy-one-year-old Louis Neal. After talking with Neal for a short time, Cruz asked Ovalle if he wanted to go with him to a friend's house to borrow some money. Cruz and Ovalle then walked with Neal, who was bowlegged and had trouble walking, back to a city housing complex for disabled and senior citizens.

Once they arrived at the apartments, Cruz, Ovalle, and Neal took the elevator up to Neal's sixth floor apartment. The three men began listening to music until Neal left and returned with a bottle of vodka. After Neal returned, Cruz repeatedly asked him to borrow some money. When Neal insisted that he had no money, Cruz began hitting him in the face and asking him where is the money. Neal repeated that he had no money and begged Cruz not to hit him anymore.

Cruz then went through Neal's pockets and drawers before he began tying Neal up. Just before Cruz gagged him with a sock, Neal pleaded with Cruz not to kill him. At that point, Ovalle told Cruz that they should leave, but Cruz stated that they should search Neal's apartment, because Cruz was sure that Neal had some money. Cruz dragged Neal into the bathroom where he tied him to the shower railing by the neck and hanged him. Ovalle and Cruz then grabbed a television, a radio, some suits, and a black gym bag and left Neal's apartment.

Prior to leaving the apartment, Cruz wiped down the entire apartment in an attempt to eliminate any fingerprints. After they left, Cruz told Ovalle that he had killed Neal because Neal knew who he was. Ovalle then returned to the bridge and Cruz went to sell the things they had stolen. Ovalle's fingerprints were identified on an ashtray found in Neal's apartment.

On Sunday morning, July 14, 1991, Oscar Garza met Cruz at a house often used as a drug connection. Cruz opened the trunk of a brown Cadillac and showed some guns that he wanted to sell, including a .22 caliber rifle. Cruz and Garza subsequently left the house in Garza's black truck and drove to Our Lady of the Lake Park, where they met Ovalle and Pam Dover.

Ovalle and Dover had gone to the park on Sunday morning to drink beer after spending Saturday night at the home of Ovalle's father. Cruz told Ovalle that he had some tires from a Cadillac to sell. Ovalle then left with Cruz and Garza in Garza's black truck. The three men drove to where Cruz had left the Cadillac and removed the wheels and the floormats. They took the wheels and the floormats to a friend's house and sold them.

After receiving the money for the stolen parts, Cruz, Ovalle, and Garza went to a house next door and bought some heroin. Cruz and Garza then dropped Ovalle off back at the park, where Ovalle injected the heroin. Later, Garza and Cruz returned to the park and met Ovalle and Dover. Cruz called Ovalle over to talk to him and told him that he had a bunch of stuff at a house and he had killed the man there. Cruz told Ovalle, "Yeah, I choked the motherf...er. He didn't want to die, man, he was putting up one hell of a fight." Cruz, Garza, Ovalle, and Dover then got into Garza's truck, with Garza driving, Cruz in the front seat, and Ovalle and Dover in the back.

They first stopped for some beer and next, at a park, where Dover got out of the truck to use the bathroom. As Dover was coming out of the bathroom, Cruz was drawing a map of the house and explaining to Ovalle where everything was in the house. Garza then drove the truck to James Ryan's house with Cruz giving him directions on how to get there. Once they reached the house, Ovalle and Dover got out of the truck and went in the back door of Ryan's house, while Garza and Cruz drove around the block. Ovalle and Dover entered Ryan's house through the back door. Dover sat down on a couch while Ovalle walked through the house grabbing a microwave, a bottle of liquor, and other items.

Dover heard a dog barking, so she walked down the hallway, opened Ryan's bedroom door, and saw Ryan's body lying on the bed. Ovalle was placing the microwave and other items by the back door when he heard Dover scream. Ovalle walked down the hall and saw Dover standing by the open bedroom door with her mouth open and Ryan's body lying on the bed. Ovalle and Dover left the house and jumped in the back of Garza's truck. As they were leaving, a police car drove past the truck. Garza dropped off Ovalle and Dover and they walked home.

A few days later, Cruz asked Ovalle where Dover was because he didn't trust her and wanted to "dismiss" her. Dover fled to Oklahoma, and in September of 1991, she gave a statement to San Antonio police officers. Ovalle later saw Cruz in court and Cruz told him that someone was snitching on them. Cruz also told Ovalle that he was not going to let them kill him. Fingerprints taken from a plastic grocery bag and a box of Chivas Regal found in Ryan's house matched those of Cruz. Ovalle's prints matched those found on a clock radio and a plastic silverware container that belonged to Ryan.

On August 14, 1991, Olmos Park police received a call from Crime Stoppers that a man had seen Ovalle in Ryan's Cadillac. The police talked to Ovalle, who revealed to them where he had sold the tires and the floormats. The buyer of the parts identified Cruz as one of the men who had sold them to her. The police later talked to Pam Dover, who identified Cruz as the man responsible for the two murders.

Dover and Ovalle also related that Cruz told them that he was dating homosexual men in order to support his heroin habit, and that sometimes he robbed them and sometimes he had sex with them in exchange for money to buy heroin. Neal and Ryan were both homosexuals. An autopsy revealed that Neal had been dead for between two and ten days when he was found. This finding was consistent with Neal being murdered on June 7, 1991, and the autopsy being performed on June 13.

Blood found on Neal's shirt and on his floor was consistent with Cruz striking Neal on the face and dragging him into the bathroom. Neal's hands were tied behind his back with a burgundy sock, a red sock was stuffed in his mouth, and a ligature was tied tightly around his neck. The cause of death was asphyxiation by hanging. Ryan had been dead for approximately twenty-four hours before he was brought into the morgue. Ryan almost certainly died of manual strangulation. Both Neal and Ryan were extremely intoxicated at the time of their deaths.