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TEXAS (USA): ROBERT GARZA EXECUTED
September 19, 2013: Robert Garza, 30, Hispanic, was executed in Texas for his involvement in a gang ambush where 4 women were gunned down in September 2002.
Prosecutors said Garza orchestrated the gang's plan to silence the women, who Garza thought had witnessed another gang crime.
Evidence later would show the women were killed by mistake.
The gang member in the other crime never went to trial because he accepted a plea deal and prison term. Garza was convicted under Texas' law of parties, which makes a non-triggerman equally culpable.
Killed were Maria De La Luz Bazaldua Cobbarubias, Dantizene Lizeth Vasquez Beltran, Celina Linares Sanchez and Lourdes Yesenia Araujo Torres. 2 others survived.
Garza becomes the 12 inmate to be put to death this year in Texas, the 504th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982, the 25th inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1345th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, 19/09/2013)
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