Lawyers sue to halt Mexican citizen's execution in Texas
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Attorneys for a Mexican citizen on death row in Texas for the abduction and slaying of his 16-year-old cousin more than two decades ago looked to the U.S. Supreme Court and federal appeals courts to halt his execution Wednesday, arguing that state officials violated his rights by refusing to release evidence so it can undergo new DNA testing.
Ruben Ramirez Cardenas was scheduled for lethal injection Wednesday evening for the February 1997 killing of Mayra Laguna in the Rio Grande Valley in far South Texas.
The high school student was snatched from a bedroom she shared with a younger sister at her family's public housing apartment in McAllen and her body was found later in a canal near a lake.