TEXAS (USA): MIGUEL PAREDES EXECUTED

Miguel Paredes, 32, Hispanic, was executed in Texas.
Paredes, a former gang member, was convicted along with 2 other men in the September 2000 slayings of three people with ties to the Mexican Mafia. Prosecutors said Paredes, 18 at the time, was the most aggressive shooter when Nelly Bravo and Shawn Michael Cain, both 23, and Adrian Torres, 27, showed up to collect drug money at the home of John Anthony Saenz, a leader in Paredes' gang. Saenz, 32, claimed self-defense and avoided the death penalty when jurors sentenced him to life. The 3rd man convicted in the killings, Greg Alvarado, 35, pleaded guilty and also is serving life in prison. Paredes was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m. CDT, 22 minutes after being injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital. Paredes becomes the 10th inmate to be put to death this year in Texas, the 518th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982, the 31st to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1390th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.