USA - Texas. Ricardo Ortiz, 46, latino, was put to death

Ricardo Ortiz, 46, latino, was put to death for fatally injecting a fellow prisoner with an overdose of heroin. Ortiz was condemned for the slaying of Gerardo Garcia, 22, who was killed at the El Paso County jail in 1997. The slaying was in retaliation for snitching on Ortiz and so he couldn't testify against Ortiz about bank robberies the pair were suspected of carrying out, authorities said. Ortiz becomes the 5th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 428th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Ortiz becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and trhe 1143rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.