Texas executes immigrant after winning court fight
Lawyer Blogs
An illegal immigrant from Honduras who claimed his treaty rights were violated when he was arrested for a robbery-murder near Dallas was executed Thursday evening.
"God forgive them, receive my spirit," Heliberto Chi said in English. In Spanish, he told a friend watching through a window that he loved him and appreciated his hard work. He appeared to be whispering a prayer in Spanish with a tear at the corner of his right eye as the lethal drugs began to take effect.
One of Chi's cousins, who was among the witnesses, sobbed uncontrollably. Two sons of his victims watched through another window and Chi glanced at them briefly but didn't appear to acknowledge them. Chi was pronounced dead nine minutes later at 6:25 p.m. CDT.
He murdered his former boss, Armand Paliotta, during a 2001 robbery at an Arlington men's clothing store where Chi had once worked. An employee was wounded trying to run away and another hid among clothing racks and called 911 for help.
Chi went on the run with his 18-year-old pregnant girlfriend. She turned him in California about six weeks later for assaulting her and told authorities he was wanted for murder in Texas.
Lawyers for Chi had claimed in appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court that he should have been told he could get legal assistance from the Honduran consulate when he was extradited to Texas to face charges.
The Supreme Court, ruling about 2 1/2 hours before his scheduled execution time, rejected his appeal without dissent. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, rejected a similar appeal late Wednesday.
Related listings
-
Court rejects suit opposing religion in vets care
Lawyer Blogs 08/07/2008Taxpayers cannot sue the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for incorporating religion into its health care programs for the nation's veterans, an appeals court has ruled.The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday the Madison-based Freedom From ...
-
Prison for man who smuggled while a gov't witness
Lawyer Blogs 08/07/2008A man shot by a pair of Border Patrol agents during a drug smuggling attempt was sentenced to nearly a decade in prison Wednesday for separate smuggling incidents committed while he was waiting to testify against the agents.Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, wh...
-
Texas wants 8 kids from sect back in state care
Lawyer Blogs 08/06/2008Texas child welfare authorities asked a judge on Tuesday to place eight children from a Texas polygamist sect's ranch back into foster care, saying their mothers refuse to limit their contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.C...
Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.