Texas: Latino on death row asks to delay execution to donate a kidney

The Latino convict Ramiro Gonzales, scheduled to be executed on July 13 in a Texas prison, asked for his sentence to be delayed so that he could donate a kidney, reported El Universal.

Gonzales, 39, will receive a lethal injection in two weeks for murdering 18-year-old Bridget Townsend of southwest Texas, whose remains were found nearly two years after her disappearance in 2001.

The current death row inmate was 18 years old at the time he kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered the teenager. He has been in prison since 2006.

His attorneys, Thea Posel and Raoul Schonemann, sent a letter last Wednesday to Texas Governor Greg Abbott asking for a 30-day reprieve so the inmate can be considered a living donor "for someone in dire need of a kidney transplant."

They also separately petitioned the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for a 180-day reprieve related to kidney donation.

The lawyers added to the documents filed a letter from Cantor Michael Zoosman, an ordained Jewish clergyman from Maryland who has corresponded with the inmate. 

"I have no doubt in my mind that Ramiro's desire to be an altruistic kidney donor is not motivated by a last-minute attempt to stop or delay his execution. I will go to my grave believing in my heart that this is something Ramiro wants to do to help get his soul right with his God," Zoosman wrote.

A transplant team at the University of Texas at Galveston determined that Gonzales is an "excellent candidate" for a kidney donation because of his rare blood type.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is scheduled to vote July 11 on the application.

Earlier this year Gonzales was deemed ineligible after requesting authorization to be a donor.

Gonzales' demand to delay his execution to donate organs is rare among death row inmates in the United States, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.