Often when faced with death, many of us think about wanting to right our wrongdoings. At the very least, we try to think of one good thing we can leave in the world after we’re gone. For death row inmate Ramiro Gonzales, this means donating a kidney. His lawyers have requested a 180-day reprieve to allow the time for him to make a living donation.
Death Row Inmate Asks For Reprieve So He Can Donate A Kidney
In 2001, South Texas woman Bridget Townsend disappeared. She was just 18-years-old. Two years later, authorities found her remains. They found them because Ramiro Gonzales, who had already stood trial for two other rape and murder cases, confessed to the crime. He led them to her remains. Authorities then put him to trial, where a jury found him guilty of kidnapping, raping, and fatally shooting Townsend. The judge then sentenced him to lethal injection. Gonzales’ injection was set to take place on July 13 of this year. (1)
Gonzales’ lawyers recently wrote a letter to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to grant him a 30-day reprieve in order for him to donate the kidney. His wish is for the kidney to be a live donation rather than post-mortem. They also made a separate request to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for a 180-day reprieve, also related to the kidney donation. (2)
Why A Live Donation?
Since being in prison on death row, Gonzales has expressed his desire to do something good in the world before he goes. In his attorneys’ letter to Abbott, they included a letter from Cantor Michael Zoosman. Zoosman is an ordained Jewish minister from Maryland who has been in correspondence with Gonzales. He confirms that this is not some last-ditch effort to extend his life or be taken off death row. According to Zoosman, Gonzales simply wants to be able to be considered a live donor before he goes.
“There has been 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 that Ramiro wants to do to help make his soul right with his God,” the clergyman wrote.
An Excellent Candidate
Gonzales’ attorneys explained that the transplant team at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston have considered him an “excellent candidate” to donate a kidney. Their evaluation found that he is also an important donor. This is because he has a rare blood type, meaning that his kidney could save someone having a hard time finding a match. UTMB has confirmed that the surgery could take place within the month. They have already completed their evaluation, so the only step left is to actually perform the operation.
It Is Allowed
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice does allow inmates to make organ donations. Naturally, however, with Gonzales’ death row date coming up so soon, it complicates things. He made a request earlier this year, however, the agency deemed him ineligible. They have not given a reason why. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was set to vote on his request on July 11.
Execution Halted
According to other reports, the agency originally denied Gonzales his request because they do not allow for “altruistic donations”. These are donations without a known donor. Since then, however, two potential candidates who share Gonzales’ rare blood type have been identified. On top of that, a forensic psychiatrist Dr. Edward Gripon, who testified in the trial, has come forward saying he cited information now known to be false.
“Regarding the likelihood of recidivism for sexual offenses, I testified that there is lots of data out there about the person who commits forcible rape and the likelihood that they will continue that. The percentages are way up in the eighty percentile or better,” Gripon wrote in a report in May. “However, we now know this statistic to be inaccurate.”
The most recent research shows that these percentages are much lower. This is especially true for young people. At the time when he committed the crime, Gonzales was still just a very young man.
“In such emerging adults, the parts of the brain that enable impulse control and reasoned judgment remain not yet fully developed,” his lawyers argued in recent appeals. “In a very real sense, 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds are not yet the people they will ultimately become.”
His lawyers have also cited Gonzales’ difficult upbringing. His mother abandoned him and he met his father once because his father was in prison. He was sexually abused himself as a child. When he was just 15 years old, he became addicted to drugs after a drunk driver killed his aunt.
Halted
The Texas appeals court has halted the execution to grant time to find a recipient for his kidney. Gonzales’s lawyers have requested his sentence be lessened, but the court has not said anything in regards to this request. A cancer survivor in Washington has been identified as a potential recipient. She has spent the last four years on dialysis hoping for a kidney.
“It seems almost impossible, but God moves in mysterious ways,” wrote the potential recipient, Judy Frith, in a letter Sunday to Abbott that Gonzales’ attorneys submitted with their own. “Whether or not Mr. Gonzales could donate to me, I cannot emphasize enough what a precious gift you would be giving someone if you allowed Mr. Gonzales the opportunity to donate his kidney.” (3)
For the moment, the court has halted Gonzales’ execution. We will have to wait and see if, in the end, he is able to give a live donation or not.
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Sources
- “Execution halted as court questions whether Ramiro Gonzales should have been sentenced to life in prison.” Texas Tribune. Jolie Mccullough. July 11, 2022.
- “Texas inmate who is set to be put to death asks for a delay so he can donate kidney.” ABC7 NY. Juan A. Lozano Associated Press. July 2, 2022.
- “A Texas death row inmate is seeking a 30-day reprieve to donate a kidney. An appeals court has issued an execution stay for a different reason.” CNN. Dakin Andone. July 12, 2022.