Texas man executed for the 2004 strangling and stabbing death of a young mother—
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man convicted of fatally strangling and stabbing a young mother more than 20 years ago was executed Wednesday evening as the victim’s mother and other relatives looked on.
This image provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Texas death row inmate Moises Sandoval Mendoza.(Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)Moises Sandoval Mendoza, 41, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m. He was sentenced to death for his conviction in the March 2004 killing of 20-year-old Rachelle O’Neil Tolleson.
After a spiritual adviser prayed over him for about two minutes, Mendoza apologized repeatedly to the victim’s two parents and other relatives present, calling to each by name. “I am sorry for having robbed you of Rachelle’s life,” he said, addressing the parents, one of her brothers, a cousin and an uncle watching through a window from an adjoining room.
