Texas executes convicted murderer Ramiro Gonzales after apology to victim's family

June 26 (UPI) -- Texas executed convicted murderer Ramiro Gonzales by lethal injection Wednesday night after he apologized to Bridget Townsend's family for her 2001 rape and murder, saying "I owe all of you my life."

Gonzales, 41, who is the second person to be executed in Texas this year, was put to death after his appeals were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court . He was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m., according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, on what would have been Townsend's 41st birthday.

"To the Townsend family, I'm sorry," Gonzales said in his final statement. "I never stopped praying for all of you. I never stopped praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would have this opportunity to apologize. I owe all of you my life."

Gonzales was sentenced to death in 2006 in the sexual assault and capital murder of Townsend, who was the 18-year-old girlfriend of Gonzales' drug dealer. In the case, prosecutors said Gonzales confessed and took investigators to her body after a kidnapping.

Gonzales' attorneys argued Texas law requires a high "probability" that the person convicted of a capital crime would continue to "commit criminal acts of violence" in order to be sentenced to death, as they sought to reduce Gonzales' sentence to life in prison.

They argued that an expert witness who testified against Gonzales on that question had walked back his testimony and said his good behavior in prison over the past 18 years proved he is no longer a threat.

In a clemency application, Gonzales said he felt daily remorse and was devoted to Christianity while serving as a spiritual leader for others on death row. He also attempted to donate a kidney to a stranger, despite suffering from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and enduring sexual abuse by a family member during his childhood, according to his lawyers.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected three motions filed by Gonzales' attorneys on Monday while the Texas Board of Parole and Pardons equally rejected a petition for Gonzales' clemency unanimously.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court denied Gonzales' request with no comments and no noted dissents.

Gonzales had attempted to reach out to the Townsend family to apologize, but was met with rejection.

"He doesn't deserve mercy," Patricia Townsend, Bridget Townsend's mother, said, according to USA Today. "His childhood should not have anything to do with it. I know a lot of people that had a hard childhood. He made his choice."