A man who killed his former boss and waived all legal appeals was put to death by injection just 10 months after being convicted, the quickest U.S. execution in nearly two decades.
Joe Gonzales, 36, had pleaded with a jury to sentence him to die."There are people all over the world who face things worse than death on a daily basis, and in that sense I consider myself lucky," he said in a final, handwritten statement. "I cannot find the words to express the sadness I feel for bringing this hurt and pain on my loved ones."
The execution Wednesday night was the speediest in the nation since 1977, when Gary Gilmore went before a firing squad in Utah just three months after he was convicted of killing two men.
Gilmore, who also waived all appeals, was the first person executed in the United States after the Supreme Court lifted a 10-year moratorium on capital punishment in 1976.
Gonzales' jury took just 12 minutes in November to recommend the death penalty after convicting the roofer in the 1992 slaying of 50-year-old William Veader, a building contractor. Gonzales, saying Veader owed him $200, shot him in the head, robbed him and tried to make it look like a suicide.