In front of the victim’s mother and other family members, a Texas man who was found guilty of strangling and stabbing a young mother to death more than 20 years ago was put to death Wednesday night.
At 6:40 p.m., Moises Sandoval Mendoza, 41, was declared dead after receiving a fatal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
For his conviction in the murder of 20-year-old Rachelle O’Neil Tolleson in March 2004, he received a death sentence.
Following around two minutes of prayer over him by a spiritual counselor, Mendoza repeatedly apologized to the victim’s two parents as well as other family members in attendance, addressing each by name.
Speaking to the parents, one of her brothers, a cousin, and an uncle who were all watching via a window from the adjacent room, he stated, “I am sorry for having robbed you of Rachelle’s life.”
In addition, Mendoza apologized for robbing Tolleson’s daughter of her mother. I am aware that there is nothing I could ever say or do to make up for that. I want you to understand that I mean what I say. I’m sorry.
The execution was not witnessed by the daughter.
Then, addressing his sister, wife, and two friends who were observing from a window in another witness room, he spoke briefly in Spanish.
He said in Spanish, “I love you, I am with you, I am well and at peace,” and an English translation of his comments was offered. “You know that I’m well, and everything is love.”
He made two loud gasps when the injection started, and then he started snoring. He was declared dead 19 minutes after he stopped moving after ten or so snores.
Mendoza, 41, allegedly abducted Tolleson from her house in north Texas, leaving her 6-month-old daughter unaccompanied, according to the prosecution.
Tolleson’s mother discovered the baby the following day, damp and cold but safe. Six days later, Tolleson’s body was found in a field close to a creek.
In order to conceal Tolleson’s fingerprints, Mendoza also burnt his body, according to evidence in his prosecution. Investigators said she was identified through dental records.
After seeing Mendoza’s execution, the victim’s mother, Pam O’Neil, told reporters that it was impossible to make up for the loss of her daughter.
She read from a statement that Mendoza had spent 20 years on death row. Today was the last day of that. They put him to sleep. He was painless. Regarding my daughter’s passing, I wish I could say the same thing.
Mendoza’s friends and family looked upset and embraced each other as they exited the prison.
The United States Supreme Court rejected Mendoza’s lawyers’ last attempt to halt his execution a few hours earlier on Wednesday.
In a petition, Mendoza’s lawyers informed the justices that lower courts had barred him from claiming that he had been denied effective legal representation at an earlier stage of the appeals process.
However, the Texas Attorney General’s Office informed the Supreme Court that a lower federal court had earlier deemed Mendoza’s allegation of ineffective legal representation to be “meritless and insubstantial.”
Additionally, his stay petitions have already been denied by lower courts.
Mendoza’s bid to commute his death sentence to a lesser punishment was turned down by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday.
According to the authorities, Mendoza had gone to a party at Tolleson’s house in Farmersville, which is roughly 45 miles northeast of Dallas, in the days prior to the murder.
Mendoza told a friend about the murder the day her body was discovered. Mendoza was taken into custody when the friend called the police.
According to investigators, Mendoza confessed to the murder but was unable to provide them with an explanation.
He informed detectives that he sexually abused Tolleson, repeatedly strangled her, and dragged her body to a field, where he stabbed her in the throat after strangling her once more. They claimed that he later relocated her body to a more isolated area and set it on fire.
Mendoza was the 13th prisoner executed in the United States and the third in Texas, which has historically been the state with the highest death penalty rates.
James Osgood, who raped and killed a woman in 2010, will be put to death in Alabama on Thursday.
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