State prepares to kill death row murderer and spiritual leader: Ramiro Gonzales has ‘so much potential’ – News

In an excerpt from the video, Ramiro Gonzales asks the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare him (courtesy of Texas Defender Service)

In recent years, death row inmates have begun attaching videos to their clemency petitions to the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole in an effort to have their death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Ramiro Gonzales presented a powerful video earlier this month.

Gonzales has faced death once before. In July 2022, he asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to delay his execution for the 2001 murder of Bridget Townsend so he could donate a kidney. The board denied the request. However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution to consider whether false testimony in Gonzales’ trial had influenced his verdict. When the court ruled that it had not, the execution was postponed until June 26. Now, Gonzales has submitted a video to the BPP asking for his sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment and talking about how he has changed and what he means to the death row community.

The video begins with Gonzales describing how his remorse for killing Townsend has evolved and how he thinks daily about those who were hurt by his violence, particularly Townsend’s mother. “I took everything that was valuable from her mother just because of my stupidity, because of what I did, because of my actions, and that can’t be given back,” he said. “So when I go through those levels of remorse, the complexity of it, it’s like the depth of what I owe.”

Gonzales’ own mother was only 17 when she left him to be raised by his grandparents on a ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Throughout his childhood, he was physically and sexually abused by various family members. Kate Porterfield, a psychologist who has researched Gonzales’ upbringing, said Gonzales’ mother and four of her sisters experienced the same abuse during their childhood.

“All of these young women later attempted suicide, had drug problems of their own and struggled with violence,” Porterfield said. “As a young boy, Ramiro comes into a home that has already caused generations of trauma.”

“Ramiro comes as a young boy into a home that has already produced trauma for generations.”
– Psychologist Kate Porterfield

Psychologists know that victims of sexual abuse often blame themselves for their suffering and conclude they are worthless. They may develop drug problems, drop out of school, and become violent. Gonzales did all of these things. As a teenager, he stopped attending school, took methamphetamines for weeks at a time, and repeatedly considered suicide. Jurors at his trial were not told about these problems before sentencing him to death.

Gonzales became deeply religious after being placed on death row in 2006. He had already been counseling and comforting men for years when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice launched the Faith-Based Program to rehabilitate death row inmates in 2021. Program leaders say Gonzales is loved and respected by inmates and guards and would be a great chaplain in the program if the Board of Pardons and Parole sees fit to commute his sentence.

A group of evangelical leaders also wants Gonzales’ life to be spared. “We ask that you grant clemency to Ramiro, a wonderfully changed man, and allow him to spend his life in service to others,” they wrote to the Pardon and Parole Board earlier this month, pointing out that Gonzales has a unique ability to connect with others.

Regular readers of this coverage know that it is extremely unlikely that the committee will vote to spare Gonzales. For his part, Gonzales seems to have achieved the strange serenity that many death row inmates feel as their final moments approach. “The 13th chapter of Corinthians ends with faith, hope and love,” Gonzales said. “‘Now faith, hope and love remain – these three.’ I’m on death row, but I still have faith. I still have hope. And I can still love everyone around me.”