Huntsville -- Until his last day, Rosendo Rodriguez showed no remorse publicly for his actions in the separate slayings of two Lubbock women more than a decade ago.
Instead, the 38-year-old condemned man used his last words Tuesday to speak out against the death penalty and accuse Lubbock County District Attorney Matt Powell of covering up misconduct by the medical examiner whose testimony helped convict him of the Sept. 13, 2005 rape and killing of 29-year-old Summer Baldwin.
Rodriguez spoke for about seven minutes as he lied strapped to the gurney and called for a boycott of Texas businesses to pressure lawmakers to abolish capital punishment.
“Stop the death penalty,” he said in a seething tone that broke the calm demeanor with which his statement started. “Do it to save my brothers in death row.”
He encouraged people to contact death row inmates.
“Get to know them and love them the same way I love them,” he said.
He also expressed gratitude to the prison and jail officers he’s come to know since his incarceration.
He called for a civil rights investigation by the FBI on Powell and Dr. Sridhar Natarajan, the Lubbock County Medical Examiner. He accused Natarajan of falsifying autopsy records and other misconduct that were alleged in multiple last-minute appeals filed by his attorneys. His final appeal, filed Monday in the U.S. Supreme Court, was denied about a half-hour before his execution.
He characterized as “hush money” a $230,000 settlement payout the county used to end a whistleblower lawsuit a former Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office employee filed that he said believed documented Natarajan’s misconduct.
“Dozens if not hundreds of men and women were wrongly convicted due to illegal and wrongful actions of (Powell and Natarajan). They, too, need to be brought to justice.”
He ended his statement quoting some of Jesus’ last words.
“Lord into your hands I commend my spirit,” he said. “I have fought the good fight. I ran the race. I accomplished what God intended for me to do. Warden, I’m ready to join my father.”
At 6:24 p.m. the lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered through an intravenous tube in his right and left arms. He began to sing but quickly trailed off as the drug took hold in his body and he lost consciousness.
At 6:46 p.m., Rosendo Rodriguez, the San Antonio marine reservist who gained infamy as the “Suitcase killer” in Lubbock was dead.
Five members of his family witnessed his execution. His mother, Guadalupe Rodriguez, and his sister, Rebecca Chapman, prayed as he lied unconscious.
“Sleep tight, my baby,” Guadalupe Rodriguez said. “He’s at peace.”
Rodriguez's execution ends a decades-long case that began when Lubbock landfill workers found Baldwin’s body stuffed in a suitcase. Lubbock police detectives identified Rodriguez as her killer after finding a barcode on the suitcase and linking its purchase at a Walmart store with Rodriguez’ debit card.
Rodriguez, a U.S. Marine Reservist in Lubbock for training, told investigators he killed Baldwin in self-defense, saying she attacked him after they had sex in his hotel room. Powell presented evidence he believed showed Baldwin, who was 10 weeks pregnant, was beaten, raped and suffocated to death while she was stuffed in the suitcase.
Rodriguez also admitted to killing 16-year-old Joanna Rogers, who was reported missing in 2004.
Members of Rodriguez’s victims families also witnessed his execution.
Joe Bill Rogers, Joanna Roger’s father, said the execution, though unpleasant, ends his family’s tragic journey.
“It's over, I don't want anything else to do with it,” he said.
Powell on Monday described Rodriguez as “pure evil,” and recalled security video that showed a Rodriguez, calm and cool, buying the suitcase in which he would stuff Baldwin, who he left in the hotel room, fighting for her life.
“Who does that to another person?” he said.
He recalled Rodriguez’s calm demeanor during his 2008 trial as evidence of his actions were presented to jurors, including the five women who recounted how Rodriguez also raped them.
He said he’s seen no remorse from Rodriguez at any time.
“This is a guy that … even though there's no joy, no jumping up and down on what’s going to happen tomorrow, it’s certainly just based on his actions,” he said.
Powell said there was no doubt in his mind that Rodriguez would hurt people if he had the opportunity.
“That penalty should be reserved for the worse of the worse and he definitely fits that category,” he said.
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