John Henry Ramirez, 38, was executed by lethal injection on 5 October
2022 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder and robbery of a man in a
parking lot.

In July 2004, Christina Chavez, 24, and Angela Rodriguez, 30, who
lived together in San Antonio, traveled to Corpus Christi to visit
Rodriguez's family for the weekend. When Rodriguez's friend, John
Ramirez, 20, came over, she snuck him into her mother's house because
her mother did not want him there. Ramirez was showing off a ridged
knife. Rodriguez's mother kicked him out when she discovered him, but
he came back later that day with Rodriguez's sister, Roberta Garcia.
Later, Rodriguez, Chavez, and Ramirez went to Rodriguez's friend's
house while Garcia stayed at her mother's. The three of them drank and
used drugs together for three or four days. They pawned things for
money to buy drugs.

Chavez testified that when she, Rodriguez, and Ramirez ran out of
drugs and money, they decided to grab someone and take his money. They
did not plan to hurt anyone, and only Ramirez had a weapon. They got
into two maroon vans - Chavez drove one, with Rodriguez as a
passenger, and Ramirez drove the other.

Lydia Salinas managed the Times Market convenience store in Corpus
Christi. On Monday, 19 July 2004, she arrived at work around 6:00 p.m.
She was scheduled to work until the midnight closing time with
employee Pablo Castro, 46. Castro told Salinas that he only had a
dollar, so she arranged for her sister-in-law to bring dinner for both
of them into the store. When she did, the sister-in-law informed
Salinas that there was a van parked in the area where she usually
parked. After she left, Salinas and Castro ate dinner. A short time
later, a young woman came into the store to use the restroom. Salinas
later identified the woman as Angela Rodriguez. As closing time
approached, Castro told Salinas that he was going outside to empty the
trash.

Chavez testified that she and Ramirez pulled their vans into the
parking lot of the Times Market and saw a man carrying a box to the
dumpster. Rodriguez got out of the van Chavez was driving, spoke to
the man, then got back in. Chavez then saw Ramirez fighting with the
man. She told Rodriguez, who got back out.

Chavez testified that Ramirez was using the knife he had been showing
off earlier to stab the man until he fell to his knees. She said that
Rodriguez did not join in the fight, but instead tried to stop
Ramirez. After the man fell back, Ramirez pointed to Rodriguez, and
she went through the man's pockets. When Rodriguez came back to the
van, she dropped $1.25 onto the console. Both Ramirez and Rodriguez
had blood on them, so they found a place to rinse off.

Mariano Cervantes testified that he and Kashif Butt drove to the car
wash next to Times Market after 11:00 p.m. They noticed a fight
occurring in the parking lot of the convenience store. Cervantes saw a
young man and a woman standing on either side of an "older gentleman"
and hitting him. The older man looked like he was trying to get out of
the way.

Cervantes and Butt went over to help. The man fell to the ground, and
the two assailants got into separate vans and drove away. Cervantes
testified that he had not seen a knife during the fight, but when the
victim tilted his head back, he could see a large, bloody gash on his
throat. The victim was conscious, gurgling and spitting out blood,
when Cervantes first tried to talk to him, but he soon closed his eyes
and stopped responding.

Kashif Butt testified that he and Cervantes saw the altercation in the
parking lot. The man and woman were punching and kicking a man in his
40s, who was trying to block their blows. They continued to punch and
kick him after he fell. Eventually, they stopped, went through his
pockets, pulled something out, and left in a red Ford van where a
driver was waiting. To Butt's recollection, there was a second van,
but both assailants left in the red van with the waiting driver, and
he did not remember what happened to the second van. Butt saw that the
victim was bleeding badly from his throat.

While Salinas was counting money at the cash register, a girl came in
and told her there was a man lying in the parking lot, bleeding.
Salinas assumed Castro had come back inside from emptying the trash
and was in the back of the store, so she called out to him to let him
know she was going outside. She stepped out, saw the man in the
parking lot, came back inside, and dialed 9-1-1. She then yelled for
Castro to come to the front of the store because she was going outside
again. She went out and saw that the bleeding man was Castro. She
screamed and started toward him, but Cervantes, Butt, and a neighbor
held her back and told her that he was dead.

Office Mike Wenzel was the first officer to respond to Salinas's 9-1-1
call. He testified that when he arrived at Times Market, the victim
was lying in a pool of blood. He had been stabbed in the neck and his
throat had been slashed. He was not breathing or bleeding. Wenzel got
descriptions of the assailants from Cervantes and Butt and a
description from Salinas of the woman who came in to use the restroom,
who was believed to be the female assailant. Wenzel concluded that the
suspects fled in two red vans, with the woman getting into the
passenger side of one van and the man getting into the driver's seat
of the other.

Chavez testified that after killing Castro and taking $1.25 from him,
she, Rodriguez, and Ramirez still did not have money for drugs, so
they committed one aggravated robbery and attempted to commit another.
She stated that she waited in the van while Ramirez and Rodriguez
committed the crimes. After the robbery, Rodriguez told her to get in
Ramirez's van, and from that point on, they rode together in one van.
They were spotted by police while driving away from the attempted
robbery, and a chase ensued, but they got away. Ramirez drove the van
into a lot that was overgrown with bushes and tall grass. The three
got out and fled on foot. Chavez and Rodriguez were soon arrested, but
Ramirez escaped.

April Metting testified that she was waiting in line in her vehicle in
the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant when a young woman walked
up to the front of her car and asked to use her cell phone. The woman
pointed to blood stains on her shirt and said she had been in a fight.
While her attention was on the woman, a man came up behind her and
reached into her open window with a ridged knife. He grabbed her by
the back of her neck, held the knife to her throat, and demanded
money. Metting testified that she asked them not to do this in front
of her two-year-old son, who was sitting in the back seat, but the man
said, "Shut up, bitch." The woman told her to shut up and give them
her purse. She gave the man her money and purse, and the two of them
got into a van with another woman and left. Metting testified that she
saw two vans parked nearby, but the suspects left in only one of them.

Ruby Hinojosa testified to a similar incident in a fast-food
drive-through. A maroon van pulled up next to her, and a woman asked
to use her cell phone. While they were talking, a man appeared at her
window, put a serrated knife to her neck, and demanded money. Hinojosa
was able to lean away from the knife and roll up her window. The man
went around to her passenger side window and began banging on the
glass with his knife. She backed up her car, and the suspects got into
the van and left. Hinojosa subsequently identified the man in a photo
lineup as John Ramirez.

Officer James Gray testified that as he and his partner were heading
toward the scene of the attempted robbery, they passed a red van
matching the general description of the suspect vehicle. They shined a
spotlight into the van and saw a man and woman in the front. They made
a U-turn, followed the van, and turned on their lights to instruct the
driver to pull over. Gray testified that the van pulled over and
stopped, but as soon as he stepped out of his patrol vehicle, the van
drove away. They followed, but eventually lost sight of the speeding
van on the north side of town.

Officer Michael Frakes testified that he was searching the area where
the van had last been seen. While he was driving down a dark street,
he spotted the flash of a red reflector and found the red van. Aware
that the suspects might be dangerous, he turned off his spotlight and
called for assistance. After another officer arrived, Frakes
approached the van and found it empty, but observed that the engine
was still hot.

Officer Ralph Vasquez testified that when he learned that the van had
been found, he decided to circle around the brushy area where it was
found to look for suspects. He and another officer found Rodriguez and
Chavez and arrested them. Their clothes were soiled and bloody.

Roberta Garcia testified that during the weekend before the murder,
she drank and took drugs with the three suspects at her mother's
house. Ramirez showed her his knife, which had ridges on one side. She
testified that after midnight on the 20th, Ramirez showed up out of
breath and covered in grass and dirt. He said they had stabbed someone
and that the police were after him. He had a big gash on his right
hand, which was bleeding heavily. He said he did not know where
Rodriguez was and he ran away when Garcia told him to leave.