Ramiro Gonzales is scheduled to be executed in Texas on July 13, 2022. He was sentenced to death in September 2006 for a murder committed in January 2001 when he was 18 years old and emerging from a childhood of abuse and neglect. He is now 39. Amnesty International is urging the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and the state Governor to grant clemency.
TAKE ACTION:
- Please take action as-soon-as possible. This Urgent Action expires on July 13, 2022.
- Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to the government official listed below. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
- Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 57.22. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Office of the Governor,
PO Box 12428, Austin
Texas 78711-2428, USA
Contact Form:
https://gov.texas.gov/apps/contact/opinion.aspx
Twitter:
@GovAbbott
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Governor Abbott,
Ramiro Felix Gonzales (TDCJ #999513) is scheduled to be executed in Texas on July 13, 2022.
Ramiro Gonzales was 18 years and two months old at the time of the murder of Bridget Townsend in 2001. He was emerging from a childhood of serious neglect and abuse. A neuropsychologist testified at trial that he “basically raised himself”, had the emotional maturity of a 13- or 14-year-old, and in her opinion was likely in the top 10% of emotionally damaged children.
I do not wish to minimize the consequences of violent crime, but I am disturbed by your state’s use of the death penalty, including against young adult offenders. Over 13 per cent of all those executed in Texas between 1982 and 2022 were 18 or 19 years old at the time of the crime.
When banning the execution of under 18-year-olds in 2005, the US Supreme Court noted that “the qualities that distinguish juveniles from adults do not disappear when an individual turns 18” and made clear that the death penalty be “limited to those offenders… whose extreme culpability makes them the most deserving of execution”. I urge you to consider how a death sentence imposed on a severely emotionally damaged 18-year-old meets this requirement.
I urge you to stop the execution of Ramiro Gonzales and to ensure that his death sentence is commuted.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
