Rolando Ruiz: granted stay of execution

Michael Rodriguez hired a hit man, Rolando Ruiz, to kill his wife Theresa Rodriguez in 1992. In the winter of 1995 Rodriguez plead guilty to capital murder. There was sufficient evidence at trial from which the jury could conclude that Ruiz was hired by Mark and Michael Rodriguez to murder Michael’s wife, Theresa, for two thousand dollars; that he did so by shooting her in the head at close range with a .357 revolver. "He paid the hit man $2,000 to have his wife killed," Judge Mark Luitjen, a former prosecutor, said of Rodriguez.

Luitjen was the prosecutor that sent five men, including Rodriguez and his brother, to prison for plotting the murder of Theresa Rodriguez. Michael Rodriguez's brother Mark received a life sentence. The man who actually pulled the trigger, Rolando Ruiz, is behind bars on death row. "You have to wonder who is worse, the person who has a loved one killed or the person who will kill someone for money," Luitjen said. Theresa Rodriguez was shot to death in the garage of the couple's house. She had just arrived home with her husband and his brother when the hit man opened fire. Prosecutors believe the brothers wanted to collect insurance money. In December of 2000, Michael Rodriguez escaped from prison as a member of the Texas 7. During the ensuing crime spree, police officer Aubrey Hawkins was murdered when he interrupted a hold-up.

Source

Ruiz has been granted a stay of execution.

Ms. Rodriguez's sister, Yolanda Dolmolin, was upset by the stay. "He's got rights, but nobody ever talks about the victim and her rights because she's dead," Ms. Dolmolin said. "And all that's gotten lost in the last 15 years."

She and her sister and brother were among those who had been waiting several hours to witness the execution.

Source
--------------


Will update when more information becomes available.



REMEMBER THE VICTIMS