Texas prisoner Christopher Young, 34, was executed this evening “after lawyers unsuccessfully argued in the courts that the state parole board improperly refused his clemency request because he’s black,” reported kxan-a local news station in Austin.
“I didn’t know about death row,” Young said from prison right before being executed. “It needs to be talked about. You’ve got a whole new generation. You’ve got to stop this, not just executions but the crimes. Nobody is talking to these kids.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Young Was in Prison For Fatally Shooting a San Antonio Convenience Store Owner
Young shot and killed the owner of a convenience store during an attempted robbery on the South Side of San Antonio 14 years ago.
According to MySanAntonio, “he has never denied the slaying, which was recorded on a store surveillance camera, but insisted he was drunk and didn’t intend to kill 53-year-old Hasmukh ‘Hash’ Patel after drinking nearly two dozen beers and then doing cocaine that morning.”
As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, he twice used an obscenity to say he could taste it and that it was burning, CBS reported.
It took Young 25 minutes to die. He died at 6:38 p.m. CDT.
2. The Victim’s Son Tried to Convince The State Not to Execute Young
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlVwA6kgnu4/?tagged=christopheryoung
Mitesh Patel was 22-years-old when Young murdered his father. “At first, I felt a deep hatred for Young. I wanted to see him die,” Patel said in an interview.
Three months ago though, Patel’s attitude changed.
He spoke to two filmmakers who were working on a documentary about Young, and learned Young has three teenage daughters, feels deep remorse for the murder and wants to be a positive influence on children who were once like him, reported San Antonio Express News.
When Young’s request for clemency was rejected by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Mitesh Patel expressed his disappointment.
“I really do believe Chris Young today is not the person he was 14 years ago. It’s really unfortunate that the board didn’t hear our request for clemency. I feel sadness for his family. They’re going to be walking down the same path my family has been on the last 14 years,” Patel said in an interview with CNN.
3. Young is The 8th Prisoner to be Put to Death This Year in Texas
TEXAS EXECUTION: Christopher Young, convicted in 2004 killing of convenience store clerk during attempted robbery, tells victim’s family he loves them before lethal injection. t.co/t6eAK0PKj2 #ABC13
According to TIME, Young became the eighth prisoner put to death this year in Texas, one more than all of 2017 in the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.
Last week, Young’s attorneys sued the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles after the panel rejected their clemency plea. They argued that Young had changed, that he was “no longer the young man he was when he arrived on death row.” The lawyers requested the execution be stopped.
They argued that white inmate, Thomas Whitaker, “received a rare commutation earlier this year,” and his execution was imminent for the murder of his mother and brother.
“Young is black and race improperly appears to be the driving force in this case,” attorney David Dow said in the appeal that was supposed to delay Young’s punishment.
4. A Federal Judge in Houston Dismissed His Lawsuit And Refused to Stop The Execution
About 10 minutes ago Christopher Young was murdered by the state of Texas. He was found guilty of assault and murder and consequently forgiven by the family of the victim who begged for his pardon. This is not justice. Execution is murder.
Just hours after a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down an appeal of the ruling. “Young’s attorneys did not want to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court,” KXAN reported.
Assistant Texas attorney general, Stephen Hoffman, said the lawsuit was a “delay tactic, improper, speculative and legally and factually deficient.”
Young’s lawyers centered their arguments around the fact that Young was no longer a Blood street gang member, that he had matured in prison and was hoping to live to warn young people where they can end up.
Young was the 13th U.S. inmate put to death this year and the 553rd in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
5. Young Wrote a Note to The Patel Family Right Before His Execution, “Keep That Fight Going”
Final statement from Christopher Young
“I want to make sure the Patel family knows I love them like they love me,” he wrote.
“Make sure the kids of the world know I’m being executed, and those kids I’ve been mentoring keep that fight going. I’m good Warden.”
Mitesh Patel organized a rally last week in support of the clemency bid.
“Young’s execution will not take us toward any positive outcomes,” said Patel.