Ramiro Hernandez

Case overview

Ramiro Hernandez was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in Texas on April 9, 2014.

Glen Lich hired Hernandez to do work at his ranch in exchange for letting Hernandez live in a cabin on the property. After Hernandez stayed at the Lich home for about ten days, he knocked on the bedroom door of Glen and Lera Lich at about 10 pm and stated there was a problem with the generator. Glen Lich followed Hernandez outside. Hernandez returned to the bedroom covered in blood and holding a knife. He approached Lera Lich, held the knife to her neck, tore off her glasses and clothing, and forced her onto the bed. Hernandez raped Lera Lich twice while keeping the knife at her neck.

Hernandez made a phone call, tore a towel into strips, and tied Lera Lich to the bed while covering her face with a blanket. Peeking under the blanket, she could see Hernandez ransacking the bedroom and placing jewelry and other items into a plastic bag. Hernandez also threatened Lera Lich’s elderly mother, who was asleep nearby in a separate bedroom. Hernandez left in the Lich vehicle, but returned and tied Lera Lich more securely with wires to the bed. Hernandez then untied Lera Lich and raped her at least two more times at knife point. He said that she would see her husband again if she gave him the money he demanded, and that if she wanted to live longer she was not to call the police.

At some point Hernandez fell asleep. Lera Lich slipped out and made her way to a neighbor’s house. Sheriff’s deputies found Hernandez asleep on the bed and arrested him after a struggle. Glen Lich’s body was found near a generator building on his property, about 60 feet from the house. His skull had been battered beyond recognition.

In statements to police, Hernandez admitted striking Glen Lich “once” with a piece of steel rebar. He also admitted raping Mrs. Lich “once.” He identified himself as “Reuben Salinas” in an audiotape statement recorded in Spanish after Miranda warnings. In a later audiotape after a second set of Miranda warnings in Spanish, Hernandez admitted his name was Ramiro Hernandez.

Victims

Glen Lich

Glen Lich was murdered on the Lich ranch property.

His body was found near a generator building on the property, about 60 feet from the house.

Hernandez admitted striking Glen Lich “once” with a piece of steel rebar.

Lera Lich

Lera Lich was sexually assaulted repeatedly at knife point. The assault included Hernandez holding a knife to her neck while forcing her onto the bed and raping her multiple times. Hernandez threatened her and her family, including her elderly mother, and he demanded money.

After Hernandez fell asleep, Lera Lich escaped and went to a neighbor’s house to call police.

Timeline

• October 14, 1997 — Hernandez knocked on the Lich bedroom door around ten p.m., saying there was a problem with the generator; Glen Lich went outside with him.
• October 15, 1997 — Sheriff’s deputies arrived, found Hernandez asleep on the bed, and arrested him after a struggle; law enforcement took a sexual assault kit; Hernandez gave an audiotape recorded statement in Spanish after Miranda warnings, identifying himself as “Reuben Salinas”; Hernandez later gave a second audiotape in Spanish after a second set of Miranda warnings, admitting his name was Ramiro Hernandez and admitting he had sexually assaulted Lera Lich “once.”
• February 10, 2000 — Judgment was entered; a Bandera County jury convicted Hernandez of capital murder.
• February 11, 2000 — Hernandez was sentenced to death.
• September 10, 2008 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Hernandez’s application for state habeas relief.
• March 31, 2014 — The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on Hernandez’s petition.
• April 9, 2014 — Hernandez was executed by lethal injection in Texas.

The offence

Hernandez killed Glen Lich by bludgeoning him.

The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas described the murder as beginning late on the evening of October 14, 1997 and continuing into the early morning hours of October 15, 1997, when Hernandez bludgeoned Glen Lich to death with a metal bar. After that, Hernandez ransacked the Lich residence and repeatedly sexually assaulted Glen Lich’s wife at knife-point.

Hernandez’s conduct on the night of the murder included the following events as recounted by Lera Lich during her testimony:

• Lera Lich met Hernandez when he arrived at the Lich residence in July 1997 to assist a carpenter helping renovate the ranch house and other buildings.
• Hernandez worked at the Lich residence for about three weeks.
• Around the beginning of October 1997, Hernandez telephoned her husband and negotiated that Hernandez would receive room and board at the Lich residence in exchange for assisting with renovations.
• On October 14, 1997, after Hernandez had stayed at the Lich residence for about ten days, he knocked on the door of the Lich bedroom around ten p.m., and Glen Lich went outside to talk with Hernandez.
• Lera Lich looked up from reading the paper and saw Hernandez on the porch outside the bedroom.
• Hernandez entered the bedroom, covered in blood and holding a knife.
• Hernandez held the knife to her neck, tore off her glasses, pulled off her clothes, and forced her onto the bed.
• Hernandez undressed himself and had non-consensual intercourse with Lera Lich while holding the knife to her neck.
• Lera Lich, who spoke very little Spanish, tried to communicate with Hernandez, and could understand a few words he spoke in English.
• When she asked about her husband, Hernandez responded with phrases in English including “five hours,” “Laredo,” “five thousand dollars,” “ten thousand dollars,” and “my brother,” and in Spanish with “fifteen thousand dollars, then your husband will be back.”
• After twice sexually assaulting Lera Lich, Hernandez escorted her to the bathroom where he held her at knife point.
• Hernandez took her back to the bedroom, wrote down the numbers “10,000” and “15,000” on a piece of paper, and placed or attempted to place several telephone calls before reaching someone with whom he had an angry conversation in Spanish.
• Hernandez tore a towel into strips and tied her to the bed and covered her face with a blanket.
• From a corner of the blanket, Lera Lich saw Hernandez ransacking the bedroom and placing jewelry and other items in a plastic bag.
• In Spanish, Hernandez threatened Lera Lich’s elderly mother, who was asleep nearby in a separate bedroom.
• Hernandez removed the blanket, asked for the keys to the Lich’s Jeep, and started the Jeep but turned off the engine after a few minutes, came back inside, and tied Lera Lich even more securely with wires.
• Hernandez made a second series of telephone calls, yanked all the phones in the room off the hook, went outside for a period, returned, rummaged through the bedroom again, then untied Lera Lich and raped her at least two more times at knife point.
• During the second series of sexual assaults, Hernandez wore Glen Lich’s watch, Lera Lich’s grandmother’s wedding ring, and several of Lera Lich’s necklaces.
• When Lera Lich asked about her husband, Hernandez replied “two hours Laredo,” asked if she wanted to live longer, instructed her not to call the police, and indicated she would see her husband again if she gave Hernandez the money he demanded.
• Hernandez threatened Lera Lich’s elderly mother and also threatened Lera Lich’s daughter by name.
• At one point, Hernandez gestured with a syringe motion and said it was “okay with me.”

The assaults included forcing Lera Lich onto the bed, holding the knife to her neck, tying her to the bed with torn towel strips and later with wires, threatening her family, ransacking the bedroom for jewelry and other items, and raping her multiple times.

Hernandez fell asleep following a second wave of assaults. Lera Lich escaped while Hernandez slept and ran to a neighbor’s residence in rural Kerr County.

Investigation and arrest

Law enforcement arrived at the Lich residence and found Hernandez sound asleep on the bed. When sheriff’s deputies woke Hernandez, he violently resisted arrest but was eventually subdued and arrested. Shortly after Hernandez’s arrest, Kerr County Sheriff’s personnel took Lera Lich to the hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected.

Law enforcement searched the Lich residence and found Glen Lich’s body near a generator building.

On the morning of October 15, 1997, after being given Miranda warnings in Spanish, Hernandez gave an audiotape recorded statement in Spanish to law enforcement officers in which he identified himself as “Reuben Salinas.” On the afternoon of October 15, 1997, after a second set of Miranda warnings in Spanish, Hernandez admitted his name was Ramiro Hernandez and gave a second audiotape recorded statement in Spanish. In the first statement Hernandez did not admit he sexually assaulted Lera Lich; in the second statement, he admitted for the first time that he had sexually assaulted Mrs. Lich “once.” The statements and English translations were admitted during his examining trial, but neither statement nor any transcription was offered or admitted into evidence during his subsequent capital murder trial.

In a statement to police, Hernandez admitted striking Mr. Lich “once” with a piece of steel rebar and admitted raping Mrs. Lich “once.”

Prior criminal history and other incidents mentioned in the record

Hernandez had a prior conviction in Mexico for a bludgeoning murder.

Under Texas law, the rules of evidence prevented certain prior criminal acts from being presented to the jury during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial. During the punishment phase, the State presented evidence that Hernandez had been previously convicted of murder in Mexico and had escaped from prison into Texas.

The State presented testimony that Hernandez had stabbed a man in a Kerrville bar and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl.

Hernandez was serving a 25-year prison sentence in Mexico when he escaped in 1996 or 1997. While in jail awaiting his capital murder trial, Hernandez assaulted a jailer in the face with a shank when he did not get eggs for breakfast. Hernandez was convicted of an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was given a 40-year sentence for that offense.

While awaiting his capital murder trial, Hernandez stabbed and killed a female jailer during a cell transfer and slashed another inmate’s face with a razor blade. In prison, he was found with homemade weapons.

Trial

Indictment and conviction

In November 1997, a Kerr County grand jury indicted Hernandez for murdering Glen Lich during the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of sexual assault of Lera Lich; during the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of robbery of Lera Lich; and during the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of burglary of a habitation of Lera Lich with intent to commit theft and sexual assault.

A Bandera County jury found Hernandez guilty of capital murder. After the jury recommended capital punishment, the trial court sentenced Hernandez to death.

Jury deliberation

During the sentencing phase, the jury deliberated only minutes before returning a verdict setting execution as the penalty. In another account, jurors took just five minutes to convict Hernandez and then sentenced him to death.

Sentencing

A Bandera County jury recommended capital punishment, and the court sentenced Hernandez to death.

A judgment was entered on February 10, 2000, and Hernandez was sentenced to death on February 11, 2000.

Appeals and post-conviction proceedings

• December 18, 2002 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Hernandez’s direct appeal and affirmed his conviction and sentence.
• June 27, 2003 — The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari.
• November 25, 2009 — The Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Hernandez’s second writ citing the abstention doctrine.
• March 3, 2010 — The Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Hernandez’s third writ.
• September 23, 2011 — The federal district court denied the petition for federal writ of habeas corpus.
• August 2, 2013 — The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s determination of Hernandez’s mental retardation claim and denied his request for certificate of appealability on additional issues.
• December 20, 2013 — Hernandez filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court.
• March 31, 2014 — The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari.
• April 1–9, 2014 — A federal stay of execution was addressed through proceedings involving Tommy Lynn Sells and Ramiro Hernandez; the Fifth Circuit granted the motion to vacate the stay and reversed the preliminary injunction as to Hernandez, and the Supreme Court did not halt the scheduled execution.

Execution details and final statement

Hernandez was executed in Texas on April 9, 2014 by lethal injection.

He received a final statement in Spanish that lasted nearly five minutes. He said:

"I'm happy," Hernandez said in Spanish. "I am sorry for what I have done. ... I say this with a lot of love and happiness: I have no pain and no guilt. All I have is love."

During accounts of the execution, Hernandez asked for forgiveness and said he was at peace and thankful for being able to see relatives, urging them not to be sad. The execution lethal injection was started after his final statement. In one account, he snored loudly twice and appeared to go to sleep, and he was pronounced dead 11 minutes later at 6:28 p.m.

Mexican governmental officials released a statement condemning the execution, saying it was “the fourth case of a Mexican being executed in clear violation of the judgment of the International Court of Justice” and expressing “most vigorous protest at the failure to comply.”

Other details

Case identifiers and personal information included in the record

• Name: Hernandez, Ramiro
• TDCJ Number: 999342
• Date of birth: 10/05/1969
• Date received: 02/11/2000
• Age when received: 30
• Date of offense: 10/15/1997
• Age at the offense: 28
• County: Bandera
• Race: Hispanic
• Gender: Male
• Hair color: Black
• Height: 5' 2"
• Weight: 190
• Eye color: Brown
• Native state: Tamaulipas (Mexico)
• Prior occupation: Laborer
• Native county: Not stated in the record
• Prior prison record: #850261 — 4-year sentence for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon (while in jail awaiting trial for capital murder)

Representation and procedural terminology

The state trial court set punishment at death after the jury answered the special issues pursuant to Article 37.071, Tex.Code Crim. Proc.

Medical/psychological findings referenced in post-conviction proceedings

In federal habeas proceedings, Hernandez’s mental impairment was litigated under the Eighth Amendment standard for intellectual disability/mental retardation as governed by Atkins v. Virginia. The record included testimony and examinations by multiple psychologists and psychiatrists, including IQ test scores and findings about adaptive functioning, as well as an Atkins claim that Hernandez was “not mentally retarded” per state court findings. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of relief on that claim.