Carlos Santana

Background

Carlos Santana was a 40-year-old Dominican who was executed by lethal injection in Texas on March 23, 1993. Santana had been jobless and despondent over the death of his mother in his Caribbean homeland. He was described as a former electrician. Santana was condemned for his role in the 1981 robbery of a Purolator Armored Inc. van in Houston.

Santana’s lawyers contended that jurors had not been allowed to consider that he had been abused as a child and had lived in extreme poverty. Santana’s lawyers also claimed that he was not notified that he could receive counsel from the Dominican Republic.

A New York-based committee called “Save the Life of Carlos Santana” was established by Santana’s native country in hopes of stopping the execution. The committee sent more than 500 letters to Gov. Ann Richards, but she could not be persuaded.

The offence

On April 21, 1981, around noon, an armored van driven by Olivero Flores and accompanied by Dorothy Wright pulled into the Sage grocery store parking lot on the Gulf Freeway in Houston, Texas, to pick up a deposit.

As Flores exited the van and walked around to the front of the store, Ronald Meanes and Carlos Santana exited a car parked near the front of the store and opened the trunk. Wright, still in the back of the van, heard a “black voice” tell Flores to halt in a loud, demanding tone.

Flores was carrying money bags in his left hand and had a weapon on his right hip. Flores turned to face the men but made no move toward his weapon. As Flores turned, two or three shots rang out, and Flores fell to the ground, “flopping like a chicken.” It was determined that Flores was killed by a bullet from either a rifle or a pistol.

One of the men, armed with a pistol, approached Flores, bent over him, and began firing shots at the van about three seconds after the original shots. The “black voice” then screamed, “bitch, open the door” at Wright, who was still in the back of the armored van. After more shots were fired at the van, the men broke the glass on the driver’s side of the van.

Meanes entered the van. Meanes then climbed over the driver’s seat to the passenger’s side, looked through the wire screen to the back of the truck where Wright was lying on the floor, poked a pistol through the screen, and said, “Get up bitch, right now or you’re dead.” Wright opened the back of the van and walked toward the store with her hands raised. Meanes and his co-defendant then left in the van with the man with the pistol as the passenger.

Investigation

After questioning, Meanes revealed the location of the weapons used in the robbery.

Police were directed towards a metal shed in a wooded area in 9000 block of Carsondale. Det. Gene Sharp found the empty van inside. Police searched the area and found several white cotton bags of cash that the robbers tried to hide.

An eyewitness explained to officers that he heard two men near his place of business. A helicopter was used to comb through the nearby field. The chase lasted about an hour after which the suspects were arrested.

In addition, prosecutors said that Santana and James Meanes blew out the van’s windows with shotgun blasts, unlocked its doors, ordered another guard out of the vehicle, and drove off.

Arrest

Meanes and Santana were captured soon thereafter in a cane patch a few blocks from the scene of the robbery.

They were arrested a quarter-mile away within an hour.

Trial

Santana and James Meanes were convicted and sentenced to death.

Santana never denied involvement in the heist and killing, but mentioned that he was distraught over the death of his mother.

Sentencing

Both Meanes and Santana were convicted and sentenced to death.

The record stated: “No execution date for Mr. Meanes has been set.”

Appeals

The Supreme Court rejected two late-hour appeals, one just minutes before the execution.

The execution was delayed for nearly three hours due to a late motion that challenged the fairness of a clemency hearing. The Supreme Court turned Santana down at about 2:30 a.m.

Outcome

Carlos Santana was executed by lethal injection in Texas on March 23, 1993. He was pronounced dead at 2:54 a.m., March 23, 1993. Santana was put to death just before 3 A.M.

His execution was described as the 55th in Texas and the 196th nationwide since the Supreme Court allowed states to resume capital punishment in 1976. Texas’s total was described as the highest in the nation. Santana was described as the first person to die that year and the 55th in Texas since reinstating the death penalty in 1976.

Dominican Republic officials tried to block Santana’s execution.

In a final statement, Santana said:

“Love is the answer, not hatred,”

Santana’s last meal request was:

“Justice, Temperance, with Mercy”

Santana’s last words were:

“I love you guys. I will see some of you in the state of heaven. Bye.”

Other details

Oliver Flores was a 29-year-old security guard who worked for the company and was shot while he sat in the van after making a stop in front of a Houston department store.

Wright escaped the incident without injury.

The suspects were described as Carlos Santana, a 21-year-old mechanic from the Dominican Republic, and James Meanes, a 24-year-old unemployed Houston man.

Witnesses described the robbery as “like a scene out of a movie.”

The narrative included that two men in olive jumpsuits and baseball caps parked a blue car with no license plates in a handicapped space.

Police said the two men planned the heist very well. Police also said the men were equipped with a portable police radio scanner to keep tabs on the entire situation.

It was stated that the heist was a “$1.1 million holdup,” and that the $1.1 million was missing after the stolen van was found.

Santana’s lawyer was described as former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

A quote attributed to Santana included “Love is the answer, not hatred.”