Texas man executed for 2004 murder offers apology to victim's children before death
Houston: A 41-year-old man who was convicted of murdering a young mother over two decades ago was executed in Texas on Wednesday and spent his final moments apologizing to her children for the pain he had caused.
Moises Sandoval Mendoza was executed by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for murdering 20-year-old Rachelle O'Neil Tolleson in 2004. Court documents state that he raped Tolleson, killed her, and then burned her body and left it in a ditch. Her body was found days later.
Tolleson, mother of a five-month-old infant, had known Mendoza since high school. He pleaded guilty to the crime and petitioned to have his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment, but all legal options were ultimately exhausted. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his last appeal earlier on Wednesday.
In a statement released just before his execution, Mendoza spoke to the victim's family, stating, “To Avery… I robbed you of a mother. I’m sorry for that.” He conceded that no apology would make up for the damage he had inflicted, and he apologized to Tolleson's family.
His execution is the 13th in the United States this year. Although the means used to kill Mendoza was lethal injection, some of the most recent executions involved nitrogen gas and firing squads, tactics that have been strongly criticized by international human rights organizations. The death penalty is a point of national contention, with 23 U.S. states abolishing it and others holding moratoriums.
After the execution, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reaffirmed his belief in capital punishment, saying, "I will always do everything in my power to defend the law and hold criminals accountable."
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Stock markets take breather after sharp rally, Sensex tanks 1,282 pts as IT shares retreat
Mumbai, May 13 (PTI): Stock markets tumbled on Tuesday with benchmark Sensex falling by 1,282 points due to profit-taking in IT, auto and private banking shares a day after a record rally.
The 30-share BSE barometer tanked 1,281.68 points or 1.55 per cent to settle at 81,148.22 with 25 of its constituents closing with losses and five with gains. During the day, it fell sharply by 1,386.21 points or 1.68 per cent to 81,043.69.
The broader Nifty of NSE dropped 346.35 points or 1.39 per cent to 24,578.35.
From the Sensex firms, Infosys declined the most by 3.54 per cent. Power Grid dropped 3.4 per cent, Eternal by 3.38 per cent, HCL Tech by 2.94 per cent, Tata Consultancy Services by 2.88 per cent and Bharti Airtel by 2.74 per cent. IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Maruti, Tata Motors, and M&M were also among the laggards.
Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India and Tech Mahindra were the gainers.
Profit-taking was evident across the board, with IT, FMCG, and auto sectors emerging as the top losers, Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.
"The domestic market witnessed profit booking today, following yesterday’s sharp rally. The relief-driven surge—fuelled by easing global and domestic risks, including a reduction in trade war tensions and Indo-Pak geopolitical stress—appears to be taking a breather," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
Sensex and Nifty logged their best single-day gains in absolute terms on Monday following buying by retail and foreign investors after India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop military actions and the US and China announced a deal to lower tariffs significantly. The indices raced nearly 4 per cent on Monday on across the board rally.
Broader markets closed with gains on Tuesday with the BSE smallcap gauge jumping 0.99 per cent and midcap index by 0.17 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT tanked 2.44 per cent, teck (2.39 per cent), IT (2.21 per cent), utilities (1.35 per cent), power (1 per cent), metal (0.95 per cent) and oil & gas (0.95 per cent).
Healthcare, industrials, capital goods, services and consumer durables were the gainers.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai's SSE Composite index settled in the positive territory while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended lower. European markets were trading mostly higher.
US markets ended significantly higher on Monday following easing of trade tensions between China and the US. The Nasdaq Composite surged 4.35 per cent, S&P 500 jumped 3.26 per cent and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2.81 per cent.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.32 per cent to USD 65.17 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,246.48 crore on Monday after a day's breather, according to exchange data.
