Bob Ray Sanders speaks about Luis Ramirez

By Bob Ray Sanders,

 

Any dying man, or one who is close to death, ought to have his say.

No matter what anyone may think of him, regardless of what he may have done and despite how and why he dies, he should be heard if he has the will to speak.

And the least we can do is listen.

Sadly, I've heard too many dying words -- some from loved ones with debilitating, incurable diseases; a few from those who, out of despair, decided to take their own lives; and, regretfully, far too many from people who had become victims of a bloodthirsty state that kills in the name of the law.

Luis Ramirez has an appointment with death Thursday evening.

I've never met him, but we've communicated by mail, so I feel as if we know each other. Even if there had been no contact, this would be a distressing day for me as I contemplate his execution.

Ramirez, whom I first heard from about 1 1/2 years ago, was convicted in the death of a 19-year-old San Angelo man in 1998. The state said Ramirez hired Edward Bell to kill Nemicio Nandin, who was dating Ramirez's ex-wife.

Maintaining his innocence to this day, Ramirez insists that his conviction was based on the testimony of a paid informant. National anti-death-penalty groups and people from other countries have been petitioning Gov. Rick Perry to spare his life.

I don't know if he committed the crime or not; his guilt or innocence is not my main concern. I've fought practically all my life to rid Texas and the country of this insanity known as capital punishment.

Despite what many of you may believe, Ramirez is not just another number on Texas' Death Row. He is a human being, capable of thinking and feeling and, yes, dying.

The first letter I got from him was one he also had written to others, relating a story about another Death Row inmate, Napoleon Beazley, a teen-ager at the time of his offense whose last written message I printed shortly after he was executed in 2004.

Ramirez thought there was a story Beazley's family, and the rest of the world, ought to know about him.

Recalling his first day on Death Row, Ramirez wrote: "I came here in May of 1999. The exact date is something that I can't recall. I do remember arriving in the afternoon. I was placed in a cell on H-20 wing over at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville, TX. A Tsunami of emotions and thoughts were going through my mind at the time. I remember the only things in the cell were a mattress, pillow, a couple of sheets, a pillow case, a roll of toilet paper, and a blanket. I remember sitting there utterly lost."

He had expected the worst after first meeting Beazley and hearing the veteran inmate announce his name to the other convicts on the unit.

"Well, that's not what happened," he continued. "After supper was served, Napoleon was once again sweeping the floors. As he passed my cell, he swept a brown paper bag into it. I asked him, 'What's this?' He said for me to look inside and continued on his way. Man, I didn't know what to expect. I was certain it was something bad. Curiosity did get the best of me though. I carefully opened the bag. What I found was the last thing I ever expected to find on death row, and everything I needed. The bag contained some stamps, envelopes, notepad, pen, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, tooth brush, a pastry, a soda, and a cup of Ramen noodles. I remember asking Napoleon where this came from.

"He told me that everyone had pitched in. That they knew that I didn't have anything and that it may be a while before I could get them. I asked him to find out who had contributed. I wanted to pay them back. He said, 'It's not like that. Just remember the next time you see someone come here like you. You pitch in something.' "

In a letter sent to a local woman at about the same time in 2004, Ramirez reflected on capital punishment.

"As for the death penalty?" he wrote. "I don't know what it will take to put an end to it. It really is an ironic thing. The people of our state who are its most ardent supporters are also its most vulnerable victims. The poor and the middle class are the ones who support this thing, or make [up] a majority of those who do. And, it's the poor and middle class who make up the death row population.

"Ignorance of the way the system operates is literally killing us. The death penalty is here to protect only wealthy offenders. Those who can afford proper counsel, they don't come to death row. Even if they're as guilty as they can be. It's the poor and middle class who end up relying on incompetent but qualified court-appointed attorneys who fill the cells around me. I'm one of these myself!

"The system falls very short of the Utopian idea that is 'fair and equal justice for all.' The only things that will stop the death penalty are exposure of all its blunders and pitfalls. And, education of the public to what it really is. It's a legal lynching system. It's about revenge, it's anything but just."

These are the words of a man preparing to meet death at the hands of the state. Hear him well.