Two men - one Hispanic, one black - were executed in Texas this week, bringing to 15 the number of people put to death in the south-western state this year, prison authorities and the Death Penalty Information Center said. Ramon Hernandez, 41, and Preston Hughes, 46, received lethal injections Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, after 10 and 23 years on death row.
So far in 2012, a total of 40 men have been put to death in the US. Hernandez was convicted for the 2002 murder in San Antonio of a 37-year-old Hispanic woman he and two accomplices were accused of having kidnapped, stripped, raped and killed, before burying her body in the woods, according to Texas prison authorities. His last words were dedicated to other convicts on death row: "I know you're going through a lot over there. Keep fighting, don't give up everybody," a prison spokesman reported.