Ángel Nieves Díaz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section, while providing some complete reference citations, includes a list of references or external links, and its verifiability remains partly unclear because it has insufficient in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.

Ángel Nieves Díaz (August 31, 1951 – December 13, 2006) was a Puerto Rican convict who was executed by lethal injection in Raiford, Florida. Nieves Díaz was convicted for shooting and killing the manager of a strip club in 1979.^[1] He maintained his innocence until his execution.

1 Biography
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Youth and early crimes

Born in poverty in Puerto Rico, Nieves Díaz was quickly involved in the world of crime and drugs, going by the nickname Papo la Muerte (Papa Death). In 1978, he was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison for second-degree murder of a director of Hogares Crea (a drug rehabilitation organization on the island) by stabbing him nineteen times while he was asleep.^{[citation needed]}

He was imprisoned in the Río Piedras State Penitentiary in Puerto Rico (also known as Oso Blanco). While imprisoned he was a member of the Convicts Association. However, a year later, he managed to escape and fled to the Mainland United States. In 1981, he fled the Hartford Correctional Center in Connecticut by holding one guard at knifepoint while another was beaten as he and three other inmates escaped.^{[citation needed]}

According to the Puerto Rican socialist newspaper Claridad, the FBI approached Nieves Díaz and offered to "clean his slate" if he signed a sworn declaration which would implicate Puerto Rican Socialist Party politician and Claridad publisher Carlos Gallisá, whom he had previously met through the prison gang the Ñetas, in activities of the terrorist group Los Macheteros, but that Nieves Díaz denied the petition.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Crime and conviction

On December 29, 1979, Nieves Díaz and two friends, Angel Toro and another yet-unidentified man, robbed the Velvet Swing Lounge, a strip club in Florida. During the robbery, Joseph Nagy, the manager, was shot to death. There were no eyewitnesses because most of the employees and patrons were locked in a public toilet.^{[citation needed]}

In 1983, Nieves Díaz's girlfriend at the time told the police that he was involved. In 1986, he was tried and convicted. He claimed, however, that Toro committed the crime. Finally the jury sentenced him to death by an 8-4 vote. Nieves Díaz was found guilty of the charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, attempted robbery, and felon in possession of a firearm.^{[citation needed]}

The testimony of a fellow inmate of Dade County, Ralph Gajus, was also crucial on Díaz conviction and sentence. In 1984, Gajus testified that Nieves Díaz had confessed in his cell that he had shot Nagy. This was despite the fact that Nieves Díaz hardly spoke English and Gajus understood no Spanish. Still, his testimony was taken in consideration.^{[citation needed]}

Later, one of Nieves Díaz's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to consider a sworn declaration of Gajus taken more recently in which he confessed he lied in his initial declaration. Gajus was allegedly angry with Nieves Díaz for having been left out of an escape attempt earlier and the police allegedly promised to help Gajus with his case.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Execution

In 2006, Nieves Díaz's last appeal was denied. As the date of the execution came closer, the case was again brought to the public knowledge. In November 28, 2006, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá asked the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, for clemency in the case. However, the petition was denied.^{[citation needed]}

On December 13, 2006, Nieves Díaz was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford. He did not order a last meal, but was served a prison menu of shredded turkey with taco seasoning, shredded cheese, rice, pinto beans, tortilla shells, apple crisp, and iced tea. His final statement was: "The state of Florida is killing an innocent person. The state of Florida is committing a crime, because I am innocent. The death penalty is not only a form of vengeance, but also a cowardly act by humans. I'm sorry for what is happening to me and my family who have been put through this."^[2] A great amount of controversy surrounded the execution because, contrary to the usual practices, Nieves Díaz needed an additional dose of drugs to be executed. The whole process took approximately 37 minutes as opposed to the usual 15 minutes. The family declared the procedure a botched execution.^{[citation needed]}

Gretl Plessinger, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections, said that Nieves Díaz did not feel any pain and that a liver condition was the cause of the delay, but the family then denied that Nieves Díaz suffered any such condition.^[3] A further investigation concluded that there was negligence in the colocation of the needles in Nieves Díaz's arms which prevented the drugs from fully reaching his organs.^[4] As a result of this, Jeb Bush postponed all other pending executions until further notice.^[5] However, on July 18, 2007, the new governor, Charlie Crist, lifted the ban by signing a death warrant, authorizing execution of Mark Dean Schwab.^[6]