Juan Garza
| Juan Raul Garza | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 18, 1957 Brownsville, Texas |
| Died |
(aged 43) United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, Indiana, United States |
| Occupation | Drug trafficker |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
Juan Raul Garza (November 18, 1957 – June 19, 2001) was an American murderer and drug trafficker who was executed for a federal crime.
In 1993, Garza was convicted of murdering three people while running a marijuana smuggling and distribution ring based in Brownsville, Texas. He was sentenced to death and appealed on the basis that the jury were apparently not told that they had the power to recommend life imprisonment instead of the death sentence. Garza's lawyers also claimed that it was unfair that the jury were told that Garza was suspected of four murders in Mexico given that, although a prime suspect in these crimes, he had never been charged with, or convicted of them.
On July 13, 1999, federal authorities moved Garza, who had committed the crime in Texas but was under a federal death sentence, out of the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and into Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) custody. Garza was one of three condemned inmates moved from the Texas state male death row on that day due to the opening of the new federal death row wing in USP Terre Haute, Terre Haute, Indiana. Garza had TDCJ ID 999074 and BOP ID# 62728-079. All appeals failed, and on June 19, 2001, Garza was executed at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute by lethal injection.
This case was also filed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an independent human rights body of the Organization of American States (OAS). On December 4, 2000, the Commission adopted the merits report 109/00, which was transmitted to the State Department on December 5, 2000. The merits report stated that:
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