Antonin Scalia's last act as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice was reportedly denying a stay of execution for Texas murder convict Gustavo Garcia, who was executed Tuesday,
ThinkProgress reported.
"Just three days before his own death, Scalia denied Garcia’s plea for a stay of execution," the website wrote Wednesday. "The late justice’s order was consistent with his unrelenting stance on capital punishment."
Scalia died on Saturday after reportedly issuing the denial on Wednesday.
At 6:26 p.m. CST on Tuesday, 43-year-old Garcia was pronounced dead after receiving a state-administered lethal injection.
His final words were: "To my family, to my mom, I love you. God bless you. Stay strong. I’m done."
In December 1990 and January 1991, Garcia killed Craig Turski and Gregory Martin, respectively, during two separate robberies.
In the first, Garcia, 18 years old at the time, entered a liquor store in the Dallas suburb of Plano with accomplice Christopher Vargas, then 15,
Reuters reported.
Garcia demanded money from the cash register while his accomplice stole beer, and he then shot the clerk, Turski, in the abdomen using a sawed-off shotgun. Turski attempted to flee, at which time Garcia shot him in the back of the head, killing him.
Garcia was arrested during his second robbery attempt a month later, after killing gas station attendant Gregory Martin.
Garcia confessed to the two murders, and underwent years of court proceedings.
"A little more than a year after Craig Turski’s murder, his killer was sentenced to die by injection. There were appeals. An attempted prison break. An execution date stayed. A new sentencing trial. Then more appeals,"
explained The Dallas Morning News.
"He was just a callous murderer," Turski's brother, Kevin, said ahead of the execution date. "They took the money, and they shot him anyway."
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