DEADLINE TO SIGN IS JULY 7!
Ramiro is scheduled to be executed for the murder of Bridget Townsend, a crime he committed when he had barely turned 18 years old. At the time, he was reeling from drug addiction and traumatized by the aftermath of his childhood, which was marred by physical and sexual abuse, poverty, and neglect. His childhood had left psychological scars so extreme that he did not want to live.
But after 15 years on death row, Ramiro is a transformed human being. Everyone who has met Ramiro - from correctional officers to doctors, experts, lawyers, advocates, and loved ones - attests that he is a living and breathing example of our human capacity to transform and heal.
Even the state’s trial expert, who once testified that Ramiro was a future danger to society, has said he was wrong: Ramiro is not a danger. Ramiro should live.
Not only has Ramiro worked hard to overcome his own trauma, he’s also done immense work to reflect on his actions, take accountability for the pain he inflicted on others, and seek redemption and atonement through his spiritual practice and his conduct in prison.
For over a year and a half, Ramiro has sought to become an in vivo kidney donor, and donate his kidney as a life-giving act. Over the last 18 months, he has taken concrete steps to give his kidney, and entered the donation process with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston., where doctors not only approved Ramiro as a donor, but described him as an “excellent candidate.” Ramiro has a rare B blood type, and kidney-failure patients with this blood type often wait years - even up to a decade - for a kidney. Ramiro will not be able to donate his kidney after his execution because it will be contaminated with execution drugs.
--abe
Abraham J. Bonowitz