Police say he confessed to raping and killing an 11-year-old girl, but Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco denied it just before his death sentence was carried out.

By JAMIE JONES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 3, 2002

Sanchez-Velasco

STARKE -- In the end, Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco admitted he was a murderer and said he was ready to die for his crimes.

But not for the one for which he was strapped to a gurney at the Florida State Prison and executed Wednesday.

The 43-year-old Cuban refugee insisted he did not rape and strangle 11-year-old Katixa "Kathy" Ecenarro of Hialeah in 1986, though police say he confessed.

"It does not matter who believes me and who won't believe me," Sanchez-Velasco said in a statement released after his execution. "I cannot call myself totally innocent because I have committed all kinds of sins, including murder."

Sanchez-Velasco was pronounced dead at 9:39 a.m. It was the state's execution since January 2001.

The execution happened four weeks before the Nov. 5 election, a fact that prompted death penalty opponents to accuse Bush of playing politics.

"This is a sideshow to the election," said Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

But Bush said Sanchez-Velasco deserved to die for his crimes and that further delays would be irresponsible.

"There was a mother of the 11-year-old child who was raped and murdered," Bush said. "Think about her for a moment. Think about her family. I hope they get closure on this thing."

Katixa's stepmother traveled from Spain to witness the execution. "They were nine long minutes, but justice was done," said Celia Ecenarro. "And that is the truth. Justice was done. I don't think he realized the amount of pain he caused."

Sanchez-Velasco also was convicted of killing two fellow death row inmates, Edwin "Mike" Kaprat III, a Hernando County serial killer, and Charles Street, a convicted cop killer.

Sanchez-Velasco had dropped his appeals, the state's fifth inmate to volunteer for death since 1987.

Wednesday's execution took place after Sanchez-Velasco had been declared competent by three state-appointed psychiatrists who interviewed him Tuesday. Bush then lifted an execution stay he had issued a day earlier.

On Wednesday, Bush also lifted a stay he had imposed for the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos after questions were raised about their competency. Wuornos, who also has dropped her appeals, is scheduled for execution next Wednesday.

Inside a small room at the prison, brown curtains opened at 9:31 a.m. Sanchez-Velasco lay quietly on a gurney, his new navy dress pants hidden beneath a white sheet. He looked out at the 26 people there to witness his execution.

"Thank you," he mouthed to the two people who wished him well, Father Fred Ruse and Craig DeThomasis, his former attorney.

At 9:30 the night before, Sanchez-Velasco ate his last meal -- chicken fried rice, fish filets, avocado salad and cheesecake. After dinner, he met with his brother and two nephews. He watched television from his cell and slept for 45 minutes.

He asked for Ruse, of St. Matthews Catholic Church in Winter Haven, who arrived at 3:30 a.m.

Sanchez-Velasco refused a Valium before the execution.

His last words were: "I love you, everybody."

As chemicals flowed, Sanchez-Velasco blinked his eyes and his feet twitched. After several minutes, his eyes began to close, and two doctors pronounced him dead.

DeThomasis of Gainesville said he didn't think Sanchez-Velasco had denied the murder publicly before and wasn't sure what to make of it.

"I don't know that there is a case to be made, that there was an innocent man who is executed," DeThomasis said.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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