Execution Report: Arnold Prieto

Arnold Prieto, 41, was executed by lethal injection on 21 January 2015 in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of three people in their home.

On 10 September 1993, Prieto, then 20; Lupe Hernandez; and Lupe's brother, Jesse Hernandez, 16; set out from Carrollton, a suburb north of Dallas, driving to San Antonio in Prieto's car. They arrived early the next morning, before sunrise, at the home of Lupe and Jesse's great aunt, Virginia Rodriguez, 62, and her husband, Rodolfo, 72. Also living in the home was Paula Moran, 92, who had once worked for the Rodriguezes as a nanny. The Rodriguezes ran a check-cashing business from their home.

Lupe knocked on the door. Mrs. Rodriguez let the men inside and prepared breakfast for them. After they ate, the men stabbed all three residents of the home to death. They stole money and jewelry from the home, then drove back to Prieto's home in Carrollton and divided their takings.

The crime scene was discovered by the Rodriguezes' daughter-in-law, Maria Rodriguez. Rodolfo Rodriguez had been stabbed 17 times, Virginia Rodriguez was stabbed 31 times, and Paula Moran was stabbed 8 times. According to police, the weapons used were a screwdriver, an ice pick, and a knife.

Authorities had no leads about the case until March 1994, when they received a series of anonymous tips. Two detectives from the San Antonio Police Department then traveled to Carrollton. They questioned Jesse Hernandez, who was engaged to Prieto's sister and was the father of her child. Jesse blamed all three killings on Prieto. Prieto and Lupe were subsequently arrested. After four hours of interrogations, Prieto gave a lengthy confession.

According to Prieto's confession, he met the Hernandez brothers in May 1993, and they introduced him to cocaine. By August, he had lost his job, and the three were meeting each night to snort cocaine and watch movies. He soon began falling behind on payments for his rent, utilities, and car loan. When he mentioned his financial situation, the brothers, particularly Lupe, would often mention their rich uncle in San Antonio. They told Prieto that their uncle was a loan shark who kept $10,000 in his closet.

On the day they left Carrollton, Prieto and Lupe were taking cocaine, and Lupe repeatedly asserted that he wanted to go to San Antonio to get his uncle's money. Prieto stated the planned crime was not his idea and that Lupe "pressured" him into going. They took cocaine throughout the trip.

Prieto claimed that he was too scared and preoccupied to remember the details of what the men discussed on the way to San Antonio, but he did remember Lupe told Jesse and him to remove their socks and place them over their hands when they killed the victims, so as not to leave any fingerprints. Prieto remembered Jesse testing this idea on the car windows. Prieto stated that when they arrived at the victims' home, he wanted to stay in the car, but Lupe made him get out.

Prieto recalled how Virginia Rodriguez, who was "very nice," prepared eggs and tortillas and poured orange juice for him. He said that when he finished the breakfast, he put his dirty dishes in the sink and thought nothing was going to happen. Jesse then called him into a bedroom adjoining the kitchen, where Mr. Rodriguez was sitting. He then heard Mrs. Rodriguez screaming in the kitchen. He looked and saw Lupe stabbing her with what looked like a long screwdriver. Mr. Rodriguez attempted to help her, but Prieto pushed him down and held him on the bed. Jesse then handed him a screwdriver, and Prieto stabbed him "a lot of times." He remembered stabbing Mr. Rodriguez once through the back of the head. Next, Lupe yelled at him to "move," and he went into the kitchen, where he saw Mrs. Rodriguez's body on the kitchen floor. He claimed that this sight made him feel faint. He then heard a loud pop in the living room and saw Mrs. Moran on the living room floor, with her head "sort of propped up" against the wall. Next, he saw Jesse pry open a closet door and ransack the closet, emptying several large envelopes. On the way out, he saw Mrs. Moran moving. Jesse stopped and stabbed her repeatedly. Lupe then took a purse from the bedroom where Prieto had stabbed Mr. Rodriguez.

Prieto stated that when Lupe and Jesse divided up the property, he received a man's gold ring, a small gold chain with a crucifix pendant, and about a hundred dollars. Two days later, he told Lupe he needed money, and Lupe gave him a couple of necklaces and a pair of earrings, which he pawned.

Police recovered the stolen ring from a friend of Prieto's. The friend said Prieto told him that he and the Hernandez brothers committed the killings.

According to the Texas attorney general's office, Prieto was indicted in January 1994, while he was awaiting his capital murder trial, on a federal charge of engaging in organized criminal activity, for stealing 163 laptop computers worth an estimated $676,000 from his Dallas-area employer. He was said to be associated with an organized crime ring involved in the theft and resale of various products including computers, furniture, tires, and chemicals. The attorney general's press release did not indicate how the indictment was disposed. It also stated that Prieto was arrested and confessed to burglarizing a car, two trucks, and two vans in 1990.

Prosecutors offered Prieto two 30-year sentences in prison in lieu of the death penalty if he testified against the Hernandez brothers, but he turned down the deal.

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