Texas Death Row Inmate Addresses Victim’s Family Moments Before Execution

A Texas Department of Criminal Justice photo shows Texas death row inmate Mark Soliz. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)

A Texas man was executed on the evening of Sept. 10 for the slaying of a 61-year-old woman, it was reported.

Mark Anthony Soliz, 37, died via lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas, reported the Huntsville Item news outlet.

For his last words, he issued a statement to the family of the victim.

“I wanted to apologize for the grief and the pain that I caused y‘all. I’ve been considering changing my life. It took me 27 years to do so. Man, I want to apologize, I don’t know if me passing will bring y’all comfort for the pain and suffering I caused y‘all. I am at peace,” he said. “Oh man I didn’t know if y’all would come or not, but I am glad y‘all did so I could talk to y’all. I know the pain when I talk to my grandma. I’m just glad I got a chance to talk to y'all.”

Mark Anthony Soliz was executed Tuesday evening for the murder of Nancy Hatch Weatherly in 2010. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)

Soliz was convicted for killing Nancy Weatherly inside her home in Godley, according to the report. Over the years, he attempted to appeal his execution, but they were ultimately turned down. The most recent denial came on Monday.

“I have represented Mr. Soliz for many years. Every legal tool in my kit was deployed to prevent this execution. The hope endures, the fight goes on, and the cause never dies,” Seth Kretzer, one of Soliz’s attorneys, said in a statement, reported CBS News.

His lawyers had argued that Soliz suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome, leaving him with brain damage. “Our argument (was) the Supreme Court is extending that doctrine to fetal alcohol syndrome,” Kretzer said.

A condemned inmate is led out of his east block cell on death row at San Quentin State Prison, in San Quentin, Calif. on Mar. 13, 2019. (Eric Risberg/AP)

However, the prosecution in the case said that Soliz was a dangerous criminal who killed Weatherly, a grandmother, for a “pittance of property.”

They said that Soliz and another man, Jose Ramos, committed around 13 crimes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over eight days in 2010. In one instance, they shot and killed a deliveryman and drove a stolen vehicle to Weatherly’s home.

A friend of Soliz told jurors that he had bragged about shooting an “old lady” in a Godley home.

According to the CBS report, police were able to link Soliz to Weatherly’s slaying via fingerprint and ballistics evidence.

Soliz was the 15th inmate put to death in 2019 in the United States and the sixth in Texas, The Associated Press reported.