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Ray Jasper, an aspiring rapper who was convicted 15 years ago for killing a studio owner, has been executed.
Officials announced on Wednesday (March 19) that Jasper was pronounced dead at 6:31PM CT after a lethal does of pentobarbital was injected into his body.
The 33-year-old inmate was sentenced to death for the murder of David Alejandro. Jasper cut his throat and then stabbed him to death during a robbery in November 1998. Two other men who assisted in the slaying are serving life sentences for their actions.
According to KSAT News, before being put to death, the 33-year-old inmate spoke quietly, asking his family to “take care of each other, stay strong and faithful to God.” He also thanked his supporters and told his daughter “to be strong and have a great life.”
Jasper then asked that the “Lord God almighty in heaven Jesus Christ see my spirit.”
No one from Alejandro’s family, who are in opposition of the death penalty, was in attendance. Instead, they decided to spend the evening together in San Antonio, Texas.
In a seven-page letter to Gawker, Jasper wrote about the prison industry and offer his thoughts on the death penalty.
“The death penalty needs to be abolished,” he wrote. “Life without parole is still a death sentence. The only difference is time. To say you need to kill a person in a shorter amount of time is just seeking revenge on that person.”
Jasper is the third inmate to be executed this year in Texas, which holds the record of executing more people than any other state in the U.S.
