Texas completes its third execution of 2025

As reported in this local article, “Death row inmate Moises Mendoza was executed Wednesday for the murder of a former high school classmate in 2004, becoming the third man executed by Texas this year.”  Here is more:

Mendoza, 41, was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m., according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office. In his final statement, Mendoza told his loved ones he was at peace and apologized to the family of Rachelle Tolleson, whom he killed in 2004….

Mendoza confessed to killing 20-year-old Tolleson in a small town outside of Dallas, before his 2005 trial.  According to court documents, Mendoza took Tolleson from her Farmersville home, where she was alone with her 5-month-old daughter, and sexually assaulted the woman before killing her and leaving her body in a field.

Mendoza later moved Tolleson’s body to a more remote location and burned it, where a man found it six days later, according to court records.  Mendoza has contested the sexual assault, claiming Tolleson left willingly with him, however, he did admit to killing her.

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis released a statement after the execution, memorializing Tolleson and claiming justice was “finally carried out.”

“Nothing can undo what Rachelle’s loved ones have endured. But justice is not about erasing the past — it’s about honoring the life that was taken,” Willis said in the statement.

Mendoza’s lawyers filed several appeals, including one to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, alleging prosecutors had used false testimony during Mendoza’s sentencing to convince jurors he would be violent while incarcerated.  Those appeals were struck down April 15.