Michael Dean “Spider” Gonzales sat quietly as his execution orders were read aloud and signed by Ector County Judge John Shrode of the 358th District Courtroom.
Gonzales’ execution by lethal injection is scheduled for sometime after 6 p.m. March 8, 2022, at the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at Huntsville.
The hearing took place Wednesday afternoon, which also happened to be Gonzales’ 48th birthday.
The occupied gallery in the 358th District Courtroom listened silently to the execution orders.
Gonzales entered the courtroom quietly and left without saying anything to the gallery. The gallery was also asked by the courtroom bailiff to not say anything and make any hand gestures toward Gonzales who was wearing thick-rimmed glasses, his black hair still combed from front to back with a full beard that featured grey hairs poking through his mask.
Gonzales was sentenced to death for the April 22, 1994, stabbing deaths of Manuel and Merced Aguirre, and has been going through appeals since his initial 1995 conviction and 2009 resentencing.
The Aguirres were longtime neighbors of Gonzales.
According to court records, Gonzales was convicted of the offense of capital murder on Dec. 7, 1995. On Dec. 8, 1995, the court sentenced Gonzales to death in accordance with the findings of the jury. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence and denied the defendant’s initial state habeas application. The defendant was retried on punishment in 2009.
On May 7, 2009, the court again sentenced the defendant to death in accordance with the findings of the jury, the court records show. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the sentence and subsequently dismissed the defendant’s state habeas application.
