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Momzilla

Badass/PTA Mom
Former Mexican Mafia member & 3X murderer was the 10th & last prisoner to be executed in TX in 2014

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Triple murderer & Mexican Mafia member Miguel Paredes
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Artwork by Paredes entitled "Execution"
A former gang member blew kisses to friends on Tuesday night as he sat strapped to a gurney inside a Texas prison for a triple homicide that he was convicted of more than a decade ago.

Miguel Angel Paredes, 32, attempted to make peace with family members of the victims — none of which were present — with a final statement that he prepared inside the walls of the Huntsville facility.

“To the victim's family, I want you to know that I hope you let go of all the hate because of my actions,” said Paredes, a member of the Texas prison gang Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos — or Brotherhood of Latin Gunmen. “The lion came here as a lamb.”

Approximately 22 minutes after the lethal injection of pentobarbital, and following a series of shallow breaths and slight snores, the man was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m. on Tuesday.

“He went so peacefully,” said his friend, Martha Hamilton, from inside the witness room, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle.

Dorothy Ruelas, another friend present Tuesday night, said Paredes is now “free.”

His final meal was a cheesesteak sandwich, two sodas and a Gatorade.

The former Mafia member murdered Adrian Torres, 27; his girlfriend Nelly Esmerelda Bravo, 23; and Shawn Michael Cain, 32, in 2000. He was convicted of capital murder in 2001 for the crimes. His accomplices, who wrapped up the bodies and burned them in a remote area of Texas, are currently serving life sentences.

[...]
Paredes, who spent approximately a year in the gang when he was 17 years old, had injured two people during two drive-by shootings, executed a gang member, told another person to kill a man and robbed a random person at gunpoint. He had also burned the body of a woman who had overdosed.

He said it took him five years to move on from his rage and has since urged his 16-year-old son to stay away from gang activity.

“The gangs, they'll tell you they're going to be there for you, for your family if you fall, get killed, this and that,” he said. “But the reality is that if it wasn't for your loved ones, your family members, you're gonna wind up in the state cemetery.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-inmate-blows-kisses-execution-article-1.1991556
 
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He said it took him five years to move on from his rage and has since urged his 16-year-old son to stay away from gang activity.
“The gangs, they'll tell you they're going to be there for you, for your family if you fall, get killed, this and that,” he said. “But the reality is that if it wasn't for your loved ones, your family members, you're gonna wind up in the state cemetery.”

No fan of POS murderers (my brother was murdered) but this was a nice way for him to go out.

And kudos to Texas. executed at 32 while he can still remember what he did to get there, unlike here in CA where he would be at least 62...
 
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It's hard for me to imagine that the person who created this ethereal artwork is the same person who callously gunned down & burned the bodies of his 3 victims. It's also believed that he was involved in several other murders & robberies in his brief time as a gang banger. Who knows how different his life could have been if he had pursued a career in art rather than a career in violence. Just a sad waste of a life really.

[...]
Paredes, then a member of the Texas prison gang Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos (Brotherhood of Latin Gunmen), was convicted in 2001 of capital murder in the deaths Nelly Bravo and Shawn Michael Cain, both 23, and Adrian Torres, 27. He and co-defendants John Anthony “Chino” Saenz and Greg Alvarado wrapped the bodies in carpet, dumped them in a rural part of Frio County and set them on fire.

Saenz and Alvarado are each serving life sentences.

Prosecutors presented evidence at Paredes' trial that in a little more than a year with the gang, when he was 17 and 18, he participated in two drive-by shootings in which four people were injured, he executed another gang member, ordered the killing of another man, robbed a good Samaritan at gunpoint and disposed of the body of a woman who had overdosed by burning her corpse.

[...]
Accepting responsibility and coming to remorse was a slow process for Paredes, he said last week, estimating it took five years before he let go of his rage.

“Now I think that if you see my state of being right now, I'm not angry,” he said. “Before, when I saw the officers I saw my executioners, the people who were trying to take my life away. Now, today, I see them and I see the parent, the sister, the mother that has her siblings.”

Paredes spent much of his final days visiting with family, praying and listening to music, according to information provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. On Tuesday, he read, slept and feasted on a cheese steak sandwich, two sodas and a Gatorade provided by a visiting friend.

“I think that criminals, and society, we're blind to who's really being harmed,” Paredes told the Express-News last week, discussing his realization that dealings between gang members affected more than just gang members. “Now, if the death penalty did work, I don't have a problem with me. Me, I've accepted it and I'm at peace with it.

“But it shatters me that I've seen the loved ones of people up to this day still suffering. Still feeling that grief, still not being able to recuperate from seeing their loved one executed in front of their eyes.”
http://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...ate-from-San-Antonio-ready-to-die-5847942.php
 
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I'm just gonna say it. It may have taken five yrs. and facing his own mortality to wake him up, but he left a better man, IMO. If I had my way, his truly amazing artwork, and his words would appear in/on every media outlet from here to Colombia.

The DP is definitely not a "deterrent to crime," IMO, but death bed wisdom like this in the context of life lessons learned is rare, and shouldn't just fade away into historical nothingness when it could help so many kids sitting on the gang banger fence. Again, JMOs.
 
All that talent gone; he could have had a career in art, brought beauty and inspiration to others. But NOOOO, he had to join a fuckin' gang.
Homey the Clown, Dave Chapelle Show, in a skit had it right. He grabbed a little boy who was talking about being a gangsta, shoved him head first in a garbage can! All the while ranting, "Yo dumb ass wanna be in a dumb ass gang? THIS is what being in a gang gets you...NOTHING but garbage"!

Gangs are stupid and so-called gangstas are stupid.
 
collagemp.jpg


It's hard for me to imagine that the person who created this ethereal artwork is the same person who callously gunned down & burned the bodies of his 3 victims. It's also believed that he was involved in several other murders & robberies in his brief time as a gang banger. Who knows how different his life could have been if he had pursued a career in art rather than a career in violence. Just a sad waste of a life really.


http://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...ate-from-San-Antonio-ready-to-die-5847942.php
I am constantly amazed at how many great Chican artists will never get noticed or known for anything but their crimes. Seen many gangbangers that with another outlet could have sold incredible artwork
 
QUOTE: He said it took him five years to move on from his rage.....

His victims didn't even have that 5 years to live and their family members has the rest of their lives to miss them. I just the rest of the scumbags that were involved were put to death as well.
 
All that talent gone; he could have had a career in art, brought beauty and inspiration to others. But NOOOO, he had to join a fuckin' gang.
Ironically, there is a very successful artist with the same name: Miguel Paredes. He kept popping up when I was looking for pics of the other Miguel's artwork. Looking at these 2 men, it's almost like seeing 'what could have been' had the inmate Miguel made a few positive decisions vs. the horrible decisions he made. Those decisions were ultimately the difference between life & death.

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Graffiti artist Miguel Paredes
http://www.miguelparedes.com/
 
I don't think the DP is much of a deterrent either; anyway, it's too goddam EXPENSIVE. Put 'em in prison and make them WORK for privileges. Let them keep some for Comissary' the rest goes to the prison. It works for Angola.

Still, he repented and made a good death; that should lighten his karma and maybe he'll pass thru the veil and find a better life. Doesn't excuse or explain why he did such a horrible thing, but I wish he'd gotten LWOP. (I am mean even when I try to be understanding) LWOP gives you a l-o-o-o-ong time to think about what you did, why you did it, and what it got you. Lifers will tell you prison sucks ass and blows shit <---- vulgar but true. Once again, my cliche...You take a life, you GIVE a life.
 
“He went so peacefully,” said his friend, Martha Hamilton,
This pisses me off to no end. They don't deserve to go "so peacefully", they didn't afford their victims that chance so why the fuck do we give that to the murderers?

Ugh! It really pisses me off!
 
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