Convicted killer, Jesse Joe Hernandez, of 10-month-old boy, Karlos Borja, dies by lethal injection.

MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press
Updated 05:16 p.m., Wednesday, March 28, 2012
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HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court refused last-day appeals from convicted killer Jesse Joe Hernandez, clearing the way for his execution Wednesday evening for the 2001 beating death of a 10-month-old boy he was baby-sitting at a home in Dallas.

The high court ruling came about two hours before the 47-year-old Hernandez, who previously was convicted of a child sex offense, could be taken to the Texas death chamber for lethal injection. The justices' order was brief and did not include an explanation for their decision.

The execution would be the fourth this year in Texas. They don't play down here!!

Ten-month-old Karlos Borja had a skull fracture and bruises to his head, thigh and abdomen when he was taken to a Dallas hospital in April 2001. A week later, he was taken off life support and died. His 4-year-old sister had similar beating injuries to her head, ears and eyes but survived.

Hernandez's DNA was found in Karlos' blood on a pillowcase and on the child's clothing. The girl drew stick figures for police to help describe her attack.

Hernandez denied beating the children but later told a detective he may have hit the boy with a flashlight. He did not include the flashlight reference in a written confession in which he said he "just exploded and hit them with the back of (his) hand."

"They were being very bad by crying a lot for nothing," Hernandez wrote.

Howard Blackmon, the former assistant district attorney in Dallas County who prosecuted Hernandez, recalled seeing photos of the badly bruised boy connected to tubes while in the hospital and his sister's red, bruised forehead.

"I don't think Hernandez admitted to any intent to kill," he said. "He did admit to striking."

Jurors saw those images and also learned that Hernandez had a previous conviction for molesting a child and drug possession, had beat his ex-wife with a baseball bat, burned a girlfriend's child with cigarettes and was found with a shank while locked up in jail.

Court records showed Hernandez and his wife of six years had been living with the two children and their 22-year-old mother about three days in a Dallas house that had no running water. Hernandez and his wife were to watch the children while their mother was working as a waitress.

On April 11, 2001, Hernandez's wife left to run some errands. When she returned he told her the kids were sleeping and not to disturb them. Hours later, after their mother returned from work, the girl complained her head was hurting and the mother took her to a hospital. While they were gone, Hernandez's wife checked on Karlos, discovered his injuries and called paramedics. Police were then notified.

The slain boy's mother subsequently lost legal custody of her surviving daughter to the girl's grandmother.

In appealing the sentence, Hernandez's attorneys argued that his trial lawyers were deficient because they didn't pursue evidence that the boy was prematurely removed from life support and had toxic levels of the drug pentobarbital in his blood. The same barbiturate is used in the execution process in Texas.

The attorneys also claimed an initial appeals lawyer did not investigate the case beyond the trial record and that failure cost Hernandez his lone opportunity to raise substantive legal claims following his conviction.

Brad Levenson, director of the Texas Office of Capital Writs, said a more thorough investigation could have shown Hernandez wasn't responsible for the child's death.

The Texas attorney general's office opposed any delay, questioning whether the high court even had jurisdiction in the case because constitutional claims weren't raised earlier in state courts.

Thomas Jones, an assistant attorney general, said jurors who sent Hernandez to death row probably would not have approved of a trial strategy that attempted to shift blame for the child's death to the doctors treating him.

"Such an argument smacks of chutzpah," Jones told the Supreme Court.

At least six other condemned Texas inmates have execution dates scheduled for the coming months.

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EXECUTION WATCH: Jesse Joe Hernandez (TX)
Posted by Robbie Cooper at 5:59 am

Jesse Joe Hernandez
Thug: Jesse Joe Hernandez (36 at time of offense)
Date of Execution: March 28, 2012, sometime shortly after 6:00 pm HTT
Date of Crime: April 11, 2001
Victim(s): Karlos Borja (11 months)
Last Meal: Same shit salad being fed to every other thug on the row that day
Final Words: TBHernandez had previously been sentenced by a Dallas Country judge to 3 years for indecency with a child and possession of cocaine./li>
Pretty much the last guy you would want to leave watching your children. But that’s exactly what one mother did.

And it cost her the life of her 11-month old baby boy, Karlos Borja, whom Hernandez beat to death with a flashlight (Hernandez also beat the 4-year old sister with the flashlight, but she survived her head injuries).

Via the Houston Chronicle:

Prosecutors described 37-year-old handyman Jesse Joe Hernandez as a “baby-killing, child-molesting, woman-beating ex-con.”

The jury, which convicted Hernandez on Thursday, took 90 minutes Monday to decide on the punishment for killing Karlos Borja on April 11, 2001. The child suffered a fractured skull and was bruised and battered from head to toe.

The jury found that Hernandez posed a continuing threat to society and that there were no mitigating circumstances why his life should be spared.

According to testimony, Hernandez baby-sat Karlos and his 4-year-old sister while the children’s mother waited tables at a Mesquite restaurant.

Hernandez was linked to the fatal beating through traces of his DNA mixed with the boy’s blood on a pillowcase and a jumper.

Hernandez at first denied any role in beating the two children that afternoon. Later, he said he walked into the children’s room with a flashlight and backhanded them for crying too much. He told detectives he may have hit the children with the flashlight, the Dallas Morning News reported in its online edition Monday night.

He backhanded an 11-month old baby in the head with a heavy mag-flashlight because the baby was crying? There is a special place in hell for those who would harm the most innocent and defenseless — babies and the elderly.

Would you leave him alone with your children? I didn’t think so. Because there is a good chance that he would rape and/or murder your child. To me, that is the text book definition of “continuing threat.”

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note: edited version due to content.

I hope he suffers just like that poor child did.

Posted Wednesday, Mar. 28, 2012
BY MICHAEL GRACZYK
The Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE -- Smiling and laughing at times, a Death Row inmate from Dallas, convicted of fatally beating a 10-month-old boy in 2001, greeted witnesses in the execution chamber Wednesday.

"God bless everybody. Continue to walk with God," Jesse Joe Hernandez, 47, said. Moments later, he shouted, "Go Cowboys!"

As the lethal drugs took effect, Hernandez repeated his appreciation for the witnesses. "Love y'all, man," Hernandez said. "Thank you. I can feel it, taste it. It's not bad."

Hernandez was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

No one related to the slain child, Karlos Borja, attended the execution, the fourth this year in Texas. It was carried out about two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied last appeals for Hernandez.

On April 11, 2001, Hernandez had been left alone to care for Karlos and his 4-year-old sister while their mother was at work.

When the mother returned, the injuries were discovered. Karlos had a fractured skull and bruises over his body. A week later, he was taken off life support and died. His sister had similar injuries but survived.

Hernandez's DNA was found in Karlos' blood on a pillowcase and on the child's clothing. The boy's sister drew stick figures for detectives to help describe her attack.

Hernandez first denied beating the children but later told a detective he might have hit the boy with a flashlight.

"They were being very bad by crying a lot for nothing," Hernandez wrote in a statement.

At his trial, jurors learned that Hernandez had a previous conviction for molesting a child and drug possession, had beaten his ex-wife with a baseball bat, burned a girlfriend's child with cigarettes and was found with a shank while in jail.

Hernandez and his wife had been living with the two children and their 22-year-old mother about three days in a house that had no running water.

Execution dates have been set for six other condemned Texas inmates in coming months.

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