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Mexican Mafia Member on Death Row Loses Appeal 1/3/13
Associated Press
January 3, 2013
HOUSTON - A Mexican Mafia member sent to death row for strangling a
woman in San Antonio 15 years ago for failing to pay the gang a 10 percent tax
on illegal drug sales has lost a federal court appeal.
Forty-four-year-old Manuel Vasquez was condemned for the slaying of
51-year-old Juanita Ybarra at a San Antonio motel.
Appeals lawyers argued Vasquez had deficient legal help at his 1999 trial
and that prosecutors withheld some interview notes from a man who was severely
beaten in the same attack. The defense also challenged the racial makeup of the
grand jury that indicted Vasquez and contended one of his gang partners gave
perjured testimony.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Wednesday rejected all claims.