All language subtitles for I.Am.Ready.Warden.2024.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-FLUX

All right, so let's see.

Y'all can still hear me, right?

Y'all can still hear me?

All right.

If you are seeing this,

then obviously the state
of Texas has murdered me.

I'm sorry that y'all
had to go through that.

I just wanna say thank you

for being there for
me all these years.

Thank you for everything, uh...

It's been... it's been rough,

but it's been good
having y'all with me.

All y'all that stuck with me.

And once again, I'm sorry I
had to go through this, but

my pain is over.

My suffering is over.

All of y'all that know me,

y'all know I made the
most changes I could.

I bettered myself
as much as I could,

and hopefully that's enough.

I love you.

FBI and law enforcement
across the country

on the lookout for this man.

A massive manhunt

with a coast guard
chopper is underway.

Ramirez went on the run
for nearly four years

before he was captured,

tried, convicted, and
sentenced to death.

You have taken a life.

Yours is now on the line.

- How are you today?
- Good. How are you going?

Sure, please.

Thank you. Have a good night.

I was a happy kid.

I was a very happy
kid. I was very goofy.

A goofball, you'd say.

I feel like the older I get,

the more I start
to look like him.

You know? It's a
striking resemblance.

I was 14.

I remember waking up

to police sirens and lights.

So it was confusing.

I was like, "What's going
on? This is not normal."

I remember hearing
my mother say.

Everything was just going
really slow in slow motion.

I remember sneaking
out of the house

and seeing his
body on the ground.

I didn't really know
that that was him.

What gave it away was the hat.

This hat is just...

When I was in the
courtroom and the trial

and the crime scene
photos came up.

I remember having to
get out of the courtroom

and run to the
restroom to vomit.

'Cause I thought
I could handle it.

I stare at this picture a lot,

Hoping that it's someone else.

But it never will
be anybody else.

John Henry Ramirez viciously
murdered my father.

He should pay for what he did.

I believe John has
been in God's hands

from the very beginning.

He's had three
saves of execution,

and God has just
worked things out.

We're going to sit in here.

When John was in jail,

he asked for the chaplain.

Chaplain was a
member of my church,

and I had been teaching Bible
study in the women's jail.

So the chaplain asked me,

"Would you be willing
to go see John Henry?"

And I thought to myself,
"What am I going to say?"

You know, this man
stabbed somebody 29 times.

What am I gonna say to him?

I don't know what to say.

And so I said, "Lord,
you just take over.

You tell me, you take
over the conversation."

And he was so easy to talk to.

I've gone every single
month since 2011,

except two times when
I had knee surgery.

One month John asked me,

"Since all of my family
has abandoned me,

"and you've always
been there for me,

would you be my godmother?"

And I said, "Yes."

I was always in support
of the death penalty,

but it took me getting to
know him as a human being.

He is just not that
person he was then.

He is not that person he was.

I have a whole
stack of his poetry.

This one is, "Where
did I go wrong?"

Where did I go wrong? I said

Where did I go wrong
in this life I lived

where I take that wrong
turn to end up like this?

I used to get in trouble
time and time again,

but not to the extent
that my life would end.

Now these sinful ways I'm
trying to leave in the past

even though I feel the
present hitting me too fast.

And now I realize you
gonna reap what you sow.

So at the end of my days
as the chemicals flow,

as my life slips away
and my body turns cold

there's only one thing
that I feel you should know

I made the best of what was left

and I let my love show.

But no matter what

there's still one thing
that I'll never know

and that's where did I go wrong,

go wrong, go wrong?

I said, "Where did
I go so wrong?"

I've been here for 14 years,

and so I've had
four official dates.

You know what I mean?

And this is the only date that
I'm not actually fighting.

Execution it's now for me.

It's a way for me to
finally leave this place,

you know what I mean?

It's not a good way.

It's horrendous and heinous,

you know, but...

It's an out. I can be done.

I can stop hurting all the time.

I'll never be able to make
amends for taking a life.

And I don't expect
to ever go free.

Because I'm a murderer.

Cause, like, no
matter what I do,

What does it mean?

I'll never overcome it.

I didn't know a lot
about the death penalty.

Texas leads the kill count
with, like, 522 executions.

We should all know
that if we are imposing

these things on our community.

As the DA, we're in charge
of things like life or death.

And that's heavy.

Looking at these photos of all
the evidence that they took,

and it's really
hard to make out,

but it seems to appear
to be a lot of blood.

A lot of blood from
a violent death.

And that's something that nobody
should ever have to experience.

This the inventory of
everything that was in

Mr. Castro's vehicle
you see here.

He spent a lot of time
in his... his van,

Fishing poles...

You know, gonna go
fishing or had been.

Part of me would rather have
not wanted to see any of this.

Because there's no way
you could look at photos

where it says "In
memory of a kind man,"

and not hit an emotional
place where you realize

that that shouldn't
have happened to him.

Then you start to
learn more about

John Henry and all the things

that may have happened to him

to put him to that spot.

It seems like even
before he went to trial

that he had this thought
that he wanted just to die.

Because he spoke
with an individual

who does evaluations for
mental health issues.

And he said that Mr. Ramirez,

you know, wanted
the death penalty.

My feeling would be
that he was young

and he thought
that that would be

the most honorable thing
that he could do at that time

to show maybe he was sorry
for what he did, right?

"Yo, I killed someone,
you can kill me."

I hate playing that boo-hoo
story type of aspect.

People be like, "You know, you
had such a terrible childhood."

There's a whole bunch
of people that grew up

in that type of lifestyle
that aren't murderers.

So why didn't they end
up like I ended up?

Because we each have
our own free will.

The main source
of what shaped me

is really my relationship
with my mother.

My mother is very abusive,

physically,
emotionally, verbally.

Child Protective Services
took me away from her

when I was young.

'Cause she beat me
with a vacuum cleaner

and split my head open.

In the type of environment
I grew up with,

violence is glorified.

My uncle, he was
in the gang life.

He was the one that introduced
me to that type of lifestyle.

But you see, everyone
goes to prison

or it gets hooked on dope.

I joined the military
straight out of high school.

I actually loved it,
man, it was awesome.

The pay, the base is great,

you know, everybody
loves a serviceman.

And I was first
class in everything.

But I got discharged for
fighting one of my superiors.

Immediately jumped right back

into my old lifestyle.

Doing drugs...

committing crimes
left and right.

Basically being an
ignorant, violent person.

To me it was just a fight.

And you know, when
it got to a point

where I pulled out a
knife, stabbing him.

He had 29 wounds.

19 of them were fatal in itself.

The other ten were
defensive wounds where

he kept trying to
grab the knife.

When I stabbed him in the
throat and I saw that,

I just stood there,
snapped me out of it,

and I realized he was gone.

I realized I went too far,

and it freaked me out
so bad that I fled.

What animals and people are

to just kill him like
that for a $1.25.

I just... I just wish they'd
really do something with him.

I always wanted
to make sure that

if no one else cared, I cared.

I wrote a letter to
"America's Most Wanted."

They posted a picture.

That was the moment where
I really paid attention

to who the killer was.

Cops in Corpus Christi, Texas,

say John Henry Ramirez,
stabbed a man to death

during a botched robbery.

Ramirez is a former Marine
and has this tattoo...

And that went on
for several years

when I was younger, that
he's never gonna be found.

Until one day, I got a call,

and the police chief was like,

"We've captured
John Henry Ramirez."

And then I was like, "Oh."

And then I saw him
in the courtroom.

I couldn't believe they
actually did find him.

And I just had all the
anger and hate in the world.

I wanted to just beat the
living hell out of him.

You have taken a life.

Yours is now on the line.

Somebody kills your father,

you're gonna just
forgive, and that's it?

Justice needs to be served.

I tried the first
couple of dates

to set up a meeting with them,

and I've just never
been able to do it.

I know I'm never
asking for forgiveness.

'cause, you know, I don't
think I could forgive somebody

if they murdered one
of my loved ones.

But I would try to
get my point across

that I understand what I did.

Understand what I did.

And when I did it,
I did it carelessly.

Just generally as a person,

I was just a bad
person, you know?

And when I went to
Mexico on the run,

I had a lot of time to think.

I gained a whole new family.

Had a son.

It just changed my whole
perspective on life.

His name's Israel,
but we call him Izzy.

I never had my dad in my life.

So when I had Izzy,
I always said,

"I'm gonna be a better
father than my dad."

And then I ended up
being so much worse.

He's 16 years old now.

He's a real square kid,

and I'm so grateful for that.

One of the courses in
the faith-based section,

you have to write a
letter to your victim.

And when I got to
the end, I was like,

"I want you to know you
made me a better person."

"I never meant to kill you,

"but because that happened,

"it's made me a better person

because it's made some
vast changes in who I am."

You know? And it's a...

it's a crappy way to say it,

Abut it's the truth.

All right, guys, um,

good afternoon from
the DA's Office.

I'm gonna wait just
a few seconds to see

if anybody actually
gets on Facebook Live.

Maybe we'll have a lot of
people, maybe we won't.

But I wanted to discuss
today or inform the community

of what's kind of been
going on here at the office.

For quite some time I've...

I have not agreed with
the death penalty.

And not only will I not be
seeking the death penalty,

I will not also be asking or
setting dates of execution.

So my heart goes out
to the Castro family.

There are no real
winners in this case,

but I feel that in the interest
of justice, that our office.

Shouldn't be involved in
murdering Texas citizens.

I got with Mr. Ramirez's
attorney, Seth Kretzer,

and I joined him in a motion
letting the court know

why we felt the date of
execution should be withdrawn.

What I'm hoping is

we'll get some direction
from a higher court,

and they'll say that I
have all the authority

to withdraw that
date of execution.

The proof is in the motion
Gonzalez filed today.

He's trying to get Ramirez's
execution date withdrawn.

I have, for a while now,

said that I don't believe
in the death penalty.

My office is not going to seek
the death penalty anymore.

Withdrawing or keeping
the execution date

is in the hands of the
judge from Ramirez's trial.

You can't get a real moment
of time to heal properly.

Due process was done.

Now we're changing
our moral judgment.

For us, the victims.

We thought it was gonna
end with justice, right?

And now, ultimately,
we're looking at

possibly no execution at all.

You have taken a life.

Yours is now on the line.

Psalms 30:9 says,

"What will you gain if I die?

"If I sink into the grave?

"Can any dust praise you?

Can it tell of
your faithfulness?"

I became the godmother of death
row inmate John Henry Ramirez,

number 999-9544,

after he was abandoned
by his family.

Last Friday, I spoke with the
director of chaplaincy for

all of the Texas Department
of Criminal justice.

The chaplain told me

that if John can get
life without parole,

this would give
him the opportunity

to spend the rest of his
life as a field minister,

sharing the word of
Jesus Christ to inmates

in the prison system,

wherever he is asked to serve.

I am asking you,
Governor Abbott,

to give John Henry Ramirez

a commutation of his sentence

from death to life
without parole.

So would you be
willing to sign it?

- Sure.
- I know you would.

Come on and sign it right here.

Just on the bottom,
sign your name.

This Wednesday is the date
that he is set to be executed.

So I'm driving to
Brownsville today

to pick up Izzy, John's son.

We'll be driving to...
um, to Livingston,

and we won't hear until Tuesday

or whenever the Lord
tells the governor

what He wants him to do

and pray that the
governor listens.

When I first got into office,

I didn't know a lot
of what was right.

You have to make decisions.

Texas is just a different place.

I've gotten a lot of hate,

And, you know, I get it,
it's understandable, right?

Like, this man was
sentenced to death.

He killed somebody.

I don't know that execution
is the right thing to do.

And I don't know if execution
makes anything better.

Lord, I'm talking
to you right now.

This is me, your daughter, Jen,

and I am asking you to put
your arms around this car.

We know that you want
us to go pick up Izzy.

And, Lord, you know that
I would never say no

to Israel being
there for his father.

Just like you.

Instead, just go worship
a perfect God today

in a place filled
with flawed people

who need grace as
much as you do.

And me, I need it, too.

You're looking live right now.

We'll take you live there, yeah.

This is at the Walls
Unit in Huntsville.

That actually inside is
where the death chamber is,

where John Henry
Ramirez's execution

is expected to be carried
out anytime after 6:00 p.m.

On Monday, the Texas Board
of Pardons and Paroles

unanimously denied his
request for clemency.

His attorneys say they've run
out of legal options to appeal.

Hello?

- Israel?
- Yes.

This is Denise at
the Huntsville unit.

Would you like to
speak to John Ramirez?

Yes, ma'am.

What's up?

How are you?

I'm holding up fine.

How are you holding up?

- Yeah.
- You know?

At the end of the line.

Yeah, so...

Four...

4:01.

Yeah.

I love you, thank
you for everything.

Bye.

I love you, too.

Good evening and welcome

to "Execution Watch"
on this October 5th.

This is the show that airs

every time the state of Texas

puts a condemned
prisoner to death.

You tell us about growing up.

I mean, tell us about
your family and all.

I don't want to do the
same old song and dance.

Yeah, I had a bad childhood,

but a lot of people
have bad childhoods

and they don't end up
on death row, you know?

You're a part of my
dad... my bad childhood.

Opening it up for you...

So that... would make
myself be put on death row?

Typical childhood, you know?

I'm one of the few
people that actually

has taken responsibility
for the crime.

You didn't take responsibility.

You left for five years.

And considering, like,

a life sentence would
be the other option.

Now, that's a real punishment.

They really wanted
to punish this...

Yeah, that's what
you were going for.

That's what you...
he wanted this.

This is such a...

This is stupid.

Regardless a year ago,

he still felt what he
would probably feel today

unless he had this huge
change of swift, of mindset.

I don't know. Maybe
I'm wrong here.

I don't know, but...

At this point, let's
go ahead and go back

to Huntsville with Linda...

Okay, what are we doing here?

Tell us what's happened.

The family just came across

and I guess they're
getting in their car

to go to the chapel now.

If you're just joining us now,

John Ramirez is
dead in Huntsville.

Let's bring it back
here into the studio

with Larry Douglas, Pat
McCann and Mike Gillespie.

That is...

So many things
happened in this...

I was told by...

by John's godmother,
Jan Trujillo, that...

that religion really had
become his cornerstone.

John Henry Ramirez is dead.

Do you know how
weird that sounds?

But a life was lost today.

A life was taken.

Too soon.

Just as it was when
I was 14-years old.

And I'm not celebrating.

This isn't a moment
to celebrate.

Folks, we leave this place,

and those of us with
faith leave with hope,

Oh...

Celebrate life, but
to skip the grieving

means that, well,
you never loved him.

If you don't wanna
grieve, then don't love,

and then you'll never
feel the pain to grieve.

It is not a life I
would recommend, though.

All of y'all that know me,

I know I made the
most changes I could.

I bettered myself as
much as I could and...

hopefully that's enough.

I love y'all.

Okay?

It's not my job to judge him.

That was God's... Is God's.

I... I have to accept
that and live that way.

So I will accept what,
you know, his apology.

Take it with a grain of salt,

but I will accept it and...

I'm confused, you think
I can have a minute?

Do you mind?

Yeah, of course.

Oh, God.

Okay, I'm sorry.

I accept this apology.

I accept it.