HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A Dallas-area man convicted of fatally
shooting a newlywed Brazilian engineer whose wife was also killed
in an attack nearly a decade ago was executed Tuesday evening in
the nation's busiest death penalty state.
Michael Sigala, 32, was condemned to death for the August 2000
fatal shooting of Kleber Santos, 28, who was killed along with his
wife at their apartment in Plano, a suburb of Dallas. Sigala also
was charged with the wife's slaying but was not tried.
Sigala is the third prisoner in Texas to be put to death by
lethal injection this year and the first of four scheduled to die
this month in the state.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to review his case. No
new appeals were filed before his execution.
Sigala was on probation for robbery and allowed for the day to
leave a Dallas-area substance abuse treatment center he was staying
at in order to look for a job when the slayings happened.
During his final statement, Sigala asked for forgiveness from
the slain couple's relatives who attended the execution.
"I have no reason for why I did it," Sigala said. "I don't
understand why I did it. I hope that you can live the rest of your
lives without hate."
As the drugs took effect, he snored at least once and then
gasped. Nine minutes later, at 6:20 p.m. CST, he was pronounced
dead.
Relatives of Kleber Santos and his wife, Lilian, did not speak
with reporters afterward, but the parents of both victims issued
statements saying they were grateful justice had been done.
"For many people facing such tragedy, life would be worthless.
For us, however, we have faith and we find meaning in an eternal
life that our merciful God will provide us. We really believe that
we will meet our dear son and daughter-in-law one day in heaven,"
Jonas and Lizete Santos, Kleber Santos' parents, said in their
statement.
Work brought Kleber Santos to Texas in January 2000, a month
after he got married. His wife remained in Brazil to continue her
veterinary studies at the University of Sao Paulo and was visiting
during a school break that August.
Authorities said Sigala, from Plano, entered the couple's
apartment and shot Kleber Santos in the head and then tortured
Lilian Santos, 25, raping her before also fatally shooting her
several hours later. Her hands were tied with telephone wire and a
phone cord was around her neck.
Their bodies were found by a neighbor after Santos didn't go to
work as a software developer for a cell phone manufacturer in
nearby Richardson. Authorities say they don't know why Sigala
targeted the couple.
"So often in criminal cases people will sometimes put
themselves in bad circumstances. But this one, these people seemed
completely blameless. It was really hard to see their family out
there dealing with what went on," Debbie Harrison, a Collin County
assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case, said last
week.
Police arrested Sigala two months later after items from the
apartment, including the couple's wedding rings, were found at area
pawn shops and traced back to him.
Sigala declined to speak with reporters before his execution.
After his arrest, he denied killing the couple but later told
police he shot them in self-defense because Kleber Santos hit an
accomplice with a baseball bat. Sigala also claimed he and his
accomplice were at the apartment to sell Santos some heroin.
Authorities found no evidence Santos or his wife ever used drugs
or that there was a second attacker.
Another convict, Adam Lay, was arrested for helping sell the
stolen items but was not charged in the slayings. He received 35
years in prison for violating his parole on a previous aggravated
robbery conviction.
At Sigala's trial, defense attorneys argued unsuccessfully for a
life sentence, saying Sigala's drug use and upbringing contributed
to his criminal activity, which began as a juvenile and included
theft, marijuana possession and burglary.
When he was arrested, Sigala, an 11th-grade dropout, was on 10
years probation for a 1999 robbery conviction.
Next week, an Indiana man, Joshua Maxwell, 31, is set to die in
Texas for the abduction, robbery and fatal shooting of Rudy Lopes,
an off-duty Bexar County Sheriff's Department sergeant, in 2000.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice death row information:
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/deathrow.htm
