Mexican national executed for 1997 Texas slaying

By Michael Graczyk, Associated Press

Wednesday, April 9, 2014 | 9:40 p.m.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A man who escaped prison in his native Mexico while serving time for murder has been executed in Texas for killing a local rancher in 1997.

Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas was lethally injected Wednesday evening in the state's death chamber in Huntsville.

The 44-year-old was illegally living in the U.S. when he was arrested for the October 1997 slaying of Glen Lich.

Lich, a former Baylor University history professor, had given Hernandez-Llanas a job at his ranch near Kerrville in exchange for living quarters just 10 days earlier.

According to trial testimony, Hernandez-Llanas lured Lich from his house by telling him there was a problem with a generator, then repeatedly clubbed him with steel rebar.

Armed with a knife, he then attacked Lich's wife. She survived and testified against him.