Heliberto Chi - TX

7th August 2008

7:00 PM EDT
Heliberto Chi is scheduled to be killed by the people of Texas in
revenge for the murders of Armand Paliotta.





Read Heliberto Chi's TDCJ Information here....

Read about Heliberto Chi here...

Arlington killer given new execution date----Execution scheduled for Tarrant inmate


An Arlington killer whose date with the executioner was delayed last fall while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of the lethal injection process will head to the Huntsville death house next month unless the courts intervene again.

Heliberto Chi, condemned for the March 2001 shooting death of clothing store manager Armand Paliotta during an after-hours robbery, would be the first inmate from Tarrant County to be executed since the Supreme Court ruled in April that the 3-drug protocol used in lethal injections does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Chi, 29, is scheduled to die Aug. 7.

A native of Honduras, Chi had once worked at the K&G Men’s Superstore in southwest Arlington and arrived at the store after 9 p.m. on the night of the killing, saying that he was looking for his wallet. Workers allowed him inside, where he pulled out a .357 revolver to carry out a robbery, according to news accounts and court testimony.

Before leaving, he shot Paliotta, 56, and employee Adrian Riojas in the back. Paliotta was mortally wounded but Riojas survived and testified against Chi. The gunman and his getaway driver, Hugo Alejandro Sierra, fled and split up.

Chi was arrested in Los Angeles after eluding police for six weeks. Sierra was apprehended separately and is now serving a life sentence for his role in the killing.

When Chi was facing an Oct. 3, 2007, death date, his lawyers attempted to argue that their client was never told of his right under an international treaty to speak with a representative of his home country before being questioned by Arlington police. The Supreme Court rejected the argument and his execution appeared to be imminent.

But he was among dozens of inmates nationwide who were spared when the high court agreed to review the question of whether the inmates subjected to lethal injection experience excruciating pain that is masked by a drug that paralyzes the body.

An assistant to Arlington lawyer Wes Ball, who has represented Chi during his trial and appeals, said it is uncertain what steps might be taken on the inmate’s behalf before the execution date.

Since the Supreme Court allowed executions to resume, only 1 has been carried out in Texas. However, 14 Texas inmates, including Chi, have been given death dates, and 9 of them are scheduled to be carried out in the next 6 weeks.

The widow of Chi’s victim, Acela Paliotta, told the Star-Telegram in October that she and her two sons have kept Paliotta’s memory alive since the day of the murder.

"As long as we are alive, he will continue to live," she said at the time. She declined to be interviewed Monday.

(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)