By Dakin Andone, CNN

A Texas dying row inmate has requested the governor for a 30-day delay forward of his scheduled Wednesday execution so he could make a kidney donation, a need his attorneys say stems from his efforts to make amends for the homicide that made him a condemned man.

Attorneys for Ramiro Gonzales, 39, who was sentenced to dying for the 2001 homicide of Bridget Townsend, requested for a reprieve in a June 29 letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, writing partly that Gonzales’ request to donate an organ to a stranger was “in step with his efforts to atone for his crimes.”

However the Texas Division of Felony Justice, which let Gonzales get evaluated for the organ donation, has objected to the efforts due to his impending execution date, his attorneys wrote.

Gonzales certainly requested to make an organ donation earlier than his execution however was deemed ineligible below the division’s well being care coverage, a division spokesperson confirmed July three to CNN.

“He nonetheless needs to avoid wasting a life,” Cantor Michael Zoosman, an ordained Jewish clergyman whose correspondence with Gonzales first catalyzed the inmate’s need to donate a kidney, advised CNN. “And Texas is denying him that.”

CNN has reached out to the governor’s workplace for remark.

Gonzales is slated to be put to dying Wednesday for his 2006 conviction for capital homicide in Townsend’s killing.

Gonzales, who was 18 on the time, was trying to get medicine in the future in January 2001 from Townsend’s boyfriend, who was his drug provider, in line with a court docket of appeals opinion from 2009.

When he known as, Townsend answered the telephone and advised Gonzales her boyfriend was at work. Gonzales then went to the house “with a purpose to steal cocaine,” stole cash, tied Townsend’s palms and ft and kidnapped her, the data state. Gonzales then drove Townsend to a location close to his household’s ranch, the place he sexually assaulted and fatally shot her.

In October 2002, sitting in a county jail ready to be taken to jail on an unrelated matter, Gonzales led authorities to her physique and ultimately confessed to Townsend’s killing, data present.

Since Gonzales and Zoosman started corresponding in January 2021, the inmate has “by no means made excuses for what he’d achieved,” Zoosman, a federal hospital chaplain and founding father of L’chaim! Jews Towards the Demise Penalty, advised CNN.

Gonzales first bought the notion to donate a kidney when Zoosman talked about somebody at his residence congregation in Maryland wanted a donated kidney, Zoosman advised CNN.

“I simply talked about it offhand in a letter to him … and he jumped on it,” Zoosman stated, including Gonzales was “very keen” and even wrote a letter to the one who wanted the kidney.

“It was one thing he wished to do to make expiation for the life he had taken,” Zoosman stated.

Uncommon blood kind makes Gonzales an ‘glorious match’

Gonzales has “actively sought” to be evaluated for organ donation since that point, his attorneys, Thea Posel and Raoul Schonemann of the College of Texas at Austin’s Capital Punishment Clinic, stated in an announcement issued to CNN final week.

Earlier this yr, the state prison justice division allowed him to be evaluated, attorneys stated of their letter to the governor, by the College of Texas Medical Department at Galveston, the place it was decided Gonzales was a “glorious candidate” for donation. Nevertheless, Gonzales’ uncommon B blood kind meant he was not a match for the member of Zoosman’s congregation.

“However that didn’t cease Ramiro,” Zoosman stated. “On his personal volition, he sought by means of his authorized crew to seek out one other solution to do it, to grow to be an altruistic kidney donor,” that’s, to donate his kidney with out a identified or supposed recipient.

However, in line with Gonzales’ attorneys, the Texas prison justice division knowledgeable them in Could it doesn’t permit an altruistic kidney donation as a result of it may introduce an “‘unsure timeline, thereby presumably interfering with the court-ordered execution date’” and doesn’t assure protection of the prices, the attorneys’ assertion stated.

Nevertheless, the medical heart — which declined to remark for this story, citing federal medical privateness legislation — advised Gonzales’ attorneys his uncommon blood kind would make him “a superb match for individuals who’ve been on UTMB’s ready record for near 10 years due to the identical uncommon B blood kind,” in line with the attorneys’ assertion. The hospital assured Gonzales’ crew in March the donation course of could possibly be accomplished inside a month, the attorneys stated.

In current weeks, Gonzales’ attorneys repeatedly have requested the state prison justice division to rethink its place on altruistic donations, Posel and Schonemann’s assertion stated. The division has denied the requests, they famous.

‘He by no means anticipated it to result in his clemency’

Gonzales’ attorneys have additionally requested the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to suggest that the governor commute their shopper’s sentence to life in jail, their assertion stated. Alternately, they requested a 180-day reprieve to finish a possible kidney donation.

The board declined to remark to CNN, although a spokesperson famous members vote on clemency two days earlier than a scheduled execution, in line with its coverage.

Gonzales additionally has different litigation nonetheless pending earlier than the courts which may delay his execution: In a single case, he sought to have the state prison justice division let his non secular adviser — who will not be Zoosman — lay a hand on his chest, maintain his hand and pray audibly on the time of his execution. This request had beforehand been denied, however a federal decide in a preliminary injunction this month dominated the state could solely execute Gonzales on Wednesday if it allowed this, court docket paperwork present.

However whereas these authorized proceedings may be efforts to halt or delay Gonzales’ execution, Zoosman strongly believes the inmate’s try and grow to be a kidney donor will not be.

“By no means in his correspondence with me, did he point out that he felt that this is able to be a method out or a solution to save his life. He by no means anticipated it to result in his clemency,” Zoosman stated. In truth, per Zoosman, Gonzales didn’t need to reveal publicly he was looking for to donate a kidney. He solely determined to, the chaplain stated, as a result of his request was denied.

“There’s been a number of dialogue within the press these days about who’s pro-life and who will not be pro-life,” Zoosman stated, a reference to the continued fights over abortion rights following the US Supreme Court docket’s determination to overturn Roe v. Wade. “And naturally, that’s one other problem.

“However I can say this: I can not fathom a extra pro-death stance than a state that not solely engages in state-sponsored homicide of defenseless human beings,” he added, “however one that stops these in line for that homicide from donating their organs to avoid wasting others’ lives.”

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