Ramiro Gonzales in on Texas death row. His execution is scheduled for Wednesday, July 13. 

He was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering an 18-year-old girl when he also was 18.  

During his many years in prison, Gonzalez made an effort to improve himself. He did yoga, studied and got a bachelor’s degree from a Bible college, and contributed sermons to the prison’s radio station. He has been working with a spiritual advisor. Many officials or clinicians who have had contact with him say he is not the man he was when he was 18. He has changed. 

Last year, knowing his time was almost up, the prisoner volunteered to donate one of his kidneys to a stranger. 

“How can I give back life? This is probably one of the closest things to doing that,” said Gonzales, now 39. “I don’t want to say it’s saving somebody’s life, but it’s keeping somebody from dying.”

Gonzales asked the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, for a 30-day delay of his execution in order to donate the kidney. 

His attorneys made the request in a June 29 letter to Abbott, and said that Gonzales’ request was “in keeping with his efforts to atone for his crimes.”

After letting the prisoner be medically evaluated for the organ donation, the request to donate the kidney was denied by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, because the date of execution was too close. 

The idea to donate the kidney was born from Gonzales’ correspondence with Cantor Michael Zoosman,  a Jewish clergyman and founder of L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty. The two began writing to each other at the beginning of 2021. Zoosman told him about a man Zoosman knew who needed a kidney. Gonzales was very eager to help and wrote to the intended patient.

The criminal justice department in Texas allowed him to be evaluated and said he was an “excellent candidate” for a kidney donation, but his blood type made him ineligible for the donation to the man in Zoosman’s congregation. 

However, his blood type would make him a perfect match for people who have been on waiting lists, waiting for years. 

Still determined, Gonzales pushed his attorneys to find another way for him to make the donation, not to a specific person, but as, what is called, an altruistic kidney donor. 

Texas wouldn’t allow it. They said that it would cause conflicts with the court-ordered execution date. Gonzales’ hopes to donate his kidney fell flat. 

Efforts on behalf of Gonzales to delay his execution, and even to prevent it, are still in progress, but time is running out. 

Zoosman says that it is his opinion from everything that Gonzales communicated with him, that the desire to donate his kidney was not a ruse to get him clemency or a shorter sentence. Zoosman believes that Gonzales truly wanted to help someone else, to atone for his sins. 

“Never in his correspondence with me, did he indicate that he felt that this would be a way out or a way to save his life. He never expected it to lead to his clemency,” Zoosman said.