Execution halted as court questions whether Ramiro Gonzales should have been sentenced to life in prison

The “Walls Unit” in Huntsville houses Texas’ execution chamber. (Credit: Mark Felix/The Texas Tribune)

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Ramiro Gonzales Monday, two days before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

Gonzales, 39, was sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and killing Bridget Townsend when they were both 18 in Medina County. On Monday, the court said his sentence should be revisited after a state expert said he wrongly told jurors during the 2006 trial that people who commit a sexual assault would be very likely to do it again.