HOUSTON (AP) - A Mexican Mafia member sent to death row for strangling a woman in San Antonio 15 years ago for failing to pay the gang a 10% tax on illegal drug sales has lost a federal court appeal.
Forty-4-year-old Manuel Vasquez was condemned for the slaying of 51-year-old Juanita Ybarra at a San Antonio motel.
Appeals lawyers argued Vasquez had deficient legal help at his 1999 trial and that prosecutors withheld some interview notes from a man who was severely beaten in the same attack.
The defense also challenged the racial makeup of the grand jury that indicted Vasquez and contended 1 of his gang partners gave perjured testimony.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Wednesday rejected all claims.
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