Jose Rivera was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of a three year old. According to court documents Jose Rivera would lead the three year old boy away who would be sexually assaulted and murdered. Jose Rivera would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
Jose Rivera 2022 Information
SID Number: 03027883
TDCJ Number: 00999102
Name: RIVERA,JOSE ALFREDO
Race: H
Gender: M
Age: 59
Maximum Sentence Date: DEATH ROW
Current Facility: POLUNSKY
Projected Release Date: DEATH ROW
Parole Eligibility Date: DEATH ROW
Inmate Visitation Eligible: YES
Jose Rivera More News
The victim, a three-year-old child, was last seen alive on July 9, 1993, with Veronica Zavala. The next day, the child’s naked body was found floating in a reservoir. Dr. Marguerite DeWitt, a pathologist, testified that the child had been in the water for eighteen to thirty-six hours but did not drown. Instead, the cause of death was ligature strangulation. DeWitt further testified to observing two tears in the child’s anus. She concluded that these tears were due to an external penetration by something larger than the anal opening and were consistent with an adult’s finger penetrating the anus. That same day (July 10th), Zavala confessed to being involved in the murder and implicated appellant.
On July 11th appellant gave a videotaped oral confession, in which he admitted to strangling the child and to penetrating the child’s rectum with a finger. In addition to the strangulation and the damage to the child’s anus, several other details of appellant’s confession were corroborated by independent evidence:
the child’s underwear had been cut off and tied around his neck with a single knot; the time of death was consistent with the time stated by appellant; the child had been wearing shorts and tennis shoes when he disappeared; and the child’s body was found near a bridge.3
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-criminal-appeals/1338620.html
