Ray Jasper was put to death March 19, 2014  for the 1998 murder of David Alejandro

An aspiring rapper, Jasper was 18 when he slit the throat of 33-year-old San Antonio recording studio owner David Alejandro during a 1998 robbery.

According to court records, Jasper and his friends frequently used Alejandro’s studio to record their music. In November 1998, Jasper hatched a plan to steal the electronic equipment from the studio and sell it.

Prosecutors said that Jasper knew Alejandro would be able to identify him as the culprit, so he and two friends went to the studio on November 28, 1998 with the intent to kill him to ensure there would be no witnesses to the theft.

Jasper and his accomplices spent about two hours recording music for his rap group, True Players Livin Sick, that day with Alejandro’s help before Jasper grabbed the studio owner’s hair, pulled his head back and slashed his throat with a kitchen knife. Alejandro was then stabbed more than two dozen times.

Jasper covered the body with a sheet and he and his friends then began loading the heavy studio equipment into their vans. They were spotted by an off-duty police officer and Jasper fled the scene on foot.

Police found the stolen equipment in the vans parked outside the studio, one of which was registered to Jasper’s parents, and they discovered Jasper’s fingerprints on the equipment, the exterior of one of the vans and a soda can left near Alejandro’s body.

Jasper was arrested days later and confessed his role in the crime to police. While he has at times admitted to slitting Alejandro’s throat, he maintained that he was not responsible for the victim’s death because he was not the one who stabbed him 25 times after that.

Testifying in the penalty phase of his trial, Jasper addressed Alejandro’s family: “I’m very sorry. I knew David. I knew him for quite some time. He was probably one of the nicest people I ever met in my life. And I just wanted to let you know that I know you suffered a great loss, but that man did not die in my hands.”

Jasper was sentenced to death on January 20, 2000. Douglas Williams and Steven Russell, the other two men involved in the robbery, are serving life sentences for capital murder.

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