FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOAH ESPADA DEATH SENTENCE AFFIRMED

San Antonio, Texas: Today the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the death sentence issued against Noah Espada for the 2004 double murder of Sandra Ramos and Luther Scott. The murders occurred as part of Espada’s plot to kill Scott in revenge for Espada’s firing from Polly Esthers nightclub.

On February 14, 2004, Noah Espada, at the time 20 years old, was fired from his job as a "barback" at the nightclub. Approximately two weeks later, Espada broke into an apartment at the Altamonte Apartments believing it to be the apartment of Luther Scott, the General Manager of Polly Esthers, with the intent to kill him. Upon entering the apartment, he discovered Sandra Ramos who was the true occupant of the apartment. After talking to Ramos for nearly half an hour, Espada killed her to prevent her from disrupting his plan to kill Scott. A few days later, on March 2, 2004, Espada returned to the apartment complex, broke into Scott's apartment, and waited for him to return from work. When Scott came home, Espada shot him to death.

The case was tried before the 379th District Court Judge Bert Richardson and after a jury trial and punishment hearing the jury returned a death sentence on August 17, 2005.

For more information, contact Cliff Herberg, First Assistant District Attorney, at 335-2342.