Bio

Tomas Raul Gallo was born on March 1, 1975. TDCJ records list his native county as Monterey County, California, and his prior occupations as hydro-water blaster and laborer. He had completed 11 years of education and had no prior prison record listed by TDCJ before the capital murder case. His defense presented evidence that he had been in resource classes in school and had low IQ scores. His mother testified that he had difficulty understanding instructions, performing simple tasks, reading a clock, using maps, making change, and completing ordinary household duties.

During the original 2004 trial, the defense argued that Gallo was intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 decision in Atkins v. Virginia. The jury rejected that defense at the time. Years later, the issue returned to court after criticism of the State’s expert, Dr. George Denkowski, whose methods in death-penalty intellectual-disability evaluations were later sanctioned and barred from similar evaluations.

By December 2001, Gallo was in a relationship with Cristina Arredondo, the mother of three-year-old Destiny Flores. On the morning of December 11, 2001, Gallo was babysitting Destiny and another child while Arredondo was at work.

Murder Story

On December 11, 2001, three-year-old Destiny Flores was left in the care of Tomas Raul Gallo while her mother was working. Later that day, Destiny was found with severe injuries. Houston Chronicle reporting stated that she had more than 200 internal and external injuries, a 12-inch skull fracture, and evidence of severe sexual assault.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals later described the evidence as showing extensive injuries inflicted shortly before Destiny’s death, including numerous contusions and lacerations. Medical-examiner photographs were used at trial to show internal injuries, cracked ribs, damage beneath the scalp, and a major skull fracture that began near the base of the skull.

The prosecution’s evidence showed that Destiny suffered fatal head trauma and that the sexual assault occurred during the same continuous criminal event that led to her death. TDCJ’s case summary states that Gallo sexually assaulted and struck the three-year-old victim in the head, causing her death.

After Destiny was injured, Gallo called her mother at work and said the child was not breathing. According to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, he told police that he woke from a nap and saw Destiny having trouble breathing. He claimed that she defecated while he was trying to resuscitate her and that he cleaned her with toilet paper and water. The court record also states that Destiny’s bloody nightgown was later found hidden under the water heater in the garage.

Gallo left the scene before police arrived. The court record states that he reminded Destiny’s mother that he had an outstanding warrant for a parole violation before fleeing. Prosecutors used that conduct to argue that he understood what had happened and tried to avoid responsibility.

While awaiting trial in the Harris County jail, Gallo allegedly made incriminating statements to another inmate, Thomas Gilstrap. Gilstrap testified that Gallo said he killed the child, that she had been bothering him and making noise, that he struck her several times, and that she stopped breathing after he slammed her into the bathtub. The defense cross-examined Gilstrap about his criminal history, drug abuse, mental-health issues, and delay in coming forward.

Gallo was first convicted of the same charge in 2002, but Houston Chronicle reporting stated that a mistrial was declared when a seriously ill juror could not complete the sentencing phase. He was tried again in 2004.

In February 2004, a Harris County jury convicted Gallo of capital murder of an individual under six years of age. The jury answered Texas death-penalty special issues in a way that required a death sentence, and the trial judge sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and death sentence on September 26, 2007.

Gallo continued challenging the sentence through state habeas proceedings. A major issue was whether he was intellectually disabled and therefore constitutionally ineligible for execution. The case also involved Dr. George Denkowski, a psychologist whose testimony and methods in Texas death-penalty cases later came under heavy scrutiny. In 2011, Denkowski entered an agreement with the relevant professional board not to perform forensic evaluations for intellectual disability in criminal proceedings.

On April 17, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted relief on Gallo’s intellectual-disability claim and reformed his death sentence to life imprisonment. The Texas Tribune reported that the ruling came after cooperation between the defense and Harris County prosecutors, who agreed that Gallo’s intellectual disability made him ineligible for execution.