"Texas 7" Fugitive Executed

Michael Rodriguez Was Member Of Infamous Gang Of Escapees Convicted Of Killing Cop

(AP)  A member of the infamous "Texas 7" gang of escaped fugitives was executed Thursday for killing a Dallas-area police officer during their weeks on the run.

Michael Rodriguez, who had dropped all appeals and volunteered for lethal injection, apologized profusely to the officer's widow and his own former sister-in-law before the lethal injection. He had been serving a life sentence for killing his wife at the time of the 2000 escape.

"My punishment is nothing compared to the pain and suffering I've brought you," Rodriguez said. "I'm not strong enough to ask for forgiveness. I ask the Lord to forgive. I've done horrible things that brought sorrow and pain to these wonderful people," he said, looking directly at the women.

"I'm sorry, so sorry," he said.

As the drugs took effect, Rodriguez, 45, was praying in a whisper. "I'm ready to go, Lord," he said.

Seven minutes later, at 6:20 p.m. CDT, he was pronounced dead. Outside the prison, several dozen police officers stood at attention while the execution was carried out, their hands clasped in front of them.

Rodriguez, the first of the six surviving "Texas 7" band to be put to death, pushed to have his punishment carried out for more than two years.

"Let's do the right thing - for once," he explained in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "My parents raised me to be accountable."

A federal judge held competency hearings to ensure Rodriguez could make such a decision. After the judge approved, the execution was stalled while the U.S. Supreme Court considered challenges that lethal injection was unconstitutionally cruel. After the justices earlier this year ruled the method was not improper, Rodriguez's execution date was set.

Rodriguez and six fellow inmates broke out of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Connally Unit in December 2000 by overpowering some workers there, stealing their clothes and breaking into the prison armory to get guns. Their escape was aided by his father, who parked a getaway vehicle nearby, enabling them to ditch a stolen prison truck. Rodriguez's father later was convicted of helping them.

"Rodriguez was one of the more violent ones during the escape," Toby Shook, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted him for capital murder, recalled. "He would put these shanks in people's ears while they were being tied up, making threats."

Two weeks after the break, on Christmas Eve evening, the fugitives shot and killed Irving policeman Aubrey Hawkins during the robbery of a sporting goods store that netted them $70,000, more guns and the IDs of employees.

Rodriguez acknowledged taking the fatally wounded officer's gun and pulling him from his patrol car. Shook said evidence showed he also was among the gang shooting at Hawkins and a gun that was left behind at the scene belonged to Rodriguez. Evidence showed a bullet from that gun was lodged in the dashboard of the officer's car.

"It was headed straight for him," Shook said. "So he was right in front of him and firing directly at him."

Hawkins was shot 11 times and was run over with his own car.

"The memory of Officer Aubrey Hawkins, his dedication to duty and family are cherished by the Irving Police Department and others that knew Aubrey," the department said in a statement released Thursday. "His legacy and his service are not forgotten.

"Our police family suffered a devastating loss through Aubrey's ultimate sacrifice."

A month after Hawkins' murder, Rodriguez and three of the prisoners were captured at a trailer park outside Colorado Springs, Colo. A fifth escapee, Larry Harper, killed himself as police closed in. Two others surrendered two days later, ending one of Texas' most notorious prison breaks.

"I'm glad we got caught, so no one else would get hurt," Rodriguez said from death row.

His five remaining accomplices - George Rivas, Randy Halprin, Donald Newbury, Joseph Garcia and Patrick Murphy - joined him on death row. Appeals for each remain in the courts and none has an execution date.

"The hardest thing is the constant presence of it," said Hawkins' widow, Lori. "It's not like there's one person involved. There are six."

Rodriguez's earlier murder conviction was for paying a hit man to kill his wife, Theresa, in 1992 in San Antonio. He said it was the result of an infatuation with a younger woman who was a student at a university in San Marcos where Rodriguez also was taking classes.

"It was stupid," Rodriguez acknowledged.

Rodriguez was the eighth convicted killer executed this year in the nation's busiest capital punishment state and the fourth this month. Another is set for next week.

[simplemind2]

"Texas 7" - one down, 5 more to go.
Hurry up - all your victims are looking down at you from heaven!
Nope - after you get executed, you''re not going up, you are going down - to h-e-l-l way way under!
Amen!

[nurse70-2009]

THEIR DIGNITY IN LIFE??? WHAT ABOUT THE OFFICER WHO WAS RAN DOWN IN THE STREET BY HIS OWN CRUISER??? F*** THEIR DIGNITY !!! WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN,WOMEN,AND MEN WHO ARE PREY TO THESE SUBHUMANS? THOSE ARE THE TRUE VICTIMS!! THESE CRIMINALS ARE COWARDS WHO HAVE TO USE GANGS,EXCESSIVE FORCE,GUNS,KNIVES TO OVER-POWER A SINGLE PERSON. THE REAL MEN AND WOMEN ARE THOSE OF US ON THE OUTSIDE STRUGGLING TO MAKE IT THE LEGITIMATE WAY ,WITHOUT TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT!! WE ARE STRONG !! BEING A BOODSUCKING CONVICT IS SO EASY! THEY GET THEIR HEALTHCARE,DEFENSE,ROOM/BOARD,CLOTHES,FOOD,WATER,ELECTRIC,EDUCATION,AND THE LIST GOES; ON FOR FREE!! THEY HAVE NO DECISIONS TO MAKE BECAUSE THEY''RE TOLD WHEN AND HOW TO DO EVERYTHING BY THE SYSTEM AND JUST LIKE LITTLE BABIES THEY HAVE TO ,BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO WEAK TO COPE WITH REAL LIFE ISSUES AND INDEPENDENT CHOICES OF LEGITIMATE SURVIVAL!AT LEAST THIS COWARDLY KILLER CAN ADMIT WHAT IS FAIR AND JUST. HE DID WHAT ALL CRIMINALS KNOW SOMEWHERE IN THEIR PATHETIC LITTLE HEADS IS THE CORRECT ANSWER ,BUT THEY ARE TOO AFRAID (AS USUAL) TO FACE REALITY ! GLAD HE''S DEAD ,HOPE MANY MORE WILL FOLLOW HIM AND STOP SUCKING AMERICA DRY! MAYBE THEN OUR COUNTRY CAN BEGIN TO CARE FOR THE HARD WORKING CITIZENS THAT DESERVE ALL OF THE BENEFITS THAT INMATES GET , BUT OF COURSE TAKE FOR GRANTED !! I HOPE THEY ALL DIE, THEY DESERVE IT !! OUR COUNTRY AND HER PEOPLE DESERVE THE SAME FREEBIES AS THE TRASH THAT IS AT THE ROOT OF OUR ROTTING MORALS.

[my2centss]

"As the drugs took effect, Rodriguez, 45, was praying in a whisper. "I''m ready to go, Lord," he said."

Funny how bad we are, or how much we claim that there is no God, when we know we will die, most of us change our minds.

[simplemind2]

"Posted by patriot12436 at 12:01 PM : Aug 16, 2008"

patriot12436,

Michael Rodriguez - A member of the infamous "Texas 7" gang of escaped fugitives, who had been serving a life sentence for killing his wife at the time of the 2000 escape - was FINALLY executed Thursday for killing a Dallas-area police officer during their weeks on the run.
Then here comes "heuristic1" - the voice of the "Heinous murderers on the death row".
Instead of asking his comrades who along with him also on the death row
"Why do any one of you have to commit your heinous crime?" and on behalf of his "society trash" friends to issue a genuinely
sincere apology to ALL the victims of their heinous crimes - "heuristic1" actually had the audacity to ask the law-abiding citizens
"Why are you better than us"?
What an uneducated fool "heuristic1" turns out to be!
lol!

[patriot12436]

simplemind2
I notice i didn''t get an answer to my question.

[simplemind2]

"heuristic1 and sumarex
I would like to know what you are both serving time for ? What crimes did you commit?
Posted by patriot12436 at 08:22 PM : Aug 15, 2008"

patriot12436,

It becomes intuitively obvious that heuristic1 IS the voice of the "Heinous murderers on the death row".

And no wonder - why wouldn''t he - since he''s trying so desperately to save his own sorry life!

May God have mercy on him!

[patriot12436]

heuristic1
If we do not suppport and enforce our laws then we have only chaos. Our country, our way of life will not survive if we choose to do this. There is an element of criminals that are taking an attitude of being less than human with their savage attacks on honest people.

[heuristic1]

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that''s when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can''t defend themselves? That''s like saying ''sic ''em'' to a dog," Thweatt said in a story published Friday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram''s Web site.
__________________________________
__________________________

Thus spoke David Thweatt, a school %u201Csupervisor%u201D in Harrold, Texas, who wants to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons. This is the kind of laughable, feebleminded thinking I am coming to expect from Texas and Texans.

[heuristic1]

PS. I pray and I hope that I won''''t be on the Jury panel when you committed a heinous crime. Because if that''''s the case - all I as a juror will think about is the victim(s) that you''''ve
murdered - not you! That''''s a guarantee!
________________________________
___________________________

Simplemind2,

I think you are just about the saddest, sorriest excuse for a human being that I have met anywhere, on any board. Please retire to your bamboo cage and leave this discussion to the grownups.

[heuristic1]

You are the one who should leave this country with your holier than thou attitude. When did you become God ? Why do you presume you know more about what is right for this country than our founding fathers ? You obviously have never been a victim or known anyone who has been a victim of a vicious crime. Come back with your spiel after your wife, daughter, or mother has been gang raped, tortured, or killed without mercy and talk to us then, when you have some experience on the subject.
__________________________________
___________________________

As I said earlier, I would pray to God to give me the strength not to give in to the barbarism I have met with on this board. And it is you my friend and your drunken Texas buddies who are playing God down there, not me.

[heuristic1]

patriot12436,

I don%u2019t mean to paint every citizen in Texas with a broad brush of contempt. You at least, state that capital punishment should be regarded as a sad, even tragic occasion. The posters I object to on this board are the ones who take a kind of savage delight in the spectacle of an execution and who mock and laugh at the condemned. Whether they know it or not, they are destroying their dignity as human beings to the extent that I can%u2019t take them seriously as moral agents or commentators.

[patriot12436]

simplemind2
I think it is sad that we have to resort to taking lives to preserve our way of life, but the criminals have made it necessary.

[patriot12436]

pensacola88
To answer your question. Most criminals are not educated and fail to comprehnd that their actions will cost them. I also think there is a mental issue for someone who will not follow the laws of our country. You look at the education level and the mental comprehension of the majority of the repeat offenders. It is very low for the most part.

[patriot12436]

vlotaire
You are preaching to the choir . I am retired law enforcement also. I do not take joy in the taking of any life but do believe it is necessary in extreme case such as this one. Some people just refuse to conform to the laws that are best for the whole of society. The last thing i ever wanted to do was abuse my authority, beat up a prisoner or kill someone. But the death penalty has been determined to be a just punishment for certain crimes and i support it 100%.

[simplemind2]

"Liberals are for justice, that''''s why we want to impeach boosh and cheney.
Posted by stevex47 at 10:46 PM : Aug 14, 2008"
and
"Too bad it takes so many years of appeals to carry out justice.
Posted by patriot12436 at 09:59 PM : Aug 14, 2008"
and
"Stop wasting tax dollars on these losers. It should be a given, killers give up their right to live when they take the life of another person. Period.
Stop the non-sense.
Posted by Texas_Woman at 09:46 PM : Aug 14, 2008"

Amen to ALL the above and many more!
Thank God this country still has some hope!

[pensacola88]

I have read numerous posts from Texans and death penalty supporters, but none on them still can not tell me why there are so many murders there, even with this death penalty law on the books.

It is pretty cut and dry....the death penalty isn''t stopping or even slowing down the murder rate in Texas, or Florida, or any state that has the death penalty. It is draining the taxpayer''s judicial system''s funding.

Stone age law gives stone age results. Sooner or later the caveman has to declare a better system is needed and the existing system has to abandoned. The Cavemen in Texas still resist upgrades and changes in favor of their prideful lifestyle.

Get a new constitution! Pay state income taxes! Learn to speak a foreign language! Raise children better prepared for life in a modern global economy!

History books are to teach about the past, not the future!

[patriot12436]

heuristic1 and sumarex
I would like to know what you are both serving time for ? What crimes did you commit ?

[patriot12436]

voltaire777
If you live with a cop i wonder why he stays with you with your attitude. He knows what the real world is like and you should as well.

[patriot12436]

trapbreak
That is why i support the death penalty, it makes sure it is a one way ticket for those who do not deserve the right to live.

[patriot12436]

heuristic1
You refer to the rednecks in Texas. I always took pride in being a redneck. It means having moral standards, convictions, pride in ones self and country and willing to defend our way of life, something i am sure is alien to the likes of you. I am retired military and law enforcement, i have a college degree. So i doubt you are qualified to judge anyone.