"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.

[CBSTV]

Utterly depraved.

[sistatee-2009]

Hasta la vista, Baby!

[rosieod4prez]

Sounds like he found religion while in prison the second time. I''m happy for his soul. It''s too bad he didn''t find God before killing his wife.

May God have mercy.

[downsteamjim]

Bet he doesn''t escape again.

[pensacola88]

Even in the end, Rodriguez got his way. It looks like he carried out a calculated succession of crimes knowing he was going to die peacefully for them.

[adfolder]

Fry all these jerks up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[pjh822]

Have fun in hellll, *********

[texas_woman]

Texas is the only state with the backbone to serve the utlimate punishment.....death. The only problem is we don''t provide this punishment nearly enough. I am tired of criminals having more rights than law abiding citizens. 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.

[pjh822]

Texas is the only state with the backbone to serve the utlimate punishment.....death. The only problem is we don''''t provide this punishment nearly enough. I am tired of criminals having more rights than law abiding citizens. 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
+ report abuse

Criminal justice is just that--justice for the criminal.

[libsluv2spit]

GOOD!!!!!!!! These effing scums are victimizing society twice


Federal overseer seeks to seize $8 billion for California prison healthcare
The court-appointed receiver for the prison medical system asks a judge to order the state to provide the money and hold Schwarzenegger and state Controller Chiang in contempt of court.
By Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 14, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- The court-appointed overseer for healthcare in state prisons moved Wednesday to seize $8 billion from the California treasury, asking a federal judge to hold Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Controller John Chiang in contempt of court.


*******
we pay billions of dollars in california to provide healthcare for these fu ckers..and we dont have money for good honest citizens..

when it comes to justice..dont let these bleeding heart liberals run the show or else the CRIMINALS WILL RUN THE SHOW

[patriot12436]

I hate to see the loss of any life but agree trhere are times it is necessary for the good of the majority. I think Texas sets a good precedent for the country to follow. Too bad it takes so many years of appeals to carry out justice.

[haoli25]

NEXT!

[tootall10142]

Patriot1234! exactly right!

[dakotaclark]

Hmmm...

I am very glad to hear that this piece of sh@t miscreant finally took his last breath.

Now, they ought to leave the body in an open field, so the critters can feast off of it.

One down and six more to go, before justice finally will be served.

[chimpyout]

See, the death penalty is a deterrent. Rodriguez won''t try that again. Justice delayed is justice denied for the many victims, so let''s get on with it!

[pensacola88]

The death penalty in Texas hasn''t stopped murders from happening. It has made some of the killers smarter and colder about calculating their crimes. Some of the less intelligent just give up after they are caught. All killers on death row in Texas do agree their own death, when carried out, offers them a far better way to die than they offered their victims. The death row inmates complaining the most are the ones who wait the longest to die.

The same thing happens in Florida.

The prosecution is nothing more than a distraction from the inevitable death.

This should serve as proof that the death penalty is not the deterant to homicide as most had hoped.

Killers who face the "life without parole" sentence enter a different frame of mind after it is clear to them that they still have to cope with social order and find their place. Most find it harder to face life, than to face death.

[stevex47]

"when it comes to justice..dont let these bleeding heart liberals run the show or else the CRIMINALS WILL RUN THE SHOW "

You''re wrong in generalizing like that. I''m that bleeding heart liberal, and if it were up to me, in order to deter criminals from comitting heinous crimes, I''d use the Laws on the books even more than Texas does.

Liberals are for justice, that''s why we want to impeach boosh and cheney.

[stevex47]

Well written and thought out pesacola. Really. I just don''t agree. I don''t think we use the death penalty enough in any state, to say if it deters or not.

IMHO, it''s Consistent use in ALL states would send the message, heinous crimes will get THE penalty.
(same crime in any state = death penalty)

No?

[summarex]

I''d like to roll into Texas like the Russians did into Georgia, round up all the animals who brought about or cheered this execution on, and subject them to the greatest public slaughter in the history of that state. That is the only thing those swaggering Texan animals could possibly understand.

[willhof]

I grew up with Michael Rodriguez, I sat right next to him in 8th grade at Saint Pauls School and tride to be his friend. But he was snotty, spoiled and I ended up seeking friends elsewhere. Then we went to Central Catholic High and on the second day of school he was fist fighting with Navaro, at Providence High School next door. I did not talk to him at all the rest of the 4 years but teased by calling him "howdy dudy" which he did not like. Then later on he and wally were caught trying to steal the hub caps of my friend normans camaro. I found out later that Tarresa Sanchez was his wife who graduated from Ursline Academy was a classmate of my cousin Chris. I don''t know what went wrong with mike to do what he did? All of us from the class of 1981 are reminded of what our class mate did, God have mercy on his soul.

William Sanchez Class of 1981
William Sanchez, Central Class of 1981

[jediservant]

This should serve as proof that the death penalty is not the deterant to homicide as most had hoped.

------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Pensacola88

Yea, I agree. The problem is these murders will be back on the street after probation and they will receive probation unless they get executed. Maybe they will get our family next time.

[heuristic1]

Another atrocity by the pigs of Texas, America%u2019s killing floor

[gmond]

I''''d like to roll into Texas like the Russians did into Georgia, round up all the animals who brought about or cheered this execution on, and subject them to the greatest public slaughter in the history of that state. That is the only thing those swaggering Texan animals could possibly understand.

Posted by summarex at 10:57 PM : Aug 14, 2008

Now, let me get this straight - you want to slaughter all the people who wanted the death sentence carried out for a convicted murderer because you don''t believe in the death sentence so you want to carry your own death sentence out on those who do believe in it...I don''t think I want to try whatever drugs you are on.

[libsluv2spit]

I think we should improve prison conditions. Do you know that some prisons don''''t even have cable? It''''s ridiculous, what are the prisoners supposed to do all day?

Posted by Voltaire777 at 11:08 PM : Aug 14, 2008
+ report abuse

*********

nice comeback..normally criminals and the criminally minded are sympatethic to thier own..its a human tribal thing..kinda dont want to expose too much but shows alliance...im watching you

[Netterz]

I think every state should bring back the death penalty, then maybe some of these idiots would think twice about committing some of the most henious crimes in history. I wish we had it here in MI, where soon the prison population is going to be higher than the free population. I worked in one for many years, and most of them have no remorse for there crimes, especially when there living better than they did on the street and all there friends are there. I say put in an express lane to the needle, and save the tax-payers a *** load of money.

[haoli25]

I''''d like to roll into Texas like the Russians did into Georgia, round up all the animals who brought about or cheered this execution on, and subject them to the greatest public slaughter in the history of that state. That is the only thing those swaggering Texan animals could possibly understand.
Posted by summarex


Come on, ************, come on.

[deacon20081]

I''''''''d like to roll into Texas like the Russians did into Georgia, round up all the animals who brought about or cheered this execution on, and subject them to the greatest public slaughter in the history of that state. That is the only thing those swaggering Texan animals could possibly understand.
Posted by summarex


Come on, ************, come on.
Posted by haoli25

We are ready when you are piece of scum sucking slime
come on down to Texas! summarex

[deacon20081]

Posted by Voltaire777

You are welcome to come on down as well.

[yankeerebel7]

Another reason why Texas is ahead of the rest of the nation...

[summarex]

Now, let me get this straight - you want to slaughter all the people who wanted the death sentence carried out ....


I'',m not on any kind of drug. Texans are a bunch of arrogant sanquine savages. They lower the standard for civilization here in the US and this country would be better off without them.

I''m not for the death penalty but I think I could make an exception for them. I can''t think of any other group of people in this country that comes even close to being as unbearable as these detestable scoundrels.

Of course there are bound to be a few decent people who happen to live there. That''s why I stop short of calling for someone to drop a nuke on the place and incinerate the whole lot. But I would go door to door, find the swaggerers, put them uop against a wall and give them a taste of their own medicine in summary.

Have a nice day

[patriot12436]

sumarex
With your attitude what makes you better than any of these killers ? If you don''t l;ike the way Texas administers justice then don''t come or don''t let the door hit you in the AS5 On the way out.

[patriot12436]

old thought
Most of these posters have no idea what a career criminal is like and that is why they are such bleeding hearts. I agree with you and i rarely saw rehabilitation work on any of them.

[summarex]

Come on, ************, come on.
Posted by haoli25

I will
with thousands of others
when you least expect it.

[patriot12436]

sumarex
If not on drugs then you have to be mentally unstable with your comments. Any time you want to drop by my house let me know i will be waiting for you.

[patriot12436]

sumarex
You couldn''t sneak up on anyone, a coward has a definite smell.

[patriot12436]

sumarex
And bring anyone you want ,will save time looking for others that think like you.

[patriot12436]

voltaire
Next time you need a cop call a convict to save your sorry butt. Prisons are supposed to make the criminal not to want to come back.

[yankeerebel7]

LOL at summarex advocating genocide on fellow americans. You are such scum.

[patriot12436]

voltaire
You want an example, ok.
Manson family received death sentence, was commuted to life now every few years they come up for parole hearings.

[patriot12436]

pensacola88
So you don''t think the death penalty is a deterent ? Why do you think he found God before he died ? He was afraid to take the chance of meeting his maker without forgiveness. If nothing else it is a deterrent because they won''t be back to kill anyone else.

[patriot12436]

Looks like the slimeballs have left the website.

[patriot12436]

Looks like the slimeballs have left the website.

[nikkicatt1]

summarex: What happened to you to make you hate Texas so much? Where were you when these evil men escaped prison and tortured and killed Officer Hawkins? All I can say is that my 6 yr old grandson has more courage and fortitude in his little finger than you will ever have.

[insideiam]

1 down... 6 to go...

[stupidrules3]

This should serve as proof that the death penalty is not the deterant to homicide as most had hoped.

Posted by Pensacola88 at 10:40 PM : Aug 14, 2008

Whether the death penalty deters criminals or not, this is one piece of trash that will never kill again.

[swwils]

I give Texas credit,they are not affraid to utilize that death penalty,and all the scum bags they have put too death *** well deserved it.If the rest of the nation would follow their lead we would be totally rid of some vey dangerous sick individuals that we wouldn''t have too feed and take care of.

[be_real]

NEXT...............

[navyvet77]

This should serve as proof that the death penalty is not the deterant to homicide as most had hoped.

Posted by Pensacola88 at 10:40 PM : Aug 14, 2008

------------------------------------------------------

Does life in prison deter homicide''s???

[mbcsmith]

This should serve as proof that the death penalty is not the deterant to homicide as most had hoped.

Posted by Pensacola88 at 10:40 PM : Aug 14, 2008



HE WILL NEVER KILL AGAIN!

THE BEST DETERRENT IS DEATH!

[jackp32]

Let''s roll out the remaining 6. Their maker calls.