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James Freeman Texas Execution

James Freeman was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a game warden. According to court documents James Freeman was being chased by Texas Game Warden Justin Hurst, When the chase ended James Freeman would open fire striking and killing Justin Hurst. James Freeman would be sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on January 27 2016

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A man convicted in the 2007 shooting death of a Texas game warden in Wharton County was executed Wednesday evening.

James Garrett Freeman, 35, shot and killed Justin Hurst, a game warden with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, following a 90-minute chase on country roads in the early morning of March 17, 2007, according to court documents. It was Hurst’s 34th birthday.

Freeman was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital and died at 6:30 p.m., according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He declined to give a final statement.

It was the second execution in Texas this year and the fourth in the United States. Eight more executions are scheduled in the state through July. Texas executed 13 people last year.

Freeman was first approached by law enforcement after he shot and killed a possum from the side of the road, according to court documents. Another game warden patrolling the area heard the shot, and when he activated his emergency lights, Freeman sped away.

Law enforcement from multiple agencies took part in the high-speed chase before Freeman ran over a set of spikes that officers had set up near a cemetery. Dashboard camera video shows he exited the car shooting at officers with a handgun, returned to his car while officers shot back, then came back out firing an assault rifle.

Hurst came out from cover to fire at Freeman and was shot and killed. Freeman was also hit by several bullets, including one that penetrated his leg, Wharton County District Attorney Ross Kurtz said.

“Justin was very loved and respected, as is his family who remains in Wharton,” Kurtz said. “It was a great loss.”

Freeman was the first person to be executed from Wharton County since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to TDCJ. There have been other capital murder cases in the county since Freeman’s case in 2008, but none have sought the death penalty, Kurtz said. The county has a population of about 41,000.

Freeman’s lawyers said the unique thing about this case was Freeman’s lack of a violent criminal history. He was on probation for a DWI at the time of the shooting, court documents said, but had never faced violent charges. During appeals, Freeman argued his good behavior in jail and lack of violent history indicated he would not be a future danger to society, an element that was necessary to sentence someone to death.

“The most difficult thing for people to grapple with on all sides of this case is the lack of criminal history in this fellow’s background and the extraordinary violence of this event,” said Patrick McCann, Freeman’s lawyer for his direct appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. “It’s so hard for people to look at the video of this encounter and not think that this was done by someone with a violent, vicious history.”

In Freeman’s last appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case on January 11. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted not to recommend a commuted sentence, a common occurrence immediately before a scheduled execution.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/01/27/texas-game-warden-killer-set-execution/

Christopher Brooks Alabama Execution

Christopher Brooks was executed by the State of Alabama for the sexual assault and murder of a woman in 1992. According to court documents Christopher Brooks attacked Jo Deann Campbell who he would then sexually assault and then murder. Christopher Brooks would be sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on January 21, 2016

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Christopher Brooks, convicted of the 1992 rape, murder and robbery of Jo Deann Campbell, was put to death Thursday night in the first execution carried out in Alabama in almost 2 1/2 years.

Brooks was declared dead at 6:38 p.m., about 20 minutes after being administered a three-drug lethal injection. Media witnesses present said there did not appear to be signs of struggle or distress during the procedure.

Brooks said before the execution he was grateful for the love of his friends.

“I hope this brings closure to everyone involved,” he said. “These last two years have been amazing. I hope to see you soon.”

Investigators found Campbell on Dec. 31, 1992, partially clothed and beaten with a weight in her apartment in Homewood. Brooks had met Campbell while working as a camp counselor. Campbell allowed Brooks to sleep on her floor the evening before.

Police found a bloody fingerprint belonging to Brooks at the scene, and later found Brooks with Campbell’s car keys and credit card. A jury convicted Brooks, 43, in 1993 of the crime, a conviction upheld in the state’s appellate courts.

In a statement, Mona Campbell, Jo Deann Campbell’s mother, said the execution would not bring the family closure but would relieve them from “appeal after appeal, keeping my family stressed for 23 years.”

“This execution did not and will not bring back my precious youngest daughter, who I love with all my heart,” Mona Campbell said in the statement. “I know she is in heaven with her father, and someday God will allow me to join them. I hope that Brooks, who has done this horrible inhumane act, has made his peace with God.”

Media witnesses said Christopher Brooks spoke with a chaplain and held his hand as the drugs were administered. Tim Lockette of The Anniston Star said shortly after, “he closed his eyes, his lips parted, his breathing grew more shallow.” Kent Faulk of al.com said Brooks did not appear to be moving by 6:19 p.m. The curtain closed on witnesses at 6:30 p.m., indicating all the drugs had been administered.

Alabama last executed an inmate on July 25, 2013. Executions came to a halt due to a shortage of drugs used in the execution, particularly the sedatives meant to render the condemned inmate unconscious before the injection of the fatal chemicals. Legal challenges to lethal injection also slowed the execution process.

The state switched the sedative from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital after Hospira, the maker of sodium thiopental, discontinued its manufacture in the United States in 2011. The state acknowledged in early 2014 it had run out of pentobarbital. But in a filing with the Alabama Supreme Court in September, the Alabama Attorney General’s office said it had secured midazolam hydrochloride as a sedative.

Florida has used midazolam in its executions since 2013, without reported incident. But the drug was present in executions in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona in 2014, where inmates took a lengthy time to die. In two cases, reporters said inmates appeared to be gasping or choking through the process.

Witnesses said Christopher Brooks did not show any signs of distress during the execution.

“Specifically for the execution of Mr. Brooks, it went exactly according to our protocol,” Alabama Department of Corrections commissioner Jeff Dunn said after Brooks’ death.

After administration of the sedative, the state protocol calls for the injection of rocuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles. The inmate next receives potassium chloride, to stop the heart. The drugs are administered from a room outside the execution chamber. Under state law, Holman warden Carter Davenport administers the lethal injection.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in executions in a 5-4 decision. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said three Oklahoma inmates challenging its use had failed to prove it violated the U.S. Constitution’s prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment. The court also ruled that the condemned had to suggest a more humane method of execution available to officials.

Brooks was moved to a holding cell on Tuesday in advance of the execution. He was given a breakfast of grits, biscuits, sausage, jelly and cheese at 6:10 a.m. Thursday, but did not eat it. Brooks saw friends and attorneys until 4:15 p.m. Thursday, according to Corrections officials. For his final meal, Brooks requested two peanut butter cups and a Dr. Pepper.

There are 186 inmates on Alabama’s death row. Five have challenged the use of midazolam, saying it would not render them unconscious in time to avoid the pain from the other two drugs, which would be a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s protections against “cruel and unusual punishment.” The inmates also questioned whether Corrections officials consistently administer a consciousness test before administering the lethal drugs. Brooks filed a motion to join the case in November, and later to stay his execution.

“Midazolam will not anesthetize Brooks, and regardless of the dose, will not eliminate the risk that a condemned inmate will experience pain from the paralytic or potassium chloride,” his brief said.

A district court allowed Brooks to join the lawsuit, known as the “Midazolam Litigation,” but refused to grant a stay. A federal appeals court Tuesday refused to intervene, upholding the district judge’s ruling that Brooks had not offered an alternative means of execution available to the Alabama Department of Corrections. The court also upheld the district court’s ruling that Brooks had run out of time to intervene in the case.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Brooks’ requests for a stay of execution Thursday evening. The majority did not explain its reasons. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a brief dissent, saying the methods by which Brooks was sentenced resembled Florida’s capital sentences, which the high court voted to strike down earlier this month in a case titled Hurst v. Florida.

“The unfairness inherent in treating this case differently from others which used similarly unconstitutional procedures only underscores the need to reconsider the validity of capital punishment under the Eighth Amendment,” Breyer wrote.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, wrote a separate concurrence in the denial. Sotomayor wrote that “procedural obstacles” prevented the court from granting the stay, but added that the majority’s decision to deny the ruling was based on two cases that Hurst overturned. The execution did not begin until the Supreme Court’s ruling arrived, Dunn said.

The long pause between executions in Alabama was unusual, but not unprecedented. The state resumed executions in 1983, but did not schedule any for almost three years, following the gruesome death of John Evans in the electric chair on April 22, 1983. There was a 2 1/2-year gap in executions in the state between 1992 and 1995.

Campbell’s family asked the public to remember their daughter and sister and the way she lived her life.

“Although Jo Deann only had 23 years with us on Earth, she had an impact on so many lives and was loved by so many, including those who never had the opportunity to meet her,” said her sister, Fran Romano, in a statement.

Corinne Campbell asked that her sister’s “loveable memory and intense integrity never be forgotten.”

“She was the victim who in no way deserved her untimely horrific fate on this earth,” Corinne Campbell said in a statement. “Her last act was none other than helping someone else. And I am not surprised. She did that continually, as it was her friendly, kind-hearted nature.”

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/politics/southunionstreet/2016/01/21/christopher-brooks-executed-1992-rape-and-murder/79119540/

Richard Masterson Texas Execution

Richard Masterson was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a woman. According to court documents Richard Masterson picked up the victim Darin Honeycutt in 2001. Darin Honeycutt would be strangled to death. Richard Masterson first confessed to the murder but later would say that the strangulation was accidental during sex. The jury would convict Richard Masterson and sentenced him to death. Richard Masterson was executed by lethal injection on January 20 2016

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In Texas’ first execution of 2016, a man convicted in a fatal strangling and robbery was executed in Huntsville Wednesday night.

Richard Masterson, 43, was declared dead at 6:53 p.m. from a lethal injection of pentobarbital, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He was sentenced to death for the 2001 strangulation of Darin Honeycutt in Harris County, and served almost 14 years on death row.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court both denied last-minute requests for stays of execution Wednesday.

“Sending me to a better place. I am alright with this,” Masterson said in his final words. “You have to live and die by the choices that we make. I have made mine.”

Masterson met Honeycutt at a bar, and the two left together early on Jan. 26, 2001. Honeycutt’s body was found in his apartment the next day, and his car was gone, according to court documents.

Masterson was arrested Feb. 6 in Florida. He originally confessed to intentionally killing Honeycutt but later claimed that the death was accidental, saying Honeycutt had asked to be choked while they were having sex.

The medical examiner in the case testified during the trial that the death was caused by intentional strangulation, and the jury found Masterson guilty and sentenced him to death in May 2002.

The day before Masterson’s execution date, his lawyers filed last-minute requests for stays and new hearings in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, after already having received several denials.

In their latest appeal at the state level, Masterson’s lawyers asked for a new hearing to challenge the constitutionality of a statute that allows the state to keep execution drug manufacturers secret. The Court of Criminal Appeals denied the request Wednesday morning.

In an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney Gregory Gardner said that Honeycutt died of a heart attack after having sex with Masterson. Gardner said that Paul Shrode, the medical examiner, wrongly classified the death as a homicide.

In the same year as Honeycutt’s death, Shrode was written up by the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office for wrongly determining a cause of death. In 2010, he was fired from his position as El Paso County chief medical examiner after a death row inmate in Ohio was granted clemency due to issues related to Shrode’s testimony in the case.

These incidents and the fact that the state did not reveal them to Masterson, Gardner argued, was cause for a stay and hearing. The request was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon, allowing the execution to move forward.

“Richard was an innocent man,” Gardner said. “If [he] was not poor, he could have afforded attorneys who would have handled his case properly. He would be free today.”

The execution was the first of nine scheduled for the first six months of the year, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, with the second scheduled for James Freeman next Wednesday. Thirteen men were put to death by the state of Texas in 2015.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/01/20/richard-masterson-set-be-first-2016-texas-executio/

Ruben Cardenas Texas Execution

Ruben Cardenas was executed by the state of Texas for the sexual assault and murder of his sixteen year old cousin. According to court documents Ruben Cardenas would sneak through a window and abduct sixteen year old Mayra Laguna. The teen would be sexually assaulted and murdered. Ruben Cardenas would deny that he was responsible for the brutal crime. Ruben who is a Mexican Nationalist tried to get his sentence commuted to life due a treaty between the USA and Mexico however he would be executed by lethal injection on November 8, 2017

Ruben Cardenas More News

Amid international outcry and claims of global treaty violations, Texas on Wednesday executed a Mexican national who has long professed his innocence in the rape and murder of his 16-year-old cousin in the Rio Grande Valley 20 year ago.

Ruben Cardenas Ramirez thanked his lawyers and declared his innocence one last time before he was pronounced dead at 10:26 p.m

“I love you all very much. And I know that you love me too. Life does go on,” he told his family in a written statement just before his execution.

“I will not and cannot apologize for someone else’s crime, but, I will be back for justice! You can count on that.”

In the days before the 47-year-old’s death, Mexican officials held press conferences in Mexico City and Houston, decrying the execution they said followed from flagrant disregard for international law. Amnesty International, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations all condemned the state’s use of its harshest punishment.

“I am extraordinarily disappointed with this outcome and at the same time overcome with pride at the efforts made by his lawyer, Maurie Levin, and her team of lawyers,” said Gregory Kuykendall, an Arizona attorney authorized to speak on behalf of Mexico. “And I’m equally proud of the Mexican government for so diligently pursuing every avenue of defense conceivable.”

But for the victim’s family, Wednesday’s outcome was a final relief. The slain teen’s sister – who witnessed her abduction 20 years earlier – declared “justice was finally served,” and reminisced over the murdered girl’s smile and loving nature.

Police first zeroed in on the Guanajuato native as the prime suspect in the shocking crime just hours after Mayra Laguna’s disappearance on Feb. 22, 1997. Roxanna Laguna later said she had spotted a man slipping in through the window and snatching her older sister from the bed they shared.

When authorities pulled in Cardenas and his buddy Tony Castillo for questioning, at first they only admitted to a wild night out, filled with booze and cocaine. But after hours of interrogation, they confessed to the killing.

Later, prosecutors say, Cardenas led investigators to Mayra’s body, tossed in a canal off the beaten path.

“This guy is guilty as sin,” Hidalgo County prosecutor Ted Hake reaffirmed in the weeks before the execution.

But defense counsel alleged that the multiple confessions were coerced and said police led Cardenas to the dump site and not the other way around.

Aside from raising questions about the evidence, lawyers for Cardenas and representatives of Mexico have harped on alleged violations of a consular treaty and a World Court ruling.

When authorities in Hidalgo County first arrested Cardenas they did not immediately tell Mexico or notify the accused of his right to talk to his country’s consulate, according to court documents — an apparent oversight that violates Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

A 2004 U.N. World Court ruling mandates that foreign nationals who weren’t told of their consular rights are allowed a review to examine whether that oversight influenced the outcome of the criminal case.

Yet it was because of the lack of consular notification that Mexican officials didn’t find out about the arrest for five months – long after Cardenas had given multiple, conflicting confessions that his lawyer argues were coerced.

Cardenas repeatedly asked for a lawyer, but authorities ignored his pleas until 11 days after his arrest, instead pushing on in their interrogations without telling him about his consular notification rights, his attorney alleged in court filings.

But a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision deemed the U.N. order unenforceable unless Congress takes legislative action — and it hasn’t.

Wednesday’s planned execution would be the fifth time Texas put to death a Mexican national in apparent violation of international law, officials said Tuesday.

Cardenas spent his final days pecking away at his typewriter and visiting with family, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records. On Wednesday he refused breakfast and was transferred to the death chamber in Huntsville.

Meanwhile, in a flurry of last-minute filings, Cardenas’ lawyers struggled in a futile bid to save his life.

On Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals slapped down a pair of appellate claims seeking DNA testing, calling the request a possible stall tactic that wouldn’t be enough to prove innocence anyway.

Then on Tuesday, defense attorney Levin filed a civil suit targeting prison officials she says refused to let her watch the execution. Citing previous botched lethal injections in other states, Levin argued for the need for phone access during and before the punishment.

Federal courts denied the claim on Wednesday, along with a suit demanding DNA testing in the case. Within hours, the Fifth Circuit denied the latter claim on appeal.

Carrying out the execution without more testing “violates the most basic notions of fairness and justice,” Levin said.

The Hidalgo County District Attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With hours to go before Cardenas went to the death chamber, his counsel filed two appeals begging the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution. The court denied both just before 10 p.m.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Supreme-Court-allows-execution-of-Mexican-12343362.php

Patrick Hannon Florida Execution

Patrick Hannon was executed by the State of Florida for two murders committed in 1991. According to court documents Patrick Hannon and two other men James Acker and Ronald Richardson would murder Brandon Snider, 27, and Robert Carter, 28. James Acker would receive a life sentenced and Ronald Richardson would testify against the two others for a five year sentence. Patrick Hannon was considered to be the ring leader and would receive the death penalty. Hannon would admit to being at the murders however denied participating in them. Patrick Hannon would be executed by lethal injection on November 8, 2017

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Patrick Charles Hannon helped execute two Tampa men 26 years ago. He slashed one man’s throat and shot another man six times in the chest in 1991.

The state of Florida executed him for those crimes on Wednesday night.

Hannon was pronounced dead at 8:50 p.m. He was 53.

He is the only one of three men who took part in the Jan. 10, 1991 murders of Brandon Snider, 27, and Robert Carter, 28, to receive the death penalty.

James Acker, also now 53, is serving a life sentence plus 22 years at Cross City Correctional Institution in Dixie County. Ronald Richardson testified against the other two in exchange for a five-year sentence

When the curtain rose on the glass window separating the witness gallery from the execution chamber, Patrick Hannon was strapped in a gurney, covered by a white sheet.

Before executioners injected the cocktail of drugs that would render him unconscious, paralyzed and then dead, Hannon spoke.

He proclaimed his innocence and apologized — to the family of just one of the men he killed.

“I hope this execution gives the Carter family some peace,” he said. “I wish I could have done more to save Robert.”

In the gallery, a woman from Snider’s family whispered: “Bulls—-.”

“I didn’t kill anybody but I was there when Ron Richardson and James Acker did,” Hannon said.

“Robbie was a good man and a good friend, and I let him down when he needed me most. As far as Brandon Snider, I think that everybody knows what he did to get this ball rolling.

“I’m sorry this worked out like this, the way it did.”

The woman whispered one final vulgarity at Hannon, then waved goodbye as he was put to death.

Afterward, she declined to identify herself or comment to the Tampa Bay Times.

The execution took 12 minutes at Florida State Prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Hannon’s last-ditch appeals around 8:30 p.m. That delayed the start of his execution by more than two hours, forcing the 18 witnesses, including members of the Snider and Carter families, to wait.

Patrick Hannon was convicted of the murders in 1991 and a jury unanimously sentenced him to death. He was 26 then, and has spent another 26 years, a second lifetime for him, on Florida’s Death Row.

Last month, Gov. Rick Scott signed Hannon’s death warrant, sealing his fate. The courts rejected his pleas for appeal and postconviction relief. And days before, the Florida Supreme Court declined to stay Hannon’s execution.

He was the third Death Row inmate Florida executed using this lethal combination of drugs: Etomidate, a sedative; rocuronium bromide, a paralytic; and potassium acetate, to stop his heart.

After Patrick Hannon completed his statement, at 8:38 p.m., his body received the sedative through an IV. He exhaled heavily and his body shook for short periods of time.

At 8:42 p.m., an official inside the chamber checked to see if Hannon was conscious. He touched Hannon’s eyelids and shook his shoulders.

By 8:44 p.m., Patrick Hannon lay still. His lips turned a dark purple as the color drained from the rest of his face.

At 8:50 p.m., a doctor entered. He checked Hannon’s pulse and listened to his chest through a stethoscope before declaring him dead.

Hannon’s last day began early. He awoke at 2:30 a.m., according to the Florida Department of Corrections, after sleeping just three hours.

His last meal consisted of beef short ribs, fried potatoes, bacon, a roll, peach cobbler, vanilla ice cream and sweet tea. He ate most of the short ribs and all the peach cobbler.

He was also able to spend time with his wife, whom he married while he was on Death Row. Hannon declined to meet with a spiritual advisor.

The January 1991 slayings started with a Christmas dispute just weeks before in Indiana, between Brandon Snider and a woman. In one version he fired a gun in her home and left a threatening note.

Tony Snider told another version: His half brother Brandon Snider was involved in a dispute with an ex-girlfriend and ended up damaging her room, but later apologized and offered to pay for the damages.

Brandon Snider thought it was over. It wasn’t.

The brother of the woman, Acker, then targeted him.

Acker, Hannon and Richardson went to find Snider at the Cambridge Woods Apartments, just a mile from the University of South Florida campus.

Investigators said Acker stabbed Brandon Snider 14 times and Hannon slit this throat. Carter begged to be let go and tried to hide in an upstairs bedroom. Hannon shot him in the chest six times.

Tony Snider told the Times earlier this week that he’s waited a long time to see justice served.

“A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye,” he said. “He took my brother’s life; why shouldn’t the state of Florida take his?”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/Victim-s-relative-waves-goodbye-as-Patrick-Hannon-executed_162451581/