Texas executes Donald Newbury

Donald Newbury

Already a three-time felon with a violent history, the convicted robber Donald Newbury was serving a 99-year prison term when he joined six fellow convicts in Texas’s biggest prison break ever in 2000.

Newbury was executed Wednesday for the shooting death of a suburban Dallas police officer during a sporting-goods store robbery the escaped fugitives carried out while at large.

Newbury was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m., almost 30 minutes after the procedure began. His last words were "I love you all" after he read a proverb as his last statement.

As the drugs began to take effect, Irving PD and other police officers revved their motorcycles.

Newbury, 52, becomes the third Texas prisoner to be put to death this year, and also the third of the notorious “Texas 7” gang to be executed for the slaying of 29-year-old Irving officer Aubrey Hawkins.

His attorneys had asked the US Supreme Court to keep him from lethal injection, arguing that previous lawyers were deficient and courts did not provide adequate money for a defense expert to illustrate how Newbury’s abusive childhood influenced his violent behavior.

The Texas attorney general’s office, in opposing the appeal, said Newbury had been given court reviews and court-authorized money and “has not pointed to any facts” that would prove he was innocent.

Newbury was spared from lethal injection three years ago by a Supreme Court reprieve.

Evidence showed the gang led by George Rivas, who was serving 17 life-in-prison terms, overpowered workers on 13 December 2000 at the Connally Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, about 60 miles south of San Antonio.

Eleven days later, on Christmas Eve, and after robberies as far away as Houston, Hawkins was shot 11 times and run over with a stolen SUV when he interrupted the gang’s holdup of a sporting goods store. The fugitives got away with $70,000, 44 firearms, ammunition and winter clothing. They also took jewelry and wallets from store employees who were closing up for the evening.

They were hunted down a month later in Colorado where one of them, Larry Harper, killed himself rather than surrender.

According to court records, 12 loaded firearms were found in the Holiday Inn room in Colorado Springs where Newbury was arrested with escapee Joseph Garcia.

Newbury contended he didn’t shoot to kill Hawkins and pointed his gun far above the officer’s head.

Prison records show Newbury had dozens of disciplinary cases since arriving on death row in 2002. Most were defined as major, such as assaulting corrections officers, possessing weapons and contraband and creating disturbances. At least one was a riot case.

“He really likes coming across as the bad outlaw,” said Toby Shook, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Newbury.

In a 2003 interview with The Associated Press, Newbury said he would still escape if he could do it all over again.

“I had 99 years,” he said, referring to his original sentence. “What did I have to lose?”

Gang leader Rivas, 41, was put to death three years ago. George Rodriguez, 45, was executed in 2008 after ordering all his appeals dropped.

Three remain on death row: Garcia, 43, Patrick Murphy Jr, 53, and Randy Halprin, 37.

Newbury becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 521st overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Newbury becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death since Greg Abbott became Governor of Texas last month.

Newbury becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1401st overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Source: The Guardian, AP, Rick Halperin, February 4, 2015

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

Singapore executes three drug mules over two days

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Florida | After nearly 50 years on death row, Tommy Zeigler seeks final chance at freedom

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

Vietnam | Woman sentenced to death for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Kuwait | New Anti-Drug Law Introduces Death Penalty, Surprise Testing, and Strict Enforcement

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 26: Divorce rates in Kuwait are rising, with recent statistics indicating that addiction—particularly among wives—has become a significant contributing factor. In response, authorities are preparing to introduce surprise premarital drug testing as part of a broader set of reforms under Kuwait’s new drug law. The countdown has officially begun for the enforcement of this new legislation, which was drafted by a judicial committee formed by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef. The committee is headed by Counselor Mohammed Rashid Al-Duaij.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog