Man who killed cop is executed after appeal over 'racist' jury thrown out
A man who fatally shot a Dallas police officer nearly 16 years ago has been executed after an appeal claiming the jury at his trial was racist was dismissed.
Wesley Ruiz, 43, received a lethal injection and 22 minutes later at 6.41pm on Wednesday he was pronounced dead for the killing of Dallas Police Senior Corporal Mark Nix in March, 2007.
As the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, he took two quick breaths, then began snoring. His 11th snore was his last and there was no further movement.
Ruiz killed Mr Nix following a high-speed chase after being spotted driving a car that matched the description of one used by a murder suspect.
Authorities said Mr Nix tried to break the vehicle's passenger window after the chase ended and that Ruiz fired one shot which hit Nix's badge, splintered it and sent fragments that severed an artery in his neck. Nix later died in hospital.
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Dallas Police Senior Corporal Mark Nix was killed in March, 2007 (Dallas Police Department)The 33-year-old officer was a US Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm. He'd been on the Dallas force for nearly seven years and was engaged to be married when he was killed.
In his last words before his execution, Ruiz said: "I would like to apologise to Mark and the Nix family for taking him away from you. I hope this brings you closure."
Ruiz thanked his family and friends for supporting him and urged his children to "stand tall and continue to make me proud."
"Don't worry about me. I'm ready to fly," he said. "All right warden, I'm ready to ride."
Less than two hours before Ruiz's execution at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, the US Supreme Court declined an appeal from his lawyers.
Ruiz's attorneys had asked the court to halt the execution, arguing jurors relied on "overtly racist" and "blatant anti-Hispanic stereotypes" in appraising whether Ruiz would be a future danger, an element needed to secure a death sentence in Texas. Ruiz is Hispanic.
In court documents filed late on Tuesday with the Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General's Office said Ruiz's claim of juror bias has no merit because a review of the allegations conducted last week by Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot found no such bias.
The Huntsville Unit which houses the Texas execution chamber (Wikimedia Commons)One of the jurors accused of bias by Ruiz's attorneys told Creuzot that, "I was not nor am not bias(ed) to anyone or any race," according to the court filing.
Last week, US District Judge David Godbey in Dallas denied a request to stay Ruiz's execution, saying his attorneys failed to show that jurors made statements during trial that showed "overt racial bias."
And on Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a similar stay request based on alleged racial bias. The appeals court did not consider the merits of the claim, but rejected it on procedural grounds.
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Ruiz's attorneys have previously argued unsuccessfully that an expert witness for the prosecution falsely testified at Ruiz's 2008 trial about whether he would be a future danger. Defence attorneys alleged prosecutors knew about the false testimony and remained silent.
In his ruling, Judge Godbey said the expert testimony "was quite possibly harmless" and even if the testimony was corrected, it would not have changed the jury's decision to sentence Ruiz to death.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday unanimously declined to commute Ruiz's death sentence to a lesser penalty.
Ruiz is one of five Texas death row inmates who are suing to stop the state's prison system from using what they allege are expired and unsafe execution drugs. Despite a civil court judge in Austin preliminarily agreeing with the claims, the state's top two courts allowed one inmate who had been part of the litigation to be executed on January 10.
Prison officials deny the lawsuit's claims and say the state's supply of execution drugs is safe.
At his trial, Ruiz testified he was afraid for his life and only fired in self-defence after Nix allegedly threatened to kill him. The defendant also said he believed police fired their weapons first.
"I didn't try to kill the officer. I just tried to stop him," Ruiz testified.
Ruiz said he fled police that day because he had illegal drugs in his car and had taken drugs.
Gabriel Luchiano, who knew Nix when the officer worked as a security guard, said he always responded quickly when people needed help at the convenience store in northwest Dallas where Luchiano worked.
He was a "guardian angel," said Luchiano. "It's still painful no matter what. Nothing is going to close it."
Ruiz would be the second inmate put to death this year in Texas and the fourth in the US. Seven other executions are scheduled in Texas for later this year, including one next week.
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