A Texas man who murdered a police officer was executed on Dec. 4 at a prison in Huntsville.
Joseph Garcia, 47, was placed on death row after he broke out of prison and went on a brazen crime spree across multiple states nearly 20 years ago.
But he blamed the crimes on others, writing the Houston Chronicle weeks before he was put to death: “I am on death row because of the actions and intent of others and because I am one of the Texas Seven, case closed. Is it right that I should be murdered for something that I did not do?”
Garcia never apologized for his crimes.
He escaped from a prison south of San Antonio, where he was serving a 50-year sentence for murder. He and another inmate George Rivas were credited as the masterminds behind the escape.
Crime Spree
The spree included robberies and the murder of a police officer, Irving’s Aubrey Hawkins. Hawkins was a 14-year veteran of the force and left behind a wife and son.
“Garcia and six codefendants fatally shot a 31-year-old white male police officer while on escape,” the Texas Department of Criminal Justice stated. Another officer, Colorado State Trooper Jason Manspeaker, was killed in an automobile accident while searching for the suspects. He was survived by his wife.
A sign that honors the memory of Manspeaker was unveiled in January at mile marker 216 along I-70, while Irving Police Chief Jeff Spivey said that Hawkins death is still felt years later.
“It was truly an execution of Officer Hawkins who had absolutely no idea of what he was driving into,” Spivey, who was a sergeant at the time and a lead investigator on the case, told Fox 4 this year. “That desire to want to catch the guys responsible for this is what sticks out in my mind every year that we go through this.”
The group of seven was finally caught several weeks later; one killed himself before he could be captured. Garcia is the fourth person of the group to be put to death.
“It’s been almost 18 years,” attorney Toby Shook, who prosecuted all six men, told the Chronicle earlier this year. “It’s satisfying that the actual sentence will actually be carried out.”
Garcia had fought the death sentence, launching a series of legal filings aimed at delaying it, but ultimately failed.
‘Murder and Mayhem’
Shook said the sentence came after he proved that Garcia was a future danger to the public based on his crimes after the escape as well as his previous murder.
“I don’t think that anything could be more relevant than an offense of murder,” Shook told The Texas Tribune. “I think we accurately depicted Joseph Garcia as a very violent individual.”
And Shook addressed Garcia’s argument that he wasn’t directly involved in the murder of Hawkins, saying didn’t matter because the group of inmates acted as a team to commit the robbery and the murder.
“He was up to his ears in murder and mayhem out there. He was actively participating in everything,” Shook told the Associated Press.
Garcia’s final words before he was pronounced dead at 6:43 p.m. was a prayer.
“Yes Sir. Dear Heavenly Father please forgive them for they know not what they do,” he said.
Garcia was the 12th prisoner in Texas to be executed this year; another death date is scheduled for next week. He was the 22nd inmate executed in the United States this year.
