HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The leader of the fugitive gang known as the “Texas 7” was executed Wednesday for killing a suburban Dallas police officer during a robbery 11 years ago after organizing and pulling off Texas’ biggest prison break.
George Rivas, 41, from El Paso, received lethal injection for gunning down Aubrey Hawkins, a 29-year-old Irving police officer who interrupted the gang’s holdup of a sporting goods store on Christmas Eve in 2000. The seven inmates had fled a South Texas prison about two weeks earlier.
The gang was caught in Colorado about a month after the officer’s death. One committed suicide rather than be arrested. Rivas and five others with lengthy sentences who bolted with him were returned to Texas where they separately were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die.
Rivas became the second of the group executed.
“I do apologize for everything that happened. Not because I’m here, but for closure in your hearts,” Rivas said Wednesday evening in a statement intended for Hawkins’ family.
The slain officer’s relatives were absent, but four officers who worked with him and the district attorney who prosecuted the case attended on his family’s behalf. They stood in the death chamber watching through a window just a few feet from Rivas.
The inmate thanked his friends who were watching through another window and said he loved them. A Canadian woman whom Rivas recently married by proxy, also looked on.
“I am grateful for everything in my life,” Rivas said. “To my wife, I will be waiting for you.”
Ten minutes later, at 6:22 p.m. CST, he was pronounced dead.
More than two dozen police officers in uniform stood quietly in a line outside the Huntsville prison during the execution, then walked in unison to stand behind the state criminal justice spokesman as he announced Rivas’ death.
Texas’ parole board voted 7-0 this week to reject a clemency petition for Rivas.
 
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