Free Republic

Final 'Texas 7' escapee gets deathSlain officer's mother says nightmare ending11:09 PM CST on Thursday, November 20, 2003By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News Six men each convicted for the slaying of her son. Six death sentences handed down by juries. Only now, Jayne Hawkins told Patrick Murphy Jr. – sentenced Thursday to die by injection for the murder of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins – will the nightmare she relived in court six times subside. "I don't have to hear empty defenses anymore. The wound won't be reopened as it has been every trial," Ms. Hawkins told Mr....

Escapee Patrick Murphy found guilty of murder01:46 PM CST on Thursday, November 13, 2003By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News A Dallas County jury found Patrick Murphy Jr. guilty of capital murder Thursday in the death of an Irving police officer. It took the jury about an hour and 10 minutes to reach the verdict. The punishment phase of the trial is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. "The evidence could not be more damning for Patrick Murphy," prosecutor Bill H. Wirskye told jurors during his closing argument. He pointed at Mr....

Trial for 6th escapee may be challengeInmate was said to be lookout, driver when Irving officer was shot10:24 AM CST on Monday, November 10, 2003By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News Five death-penalty trials have come and gone with the same outcome since members of the so-called Texas Seven prison gang were captured in the Colorado Rockies in January 2001. As the last of the surviving gang members faces trial Monday, observers say the case against Patrick Murphy Jr. could be the most challenging yet for prosecutors seeking a sixth death-penalty conviction. In the capital murder trials so far,...