Licho Escamilla was executed by lethal injection on October 14, 2015 for the 2001 killing of police officer Christopher Kevin James. Escamilla was convicted of killing James in 2002. He was the 12th prisoner to be executed in Texas in 2015, and the 24th in the United States nationwide.[1]
Crime and arrest
editAccording to court documents, Escamilla shot James twice, knocking him to the ground, and then fired three more shots into the back of his head.[2] While attempting to flee, he continued to exchange fire with other police officers.[1][2]
There was a warrant issued for Escamilla in the weeks leading up to James' death in connection with the shooting death of 18 year old Santos Gauna.[3] Gauna was killed at party celebrating his high school graduation and decision to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. Escamilla fled to Mexico after Gauna's murder.
Escamilla was eventually apprehended in connection with James's murder. He privately told his attorneys that he murdered Gauna. This admission was protected by attorney-client privilege. Quintin Alonzo was wrongly convicted of killing Gauna in 2003.
Escamilla did not confess publicly to Gauna's murder until the day of his execution. The local Conviction Integrity Unit began a three-year long investigation into Alonzo's wrongful conviction.[4] In 2018, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals made a final ruling of "actual innocence" for Alonzo.[5]
Legal proceedings
editEscamilla admitted to killing James on a televised interview he gave while in prison. Escamilla's defense attorneys did not contest his guilty. Attempting to avoid the death penalty, they argued that the murder of an off-duty policy officer was not capital murder. Escamilla was convicted in 2002 and received a death sentence. News outlets reported that he became very agitated and aggressive when the sentence was announced in Court.[6][7]
After 13 years on death row Escamilla filed a habeas corpus petition claiming mitigating evidence of an abusive childhood and substance abuse disorder that was not presented during sentencing.[6][2] The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowed Escamilla to appeal the district court's denial of his habeas petition and rejected his argument that Martinez v. Ryan and Trevino v. Thaler permitted the district court to consider new evidence on appeal that was not submitted to the state habeas court.[8][9] The Fifth Circuit considered Escamilla's Strickland claim without the new evidence and affirmed the district court's judgment.[10] The United States Supreme Court denied his petition for certiorari.[11]
Death
editEscamilla was on death row for 13 years. He was 33 years old at the time of his execution on October 14, 2015.[12]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Man who killed Dallas officer to be executed". Fox4 News. October 14, 2015.
- ^ a b c "Texas to Execute 33-Year-Old Licho Escamilla for Fatally Shooting Dallas Police Officer". Newsweek. Reuters. October 14, 2015.
- ^ "Quintin Alonzo". The National Registry of Exonerations.
- ^ "Dallas man freed after 17 years in prison for wrongful murder conviction" (Text.Article). FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth. 2018.
- ^ ""Actual Innocence" declared for Dallas man after serving 15 years for death of local teen". North Dallas Gazette. October 12, 2019.
- ^ a b "Officer's Widow Outraged Husband's Murderer Could Get New Trial". CBS Texas. April 16, 2014.
- ^ "Texas man convicted of killing police officer to be executed on Wednesday". The Guardian. The Associated Press. 2015.
- ^ Escamilla v. Stephens 749 F.3d 380, 394 (5th Circuit Court of Appeals 2014).
- ^ Utrecht, Jennifer (2015). "Pinholster's Hostility to Victims of Ineffective State Habeas Counsel". Michigan Law Review. 114 (1): 151. ISSN 0026-2234.
- ^ Escamilla v. Stephens, No. 12-70029 (5th Circuit Court of Appeal)
- ^ "Search - Supreme Court of the United States". supremecourt.gov.
- ^ "Death Row Information". Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 2024-10-16.