Michael Graczyk reports for AP:
A three-time convicted robber who helped engineer the biggest prison break in Texas history was executed Wednesday evening for killing a suburban Dallas police officer while the notorious gang was on the run.
Donald Newbury, 52, became the third member of the group known as the "Texas 7" executed for the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Aubrey Hawkins, an Irving officer who interrupted the fugitives' robbery of a sporting goods store on Christmas Eve in 2000.
The slaying occurred 11 days after the convicts escaped. The gang was captured a month later in Colorado.* * *As the lethal dose of pentobarbital took effect, he closed his eyes, then took a deep breath and began snoring. After about a dozen snores, each a bit quieter, he stopped all movement.
He was pronounced dead 11 minutes later, at 6:25 p.m.
About two dozen police officers stood at attention outside the Huntsville prison. Several supporters of the slain officer were on motorcycles outside, and as Newbury was taking his final breaths, the roar of revving engines could be heard inside the death chamber.
The punishment was carried out after Newbury lost a last-day appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. His attorneys had argued previous lawyers were deficient and courts did not provide adequate money for a defense expert to illustrate how Newbury's abusive childhood influenced his violent behavior.
"Newbury's request is nothing more than a meritless attempt to postpone his already-delayed execution," Tomee Heining, an assistant Texas attorney general, told the high court.
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