Texas inmate executed for killing police officer in chase

[webfact]

Texas inmate executed for killing police officer in chase
MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Texas inmate Daniel Lee Lopez got his wish Wednesday when he was executed for striking and killing a police lieutenant with an SUV during a chase more than six years ago.

The lethal injection was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals from his attorneys who disregarded both his desire to die and lower court rulings that Lopez was competent to make that decision.

Lopez, 27, was pronounced dead at 6:31 p.m. CDT. He became the 10th inmate put to death this year in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state. Nationally, he was the 19th prisoner to be executed.

Lopez's "obvious and severe mental illness" was responsible for him wanting to use the legal system for suicide, illustrating his "well-documented history of irrational behavior and suicidal tendencies," attorney David Dow, who represented Lopez, told the high court. Dow also argued the March 2009 crime was not a capital murder because Lopez didn't intend to kill Corpus Christi Lt. Stuart Alexander.

Alexander, 47, was standing in a grassy area on the side of a highway where he had put spike strips when he was struck by the sport utility vehicle Lopez was fleeing in.

Lopez, who also wrote letters to a federal judge and pleaded for his execution to move forward, said last week from death row that a Supreme Court reprieve would be "disappointing."

"I've accepted my fate," he said. "I'm just ready to move on."

Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka said Lopez showed "no regard for human life" when he fought with an officer during a traffic stop, then sped away, evading pursuing officers and striking Alexander, who had been on the police force for 20 years. Even when he finally was cornered by police cars, Lopez tried ramming his SUV to escape and didn't stop until he was shot.

"He had no moral scruples, no nothing. It was always about Daniel Lopez, and it's still about Daniel Lopez," Skurka said Tuesday. "He's a bad, bad guy."

Lopez was properly examined by a psychologist, testified at a federal court hearing about his desire to drop appeals and was found to have no mental defects, state attorneys said in opposing delays to the punishment.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-13

[JetsetBkk]

This may be a daft question , but why do they appeal? Do they get paid more just for hanging on to the case? Does the money come from the - now dead - guy's estate or the public purse?

Just wondering...

[Jimlove]

Thrash gone ... Good !

[mcfish]

Personally I like Brazil's police method of handing out justice, a bullet to the head on the spot , no need for expensive endless appeals that all fail anyway

[sdanielmcev]

This may be a daft question , but why do they appeal? Do they get paid more just for hanging on to the case? Does the money come from the - now dead - guy's estate or the public purse?

Just wondering...

Dow was representing him pro bono.(For free.) But he gets a lot of publicity (advertising) for it.

[Langsuan Man]

Now if we could just get Texas to execute a company then all this silly Citizens United crap would end

A company is not a person until Texas executes them, IMHO