Posted Oct. 7, 2005 – Ronald Ray Howard, a man whose lawyers argued that anti-police rap music made him gun down a Texas State trooper in 1992 during a traffic stop, was executed by lethal injection Thursday in Huntsville.
About an hour before Howard was to be taken to the death chamber, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected blocking his execution, The Associated Press reports. Earlier this week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to reduce Howard's sentence to life.
For his final statement, Howard, 32, looked at the trooper's widow, daughter and brother and said he hoped "this helps a little. I don't know how, but I hope it helps."
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Then he turned to friends and a brother who were among his witnesses, expressing love and thanking them for locating two of his young children, who visited him on death row within the past week. "Love you all. Thank you so much,” The AP reports.
Twelve minutes later, he was pronounced dead.
Howard was 18 and armed with a nine-millimeter pistol when Officer Bill Davidson pulled him over outside Edna. The 43-year-old Davidson died three days later of a gunshot wound to the neck.
Howard's execution is the 14th this year in Texas.
Was the gansta rap argument one that should have been considered in sparing this man's life? Click on "Discuss Now" and give us your opinion.
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