Execution Report: Billy Hughes Jr.

Billy George Hughes Jr., 47, was executed by lethal injection on 24 January 2000 in Huntsville, Texas, for murdering a state trooper who pulled him over.

In April 1976, Hughes, then 24, checked into the Days Inn Motel in Brookshire using a stolen credit card. The clerk, having discovered the card was stolen, went to Hughes's room to discuss it. After the clerk left, Hughes got into his car and drove away.

The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a dispatcher's report that a man had attempted to use a stolen credit card at a motel in the area, and a description of his car was given. Troopers Jack Reichert and Mark Fredrick saw a car matching the suspect's description and followed it down the highway. When the car exited the highway, the troopers turned on their overhead lights. Hughes pulled over onto the shoulder of the exit ramp. Frederick walked up to the driver's side of Hughes's car, with Reichert close behind. Hughes then shot Frederick once and sped away. Reichert fired six times at the fleeing vehicle, then called for assistance. Trooper Mark Frederick died in the ambulance, en route to the hospital.

DPS Troopers Randall Baisch and Rodney Green, responding to the shooting, discovered Hughes's abandoned car approximately three miles from the scene of the shooting. The car had several bullet holes in it, and a room key from the Days Inn Motel in Brookshire was inside. The car, which was stolen, also contained a sawed-off shotgun, two rifles, and a supply of ammunition.

Billy Hughes was apprehended 3 days later, after an extensive manhunt. He was caught by a DPS trooper in a helicopter, who spotted him hiding under a tree in a pasture. At first, Hughes aimed his gun -- a 9 mm automatic pistol -- toward the helicopter, but then he dropped his weapon and was taken into custody.

Forensics testing matched the 9mm bullet taken from the victim's body with the handgun Hughes was carrying when he was captured.

At his trial, Hughes testified to a crime spree that began in January, when he rented a car in Alabama. He drove to Florida and passed several worthless checks, which he used to by clothing, gas, food, and weapons. After passing through Pensacola, Orlando, and Jacksonville in the now-stolen car, he passed all throughout the South, including stops in Georgia, Tennessee, Maryland, the Carolinas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. His criminal activities included passing more stolen checks, traveller's check fraud, stealing a license plate, and stealing a credit card. However, he testified that he did not intentionally murder Trooper Frederick. Instead, he said that after he left the motel and was pulled over, the troopers fired at him without provocation, so he fired a blind shot out the window back at them.

Trial testimony also showed that in Alabama, Hughes had commited extortion by making bomb threats.

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