Execution Report: Adolph Hernandez

Adolph Gil Hernandez, 50, was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas on 8 February 2001 for the murder of a homeowner during a burglary.

In September 1988, Hernandez, then 38, broke into the home of Elizabeth Alvarado, 69. He bashed Alvarado in the head eight times with a baseball bat and stole her purse, which contained $350. While he was fleeing the scene, the victim's daughter, Josie Vargas, pulled into the driveway and saw Hernandez emerge from the home with a bloodied baseball bat and her mother's purse. She confronted Hernandez and managed to wrestle the bat from him and strike him with it before he got away. Vargas recognized Hernandez because the two had known each other most of their lives.

Inside the house, Vargas found her mother badly beaten. She believes her mother was alive and making noises while they waited for medical personnel, but she was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Following the trail from the house, police found Alvarado's purse and a shoe print. They found Hernandez after about an hour, hiding in some bushes. His bloody shoes matched the print found with the victim's purse.

In the ten years prior to Alvarado's murder, Hernandez had been imprisoned and paroled three times. He was paroled in 1980 after serving 23 months of a 9-year sentence for burglary. In 1985, he was paroled after serving 4 years of a 15-year sentence for burglary of a home. After returning to prison for a parole violation, he was paroled again in January 1988. During this time, early release was common in Texas because of strict prison population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.

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