Execution Report: Emerson Rudd

Emerson Edward Rudd, 31, was executed by lethal injection on 15 November in Huntsville, Texas for the armed robbery and murder of a restaurant manager.

In September 1988, four young men entered a Captain D's Seafood restaurant in Dallas and demanded money at gunpoint. Restaurant manager Steve Morgan, 23, told the lead robber that the restaurant did not have large amounts of money. Upon hearing this, the robber shot Morgan in the abdomen at close range. Under threat, other employees cooperated in finding money. The robbers left with about $800 in cash. Morgan was taken to the hospital, where he died the next morning.

Two days after the robbery, police stopped a car matching witnesses' descriptions of the getaway car. Four young men were inside. An employee who witnessed the shooting of Steve Morgan positively identified one of them, Emerson Rudd, then 18, as the killer.

During the punishment phase of his trial, the state presented evidence that Rudd had juvenile convictions of aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, and theft. Upon being released from juvenile detention in August 1988, he robbed at least eight fast food restaurants before being arrested.

After deliberating for 12 minutes, a jury convicted Rudd in March 1989 of capital murder and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction in September 1993. All his other appeals in state and federal courts were denied.

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