Execution Report: Donald Newbury

Donald Newbury, 52, was executed by lethal injection on 4 February 2015 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a police officer during a robbery while on escape from prison.

On 13 December 2000, Newbury, then 38, escaped from the maximum-security Connally Prison Unit in south Texas, where he was serving a 99-year sentence for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Newbury made the escape with six other prisoners: leader George Rivas, 30; Patrick Murphy, 39; Michael Rodriguez, 38; Joseph Garcia, 29; Randy Halprin, 23; and Larry Harper. All of the men were serving sentences of 30 years or more. They overpowered 13 prison workers and 3 uninvolved inmates in the prison's maintenance area, in most cases by one of the group calling a victim over, then another member of the group hitting the unsuspecting person on the head from behind. The prisoners bound and gagged their victims, took their clothing, credit cards, and identification, and locked them in an electrical room. They then made their way to the back gate of the prison. Three of them, disguised as civilian prison employees, overpowered a guard and stole some guns while the other four distracted the other guards. They escaped in a prison pickup that had been modified with a false bottom. They then drove to a nearby store, where Rodriguez's father had left another truck for them.

The escapees, who committed a string of crimes as they trekked northward through Texas, became known nationally as the "Texas Seven." They had left a note behind at the scene of their escape reading, "You haven't heard the last of us yet."

On 14 December around 2 a.m., the group burglarized a Radio Shack store in Pearland, south of Houston. To bypass the store's security system, they broke into an adjacent store, then knocked down the sheetrock wall that divided them. They then tethered the Radio Shack safe to their pickup and dragged it away. They also stole electronic equipment, including scanners that could receive police radio communications. The escapees also robbed an Auto Zone store in Houston and obtained security officers' uniforms from a used clothing store.

On 24 December, the escapees went to an Oshman's sporting goods store in Irving. Armed with weapons and two-way radios, Garcia, Halprin, Newbury and Rodriguez entered the store just prior to closing. Rivas and Harper also entered, masquerading as Oshman's security guards. Murphy waited in a truck outside the store and monitored the police radio frequencies.

Rivas and Harper told the store managers that they were investigating a theft at another Oshman's and asked that all the store's employees be brought together to look at a photo spread. The other men, meanwhile, went through the store, gathering merchandise. Once the employees were gathered together, Rivas drew a gun and announced that he was robbing the store. He instructed the other men to tie the employees up in the store's break room. He also ordered store manager Wesley Ferris to open the store's gun vault, safe, and cash registers, repeatedly warning him that he would be shot if he resisted. Rivas then took Ferris's keys and left him in the break room with the other employees.

While this was happening, Misty Wright, the girlfriend of one of the employees, was waiting outside in her car for the store to close. She saw the employees inside raising their hands over her heads and called a friend, who joined her in her car.

Rivas then exited the store through the front entrance and drove Ferris's Ford Explorer around to the loading dock in the back. Wright and her friend saw this and drove quickly to a nearby restaurant to phone the police. Rivas noticed Wright driving away and warned the others on his radio, directing them to move to the back of the store. Within minutes, Murphy radioed the group to alert them to a police vehicle he saw entering the Oshman's parking lot.

Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins was the first officer to arrive at the scene. He drove directly to the back of the store, where he was shot eleven times. Evidence presented at trial showed that he was shot with at least five different guns from at least three directions, and that he died immediately. Some of the escapees pulled Hawkins' body from his police vehicle and took his sidearm. Rivas then ran over Hawkins in Ferris's Explorer, dragging his body approximately ten feet.

The escapees got away with over $70,000 in cash, 44 firearms, ammunition, camping equipment, and the employees' wallets and jewelry.

The Texas Seven committed three more armed robberies as they made their way northward. After Hawkins' murder, a $100,000 reward was issued for their capture. The reward would climb to $500,000 before the group was apprehended.

The fugitives bought a recreational vehicle and made their way to Colorado. They stayed in an RV park near Colorado Springs, pretending to be missionaries. On 20 January 2001, a story about the Texas Seven was broadcast on the television program, "America's Most Wanted." A neighbor at the RV park saw the program and told his friend, who owned the RV park, that he believed the Texas Seven were there. The owner confirmed his suspicions and notified the authorities. On 21 January, a SWAT team from the El Paso County (Texas) sheriff's department surrounded five members of the gang at a gas station. When capture was imminent, Larry Harper killed himself. Rivas, Rodriguez, Garcia, and Halprin were captured.

Murphy and Newbury evaded capture that day. Two days later, however, they were cornered at a hotel in Colorado Springs. They agreed to surrender on the condition that they first be allowed to make a statement on live television. A reporter for the local CBS affiliate station went to the hotel and interviewed the men via telephone. Both men harshly denounced the criminal justice system in Texas, with Newbury stating, "the system is as corrupt as we are."

Hawkins' gun, as well as guns and merchandise stolen from Oshman's, were found in the fugitives' possession at the time of their arrest.

Newbury confessed to his role in the escape. He blamed Officer Hawkins' death on poor police training.

Continued on Page 2