Execution Report: Licho Escamilla

Licho Escamilla, 33, was executed by lethal injection on 14 October 2015 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a police officer who was responding to a fight he was engaged in.

On 25 November 2001, Escamilla, then 19, was at a Dallas nightclub. According to court records, "he became involved in a physical confrontation with three other males" near the valet stand in the parking lot of the nightclub. Escamilla was a known gang member and was wanted as a suspect in the fatal shooting of Michael Torres, 26, a man from Escamilla's neighborhood who was killed two weeks earlier. An arrest warrant was issued for Escamilla on 19 November.

Four off-duty Dallas police officers were working as security for the club that evening. Officers Kevin James and Clarence Lockett responded to the disturbance at the valet stand. Escamilla fired multiple times at both officers before they could react, wounding them both and causing Officer James to fall to the ground. The officers returned fire, wounding Escamilla. Escamilla then began to flee, but he paused near James and fired three additional shots at his head. The other two police officers then arrived and exchanged gunfire with Escamilla. He was attempting to carjack someone about a block away when two people tackled him. He was then arrested and taken to Parkland Hospital. Officer James died en route to the hospital. Corporal Lockett sustained an injury to his left wrist.

Escamilla fired 12 shots in total. His gun was empty when he was apprehended.

At the hospital, the trauma doctor asked Escamilla if he knew where he was. He answered, "I am at Parkland because I shot a faggot cop." A police officer who accompanied Escamilla at the hospital stated that he was laughing and hurling expletives at him and another officer and boasting, "I will be out of here in forty-eight hours."

Under Texas law, the murder of a peace officer acting in the line of duty is capital murder when the defendant knows that victim is a peace officer.

Corporal Lockett testified that he and Officer James were wearing wool caps bearing the Dallas Police Department emblem on the front and black jackets bearing the emblem on the chest and left shoulder. The jacket the victim was wearing was subsequently presented into evidence. Additionally, two employees of the club who witnessed the shooting testified that they could tell James and Lockett were police officers when they arrived at the disturbance.

Prosecutors also presented a videotaped interview Escamilla gave with a television reporter from jail after the killing. The transcription of that interview read:

The defense argued that the prosecution did not prove that Escamilla knew James was a police officer at the time of the shooting. The defense also argued that since James was not on duty, he was not killed "in the line of duty."

According to public records, Escamilla had a prior felony conviction for theft of between $20,000 and $100,000. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years' probation. Records indicate the theft occurred in August 2001 and his case was disposed in September 2001, two months before the killing.

Continued on Page 2