Execution Report: Erick Davila

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A jury found Davila guilty of capital murder in February 2009 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in January 2011. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Davila's appeals lawyers continued to raise the claim that he only intended to kill Jerry Stevenson. They also claimed that he was "heavily intoxicated, likely to the degree that it would have rendered him temporarily insane" at the time of the killings.

At his execution, Davila lifted his head from the gurney as some relatives of his victims entered a viewing room adjacent to the death chamber, acknowledging some that he appeared to know.

"I may have lost the fight, but I'm still a soldier," he said in his unapologetic last statement. "Take it as it is. To my supporters and family, y'all hold it down. Ten toes down. That's all I got to say." The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 6:31 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 26 April 2018. Prisoner's age at execution corrected on 8 May 2018.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.