HERE YA GO NOIR: Texas 7 Member Volunteers For Execution This Week

Texas 7 Member Volunteers For Execution This Week

Sunday, August 10, 2008 1:50 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Writer

LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) — Michael Rodriguez remembers the exhilaration of newfound freedom when he hid in the back of a stolen truck as he and six of his buddy convicts staged one of Texas' most notorious prison breaks.

Then he recalls seeing his photo on national TV and grasping the reality that their Hollywood-style plan to rob a Nevada casino had gone terribly awry. He and his fellow fugitives were being hunted everywhere as the killers of a police officer, Aubrey Hawkins, at a store they robbed outside Dallas.

This week, Rodriguez is set to become the first of the six surviving members of the infamous "Texas 7" — all of them now on death row — to go to the death chamber.

"I'm glad we got caught, so no one else would get hurt," Rodriguez said, discussing with a reporter for the first time his involvement in the crime spree eight years ago.

"It was so thrilling that we actually got away with it," he said of the December 2000 escape from a maximum security prison. "But after Mr. Hawkins got killed, and I saw (ABC's) Peter Jennings on the TV news with our pictures, I thought: 'Oh my God, Oh my God. Am I in trouble!'"

After some six weeks of evading an intense manhunt, the fugitives were captured in Colorado. One of the seven killed himself as authorities closed in on him.

"I'm glad it ended when it did. It would have been a mess."

Rodriguez, 45, said he welcomes this week's execution, set for Thursday.


Story continues here...

Finally! A criminal willing to "Man up".

if this man wants to die then let him, I'm against the state commuting murder, not suicide, if he is happy enough for his life to end then that's his choice.

Noir wrote:if this man wants to die then let him, I'm against the state commuting murder, not suicide, if he is happy enough for his life to end then that's his choice.

So in the end, even if a person is an ADMITTED murderer and WANTS to die, you still are against the death penalty...

Now, in the same breath, are you going to tell me you are FOR killing the unborn?

I will state clearly, for the record, I am aginst the state being able to murder it's citizens.

As for this case, fair enough, if he wants to die let him die, I also believe that if anyone (of sand mind) makes clear their wish is to die then the state should not interfere.

As for abortion, this is much much trickyer, and I am sorry to disappont but I have yet to make up my mind, I can see both sides and they both have very valid and strong arguements. At the moment it really comes down to specifics, for example one of my cousins was druged and raped a few years ago, had she if ended up pregnant then I would have been pro choice (luckly tho she wasn't) however in cases where somone could have the baby without specfic trama and then give it up for adoption then I would be anti-abortion. But as I said I have no firm answer

Noir wrote:I will state clearly, for the record, I am aginst the state being able to murder it's citizens.

As for this case, fair enough, if he wants to die let him die, I also believe that if anyone (of sand mind) makes clear their wish is to die then the state should not interfere.

As for abortion, this is much much trickyer, and I am sorry to disappont but I have yet to make up my mind, I can see both sides and they both have very valid and strong arguements. At the moment it really comes down to specifics, for example one of my cousins was druged and raped a few years ago, had she if ended up pregnant then I would have been pro choice (luckly tho she wasn't) however in cases where somone could have the baby without specfic trama and then give it up for adoption then I would be anti-abortion. But as I said I have no firm answer

OK... I may surprise you too, because I'm kind of undecided on certain instances too with abortion. In the case of incest, I say yes, because the child will more than likely be retarded anyway. In the case of rape, I think a man that rapes a woman has to be possessed by the devil himself, and that makes the baby devil spawn, and I really don't think the woman should be forced to carry it. Also in the case where if an abortion ISN'T performed, more than likely the mother will die, again, yes, it should be legal.

But for a woman to simply walk into an office and say, "hey, I'd like you to KILL my baby,"... no, no fucking way.

OMG! We agree on an issue! And it's a biggy!

Noir wrote:OMG! We agree on an issue! And it's a biggy!

Well then, there is hope for you...

Pale Rider wrote:

Noir wrote:OMG! We agree on an issue! And it's a biggy!

Well then, there is hope for you...

I was gonna say the same for you =p