DALLAS – A prison escapee who helped kill an Irving police officer on Christmas Eve 2000 notified court officials he wants to drop all appeals to speed up his execution.
Michael Anthony Rodriguez, 44, would become the first member of the notorious Texas Seven escapees to face execution. One of the escaped inmates killed himself before his capture more than six years ago. The five other surviving escapees are all on death row and are still appealing their sentences.
In January, a judge ordered Rodriguez to undergo psychological evaluation to determine whether he is competent to waive his appeals. Rodriguez wrote a letter dated Feb. 2, 2007 declaring his intention to seek dismissals of his appeals after the psychological evaluation.
“I certainly appreciate the court respecting my wishes and protecting my constitutional rights,” he wrote. “I am still going to move forward in this process.”
At the time of the Dec. 13, 2000, escape, Rodriguez was serving a life sentence for hiring a hit man to kill his wife.
During the escape, the inmates who became known as the “Texas Seven” overpowered some prison workers at the Connally Unit, near Kenedy in South Texas. The prisoners took the workers’ clothes and fled in a pickup truck after taking 16 guns from the prison armory.
The escapees committed a string of robberies, ending with the Christmas Eve holdup at an Irving sporting goods store where officer Aubrey Hawkins, 29, was shot 11 times.
The seven escapees were found a month later in Colorado. One committed suicide before he was captured. The other six were later convicted and sentenced to death.
Rodriguez was convicted of capital murder in May 2002 in the death of the police officer. The story gained national attention and coverage.