Convicted Cop Killer Executed

(UnitedVoice.com) – Texas executed a death row inmate on February 1. The prisoner, a convicted cop killer, was the second execution carried out this year. With his final words, the prisoner spoke to the family of the man he callously murdered.

At 6:41 p.m., doctors pronounced 43-year-old Wesley Ruiz dead, almost 16 years after he gunned down 33-year-old Dallas Police Senior Corporal Mark Nix. The Associated Press reported the inmate addressed the deceased officer’s family before the prison administered the lethal drugs, apologizing to them for his actions. He said he was sorry to the officer and “the Nix family for taking him away from” them. Ruiz told them that he hoped his execution would bring them closure.

The convicted killer also spoke to his own family and friends. He told his kids that he wanted them to “stand tall and continue to make [him] proud.”

Ruiz’s attorneys had taken his case all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that anti-Hispanic stereotypes were relied on when the jury sentenced him to death. The high court refused to issue a stay, clearing the way for his execution the same day.

NEW: The Supreme Court declines to block the execution of Wesley Ruiz, scheduled to take place this evening in Texas. Ruiz argued that jurors relied on anti-Hispanic stereotypes in deciding to sentence him to death. With no recorded dissents, SCOTUS denies his request for a stay. pic.twitter.com/TSchL2BsI8

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) February 1, 2023

Cpl. Nix died in March 2007 after responding to a call about a car that was suspected of being involved in a homicide. The officer, an Iraq War veteran who was engaged to be married, briefly engaged in a car chase with Ruiz. The killer opened fire from inside his car, striking Nix’s badge while he was at the passenger side of the vehicle. The badge shattered, sending shrapnel into the officer’s neck, and severing an artery.

The other officers on scene returned fire, shooting Ruiz. The killer later accused Nix of threatening to kill him and saying he just wanted to stop him, not murder him. The jury didn’t buy it any more than the Supreme Court bought the argument about anti-Hispanic bias.