A Texas man was\u00a0put to death\u00a0Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013, apologizing profusely to her older son who survived with multiple stab wounds and witnessed the execution.<\/p>\n
Cedric Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.<\/p>\n
He was condemned for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Bedford.<\/p>\n
Cedric Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. Texas Department of Criminal Justice\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Sanchez\u2019s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was stabbed 25 times and feigned death in order to survive.<\/p>\n
Ricks apologized repeatedly to seven relatives of his victims who looked on, particularly Marcus Figueroa.<\/p>\n
The attack survivor showed no emotion, watching through a glass window just steps from where Ricks was strapped to a gurney.<\/p>\n
On the back of Marcus Figueroa\u2019s neck, visible above his shirt collar and below his hair, were several scars apparently from the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to say that I\u2019m sorry for taking Roxann and Anthony from y\u2019all,\u201d Ricks said when asked by the warden if he had a final statement. \u201cI\u2019m glad to be able to speak to tell y\u2019all that face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roxann Sanchez, 30, was murdered inside her Dallas-area apartment by Cedric Ricks in May 2013. Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth\/YouTube<\/p>\n
He said he hoped one day that his victims\u2019 relatives would be able to find it in their hearts to forgive him. He also addressed Marcus Figueroa, saying he hated that he took his mother and brother away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always thought about you and I\u2019m sorry that I took your mom and your brother away. I hate that you had to experience that, I just can\u2019t imagine, but I\u2019m truly sorry for what I\u2019ve done, and I wish y\u2019all peace and joy as much as you can but I\u2019m sorry, that\u2019s all I can say,\u201d Ricks said. His voice cracking and tear forming in his eye, he added that he hoped to find the woman and her son in heaven and \u201ctell them I\u2019m sorry face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope y\u2019all go in peace. I really do. I\u2019m sorry,\u201d he concluded before the injection began.<\/p>\n
As the drug took effect, he took 19 quick breaths, then made 10 snoring sounds, followed seconds later by some intermittent gurgles. Then all movement and sounds stopped, and he was pronounced dead 30 minutes after the injection had begun.<\/p>\n
Among the other witnesses were Roxann Sanchez\u2019s stepfather and brother, and Anthony Figueroa\u2019s father, brother and grandmother.<\/p>\n
Roxann Sanchez\u2019s sons Marcus and Anthony Figueroa. Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth\/YouTube<\/p>\n
None of them showed any emotion in the death chamber witness area and declined to speak with reporters afterward.<\/p>\n
The night of the killings, prosecutors said, Ricks and Sanchez had been arguing in their apartment when the woman\u2019s two sons from a previous marriage tried to break up the fight.<\/p>\n
Ricks grabbed a knife from the kitchen and began to stab Sanchez multiple times, court records showed.<\/p>\n
Marcus Figueroa ran to his bedroom closet and tried to call police. After killing Anthony Figueroa, Ricks began stabbing Marcus Figueroa, who played dead until his attacker left the apartment, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Ricks did not harm his own then-9-month-old son Isaiah, according to court records. Ricks fled and was later arrested in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
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At his ensuing capital murder trial, Ricks testified that he had anger issues and had been defending himself against the two boys after they had come to their mother\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cExplaining my rage, I was upset. Things happen. I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know. I wish I could bring them back, like, right now,\u201d said Ricks, who also apologized at the time for the killings.<\/p>\n
A day before the stabbings, Ricks had appeared in court after having been charged with assaulting Sanchez during a previous incident.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court rejected Ricks\u2019 final appeal without comment. His attorneys had argued that prosecutors violated Ricks\u2019 constitutional rights by eliminating potential jurors on the basis of race while selecting the trial panel.<\/p>\n
The Texas Attorney General\u2019s Office said court records show the prosecution\u2019s jury selection decisions were \u201crace neutral\u201d and lower courts have already concluded that prosecutors\u2019 actions were not discriminatory.<\/p>\n
And earlier this week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Ricks\u2019 request to commute his death sentence or grant a 90-day reprieve.<\/p>\n
Ricks was the second person put to death this year in Texas and the sixth in the country. Texas has historically held more executions than any other state.<\/p>\n
Charles \u201cSonny\u201d Burton, a 75-year-old inmate in Alabama, had been scheduled for execution Thursday. But Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday\u00a0commuted his death sentence\u00a0to life in prison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n
Burton had been condemned for a fatal shooting during a 1991 robbery at an auto parts store even though he didn\u2019t pull the trigger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Texas man was\u00a0put to death\u00a0Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3384,3385,8,3386,9,360,7,1250],"class_list":{"0":"post-4051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-death-row","9":"tag-executions","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-murders","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-us-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116215920888552036","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}