Draggingtree Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 ‘Texas 7’ escapee fights death sentence as Dec. 4 execution nears Keri Blakinger Nov. 23, 2018 Updated: Nov. 23, 2018 12:19 p.m. Joseph Garcia met George Rivas back in the summer of 1999, eight months before they started plotting their escape. They were doing time together on the Connally Unit, counting out their days in the heat of a Texas prison. Garcia was locked up on a murder charge, a crime he’s long maintained was self-defense. Rivas, on the other hand, was a convicted kidnapper, violent and full of charisma. They both had decades of time in front of them. But Rivas had better plans. Around lunchtime on Dec. 13, 2000, they broke out of the maximum security prison south of San Antonio, bringing along five confederates as they made good on an intricate plot culled straight from the pages of a novel. They took hostages, burst into the prison armory, stole weapons and stormed out in a prison truck, making for the biggest escape in Texas prison history. After pulling off two robberies in the Houston area, they headed to the Dallas suburbs, hoping to get as far as they could from the bloodhounds and helicopters hunting them down. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-Seven-escapee-fights-death-sentence-13413007.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggingtree Posted December 3, 2018 Author Share Posted December 3, 2018 Death Row Information Offender Information Name Garcia, Joseph Christopher TDCJ Number 999441 Date of Birth 11/06/1971 Date Received 02/14/2003 Age (when Received) 31 Education Level (Highest Grade Completed) 12 Date of Offense 12/24/2000 Age (at the time of Offense) 29 County Dallas Race Hispanic Gender Male Hair Color Black Height 5 ft 9 in Weight 202 Eye Color Brown Native County Bexar Native State Texas Prior Occupation maintenance, laborer Prior Prison Record #774391 on a 50 year sentence from Bexar County for murder with a deadly weapon; 12/13/2000 escaped from custody Summary of Incident On 12/24/2000, in Irving, Texas, Garcia and six codefendants fatally shot a 31 year old white male police officer while on escape from the TDCJ Connally Unit. Co-Defendants Patrick Murphy, George Rivas, Randy Halprin, Larry Harper, Michael Rodriguez, Donald Newberry Race and Gender of Victim white male Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggingtree Posted December 4, 2018 Author Share Posted December 4, 2018 Texas set to execute Joseph Garcia, one of the "Texas Seven" prison escapees Garcia is scheduled for execution Tuesday night. He'll be the fourth of the "Texas Seven" inmates executed after the group escaped the Connally Unit in 2000 and killed Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins during a Christmas Eve robbery. BY HANNAH WILEY DEC. 4, 201815 HOURS AGO Joseph Garcia was four years into a 50-year sentence for a 1996 Bexar County murder when he joined six other inmates who escaped prison, went on the run and killed Irving Police officer Aubrey Hawkins in a Christmas Eve robbery. Texas is scheduled to execute Garcia, 47, on Tuesday evening, almost 18 years after he and the other inmates known as the "Texas Seven" construed a detailed plan to break out of the Connally Unit in Karnes County. On the afternoon of Dec. 13, 2000, the seven men overpowered prison workers, took their uniforms, stole 14 handguns, a shotgun, an AR-15 rifle and more than 100 rounds of ammunition before fleeing north in a prison truck. The escaped prisoners managed to avoid law enforcement until Christmas Eve, when a botched robbery at a sporting goods store in Irving resulted in a shootout between the escaped convicts and Hawkins. https://www.texastribune.org/2018/12/04/Joseph-Garcia-Texas-seven-texas-execution/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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