Texas Executes John Allen Rubio for Killing Three Children
On November 12, Rubio, 46, died following an injection of lethal drugs at the Huntsville state prison. He had been found guilty of killing three small children by stabbing and decapitating them in a Brownsville apartment in 2003. The building has since been demolished, and the site turned into a park and community garden.
Before the execution, Rubio thanked friends and family and expressed love for his wife, Angela Camacho, who is serving a life sentence for her part in the killings. He apologized to her family and said, “I’m going to be with my kids in a little bit.” He died 21 minutes after the injection began.
An appeals court set aside Rubio’s initial capital murder verdict because statements by Camacho had been improperly admitted as evidence. A second trial ended in another conviction and death sentence. Rubio entered an insanity plea, saying he was not guilty; mental health specialists for the defense diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, while prosecution experts rejected that assessment. Court records said Rubio was not the biological parent of the two eldest children, though he had raised them as his own.
Hours earlier, Oklahoma executed James Pavatt for the 2001 murder of Rob Andrew, his girlfriend’s estranged husband. The two executions brought the U.S. total for the year to 37, with the country on pace to exceed 40 for a second consecutive year. Camacho is serving life in prison.
Texas Executes Rubio as U.S. Death Toll Rises
On November 12, Texas put John Allen Rubio to death for the 2003 killings of three young children in Brownsville. The execution, hours after Oklahoma executed James Pavatt, pushed the U.S. total to 37 this year, as the country headed toward more than 40 executions for a second consecutive year.
Rubio, 46, was given a lethal injection in Huntsville and died on November 12. He thanked his family and friends, apologized to his wife’s family and said he was ready to be reunited with his children. His wife, Angela Camacho, is imprisoned for life because of her involvement in the killings.
The case included a dispute over Rubio’s mental state. Defense specialists diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, a conclusion prosecution experts rejected. An appeals court overturned his initial capital murder conviction because statements by Camacho had been improperly admitted; a second trial again resulted in a death sentence.
The punishment is final, but the case also underscores the stakes of a system in which a flawed first trial required a second before the state carried out an irreversible sentence. Pavatt was executed earlier in Oklahoma for the 2001 murder of Rob Andrew. The two executions were the 36th and 37th in the United States this year.
Rubio Executed for Brutal Murders of Three Children
Texas carried out the death sentence for John Allen Rubio on November 12, ending a case involving the killing of three very young children in Brownsville. Following a lethal injection in Huntsville, Rubio died on November 12.
Rubio had been convicted of stabbing and decapitating the children in 2003. He thanked friends and family before his execution, apologized to his wife’s family and said he was ready to join his children. Angela Camacho, his common-law wife and a co-defendant, is serving life in prison.
The case went through two trials. An appellate court threw out Rubio’s initial capital murder conviction because statements by Camacho were improperly admitted as evidence. At the second trial, Rubio was convicted again and sentenced to death. Defense experts said he had paranoid schizophrenia; prosecution experts disputed that diagnosis.
The execution was one of two carried out in the United States on November 12. Oklahoma executed James Pavatt hours earlier for the murder of Rob Andrew. Together, the executions brought this year’s total to 37, on pace to pass 40 for a second consecutive year. Rubio’s punishment followed a second trial and a conviction upheld after the appeal.
Reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox News.
