Texas prison officials give lethal injection to man for shooting game warden

A Texas man was executed on Wednesday evening for fatally shooting a game warden nine years ago during a shootout after a 90-minute chase that began when he was suspected of poaching.

James Freeman, 35, was asked by the warden if he had a final statement. "No, I do not," he replied.

He was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m., 16 minutes after Texas prison officials began a lethal dose of pentobarbital. As the pentobarbital began taking effect, he snored about five times and coughed slightly once.

The lethal injection was the second in as many weeks in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state. The US Supreme Court declined to review his case earlier this month, and no new appeals were filed in the courts to try to block the punishment.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday declined a clemency petition from Freeman.

Freeman was suspected of illegally hunting at night in Southeast Texas' Wharton County when a game warden spotted him. Freeman sped away, leading authorities on a chase that reached 130 mph (209 kph). It ended near a cemetery near his home in Lissie with Freeman stepping out of his pickup truck and shooting at officers.

He emptied his 11-shot .357-caliber handgun, then switched to an AK-47 assault rifle with a 30-round clip.

When the March 17, 2007, shootout was over, Freeman had been shot four times and Justin Hurst, a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden who had joined in the pursuit, was fatally wounded. It was Hurst's 34th birthday. About 100 law enforcement officers, many of them Texas game wardens, stood outside the Huntsville prison, during the execution.

Also outside were several motorcyclists who support law enforcement, the loud revving of their bikes clearly audible as the punishment was being carried out.

The brother of the Texas slain game warden thanked the law enforcement officers for coming to Huntsville.

"Nine years ago nine long years," Greg Hurst said after the execution, his voice cracking with emotion as he spoke of his brother's death.

Texas Game Warden Col. Craig Hunter, head of law enforcement for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and a witness to Freeman's execution, said the punishment marked "a moment that many of us have been waiting for since we first heard of Justin's death."

Hurst was an alligator and waterfowl specialist before moving to law enforcement. A state wildlife management area where he once worked in Brazoria County and about 60 miles south of Houston now carries his name.

Freeman's trial lawyer, Stanley Schneider, said heavy alcohol use and severe depression led the unemployed welder to try to commit "suicide by cop" in his confrontation with officers.

"It was totally senseless," Schneider said of the fatal shooting. "It really is very sad that it happened, that two families are suffering like this."

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has at least eight other inmates set to die through July. Last year, 13 convicted killers were put to death in Texas, accounting for nearly half of all the 28 executions carried out nationwide.