Walls Unit

Old Walls Unit

7:10p The lethal drugs took effect on George Rivas very quickly. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m., 10 minutes after the injection began.

7:09p We've now received the full text of George Rivas' final statement:

First of all, for the Aubrey Hawkins family, I do apologize for everything that happened. Not because I am here, but for closure in your hearts. I really believe you deserve that.

To my wife, Cheri. I am so grateful you’re in my life. I love you so dearly.

Thank you to my sister and dear friend, Katherine Cox, my son and my family. Friends and family, I love you so dearly.

To my friends, all the guys on the row, you have my courtesy and respect.

Thank you to the people involved and the courtesy of the officers. I am grateful for everything in my life. To my wife, take care of yourself, I will be waiting for you. I love you, God bless.

I am ready to go.

7:07p Prior to his execution George Rivas told his new wife he loved her. "I am grateful for everything in my life. I love you. God bless. I am ready to go." Rivas was calm, smiling and appeared to be at peace with what was to follow.

6:31p Before being put to death, George Rivas said: "For Aubrey Hawkins' family, I apologized for everything that happened ... not because I'm here, but for closure in your hearts. I really believe you deserve that.

6:26p Texas 7 gang leader George Rivas was executed by lethal injection at 6:22 p.m. for the murder of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins.

5:59p George Rivas will be strapped to a gurney, arms extended, and an IV for the lethal injection will be inserted in both arms. Once He's strapped down, the warden will call for witnesses to enter the two observation rooms.

5:58p Once witnesses are in place, guards will ask George Rivas if he wants to make a final statement. He said he did.

5:48p Guards move George Rivas from his holding cell, 15 feet to the execution chamber. The lethal injection procedure is scheduled to begin a few minutes after six o'clock.

5:22p One of George Rivas' four witnesses did not appear for his execution. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins will attend instead.

5:03p Three drugs are used in the lethal injection cocktail. That used to cost about $86, but the price has recently skyrocketed to more than $1,300 because the state has been forced to resort to a more expensive substitute for one of the drugs being used.

5:01p "I met with him a few minutes ago along with the warden and the chaplain, and Rivas stated that he's... all these years he's made it clear that he's ready to go," said Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. "He did say that he was going to make a last statement." Rivas is said to have made several personal calls from a phone provided by the prison, He asked five friends to witness his lethal injection.

4:50p More than 15 Irving police officers are standing outside the Walls Unit where George Rivas will soon be executed for killing Irving Officer Aubrey Hawkins on Christmas Eve 2000.

4:42p The widow of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins, who was killed by George Rivas, will not attend the execution. She told News 8 that she felt no closure after being present at the last execution of a Texas 7 gang member in 2009.

4:40p George Rivas was served barbequeue chicken for his final meal, just like the other inmates at the Walls Unit.

4:30p George Rivas' appeals have all been denied. Clemency is denied. The state says attorneys for the convicted killer do not plan a last-minute challenge to the scheduled 6 o'clock execution.

3:49p Texas no longer offers a special "last meal" to condemned inmates. At 4 o'clock, George Rivas will get the same meal the rest of the unit gets today.

2:48p WFAA photojournalist Taylor Lumsden is following five Irving Police Department vehicles en route to Huntsville to witness the execution of George Rivas.

12:47p Arriving at the Walls Unit, George Rivas goes to a holding cell 15 feet away from the death chamber. He is alone and unrestrained and can use a phone.

12:45p George Rivas will be fingerprinted and given a new white uniform upon arriving at the Walls unit following lunch for his scheduled 6 o'clock execution.

11:50a Guards will soon move George Rivas from Death Row about 40 miles to the Walls Unit for a scheduled 6 p.m. execution.

11:45a George Rivas spent this morning meeting with friends behind glass at Texas Death Row.

Cardboard Gurney

Look at the photographs below. Somebody has actually taken the time out to actually make cardboard versions of a gurney! A harmless replica of the not so harmless gurney those about to recieve a lethal injection get to lay on in their final moments on earth. Do you know what this means dear reader? It means somewhere out there on the vast plant earth is a being just like me! Who evidently has the same morbid bundle of nerves and blanket of black making up their being. The ghoul is not alone! Praise be shroud of death! Even shadow bees who feed on grave wax are not alone! This is indeed a comforting revelation.


What a cooler Blue Peter would have made us build in our youth.

Witnessed Two Executions

I have been an official witness for two executions in my State. One was a lethal injection and the second was the Electric Chair. What I can say is that it is a very sterilized, medical type procedure. I do not see how the executed person felt any type of physical pain other than the needle going in on the LI. The electrocution, according to all of my research is painless if done correctly. Obviously this is based on simple physics and what the human body can/cannot handle. The research I perused basically described it as too much juice through a circuit simply blows the fuse; end of discussion.
After having witnessed two, I can say that I am glad that I did. If you support something, you should be willing to see it through to the end, especially for me as the DP is the ultimate penalty in my field. It is so sterilized, however, so as to be boring and mundane although to watch the precision and efficiency by which the execution team performs is something to appreciate.
Would I do it again? Perhaps. I would like to witness a firing squad and the other methods used so that I could see all of them, but I seriously doubt that that will happen. I do believe though that the only sure pain that the subject feels is the severe anxiety/ apprehension adn sheer terror related to the fact that they know EXACTLY what is transpiring and the when and where of their demise. I rest peacefully in the fact that that has to be something horrible and frightening in their final living days as they get closer and closer to their date and hour.
Lethal injection is a fairly sterile, clinical-like procedure and the only pain the inmate really feels is the poke of the IV needles going into each arm. The biggest thing I suppose is the waiting. The inmate knows that he or she's going to buy the farm on that table in a matter of a few minutes and the anticipation of death has got to be overwhelming for not only the inmate, but the staff that is in the room and perhaps even for the witnesses that have gathered.
Wnen I say the electrocution was pretty sterile, I meant it wasn't pasty white and light blue with the gurney and such, but it was very controlled and almost clinical in its application. The condemned was also strapped into the chair so tightly that there was little motion otehr than an upward lurching, but nothing like that has been displayed by Hollywood like The Green Mile or anything like that. There was some residual smoke from the leg strap and a blister appeared where it was attached, but overall, it was very non-climatic, just like lethal injection.