Death Row Inmate Who Killed Dallas Police Officer Nearly 16 Years Ago Will Die Today By Lethal Injection

A 43-year-old man who fatally shot a Dallas police officer nearly 16 years ago will be executed today in Texas amid an ongoing legal battle over the state’s use of expired legal injection drugs.

Wesley Ruiz has been on death row since 2008, after fatally shooting Dallas Police Senior Corporal Mark Nix, a former US Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm, the year former.

Ruiz had taken Nix on a high-speed car chase through the streets of Dallas, before running off the road and shooting the officer in the chest.

The 33-year-old police officer had served on the Dallas force for nearly seven years and was engaged to be married when he was killed.

Ruiz’s execution will go ahead despite controversy surrounding the state’s use of lethal injection drugs well beyond their original expiration dates. Ruiz’s lawyers also unsuccessfully tried to stop the proceedings after arguing that jurors relied on “racist” stereotypes when deciding the fate of the killer.

Mark Nix, a former US Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm, had served on the Dallas force for nearly seven years and was engaged to be married when he was killed.

Ruiz was sent to death row for the 2007 murder of Nix, which erupted after a high-speed chase as police searched for a murder suspect.

After seeing Ruiz driving a red Chevrolet matching the description of one fleeing a recent murder, police attempted to pull him over, but he sped away at over 80 mph.

The high-speed chase came to an end when Ruiz’s car finally skidded off the road and Nix ran over to try to break the passenger window with his police baton.

Ruiz then fired a single shot at Nix, hitting his police badge which then splintered and sent fragments flying into an artery in his neck.

Nix later died in hospital, and Ruiz was sentenced to death in July of the following year.

Ruiz is scheduled to be executed at the Huntsville Penitentiary in Texas tonight amid a controversial legal battle over the state’s use of expired lethal injection drugs.

Wednesday’s execution comes amid a controversial legal battle alleging that the use of expired and unsafe execution drugs on death row inmates violates the US Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Ruiz is one of five inmates facing lethal injections who are suing the Texas prison system for using expired execution drugs, arguing that they should not be allowed to continue extending the drugs’ expiration dates.

The lawsuit stems from a problem with a lack of pharmacies willing to produce execution drugs, which has prompted the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to extend the expiration dates on its drugs.

The authority continues use of the drug pentobarbital, the only drug used in executions in Texas, after retesting its potency levels, and previous lawsuits trying to stop the practice have failed in court.

Corrections officials deny the claims in the lawsuits and say the state’s supply of execution drugs is safe.

Although a civil court judge in Austin preliminarily agreed with the claims, the state’s two main courts still allowed the execution of another inmate who joined Ruiz in litigation on January 10.

Ruiz has been on death row for nearly 16 years after he fatally shot Mark Nix in 2007.

In another attempt to delay his execution, Ruiz’s lawyers also argued that jury bias led to an unfair sentence in his murder trial.

They asked the US Supreme Court that jurors rely on “blatantly racist” and “blatantly anti-Hispanic” stereotypes when deciding whether Ruiz would be a future danger, a necessary element to secure a death sentence in Texas.

In court papers filed Tuesday night with the Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said Ruiz’s claim of jury bias has no merit because a review conducted a week ago rejected the allegations.

One of the jurors charged with bias by Ruiz’s lawyers told the review: “I was not and am not biased toward anyone or any race,” according to the court filing.

At his trial, Ruiz claimed that he shot and killed Nix because he feared for his life, saying he only shot in self-defense when the officer allegedly threatened to kill him.

I didn’t try to kill the officer. I just tried to stop him,’ Ruiz testified.

The killer also said he only decided to lead officers on the fatal high-speed chase because he had used illegal drugs and had them in his car.

Gabriel Luchiano, who knew Nix when the officer worked as a security guard, said he was always quick to respond when people needed help at the Northwest Dallas store where Luchiano worked.

He was a “guardian angel,” said Luchiano, 55. ‘It’s still painful, no matter what. Nothing is going to close it.

Ruiz would be the second inmate to be executed this year in Texas and the fourth in the US There are seven more executions scheduled in Texas for the end of this year, including one next week.