[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

March 7



TEXAS----execution

2nd Texas inmate in as many days executed


More than a quarter-century after he and a buddy walked into a Houston
convenience store to hold up the place, Joseph Nichols was executed this
evening for the fatal shooting of the 70-year-old store clerk.

Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Nichols adamantly said,
"Yes, Yes I do."

Then he referred to a supervisory corrections officer on death row by name
and uttered a string of obscenities about her.

"That's all I got to say," he said.

He winked toward where his parents and 3 brothers watched. He was
pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m., 7 minutes after the lethal dose began.

Nichols, 45, and a longtime friend, Willie Ray Williams, were both
convicted and condemned for the Oct. 13, 1980, slaying of Claude Shaffer.
Williams pleaded guilty and was executed in 1995.

Nichols' appeals and protests from death penalty opponents have focused on
the fact that one bullet wound killed Shaffer and that Williams was
prosecuted and convicted of being the shooter. They noted that Nichols,
who said he'd fled the store when the fatal shot was fired, also was
labeled as the shooter by Harris County district attorneys who prosecuted
the case.

"1 bullet and 2 shooters," said Nichols' lawyer, J. Clifford Gunter III.
"There's no getting around that."

Prosecutors defended Nichols' conviction, saying Texas' law of parties
makes non-triggermen just as culpable in crimes like Shaffer's murder.

Gunter took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which previously had
rejected Nichols' appeals. Gunter argued, however, that the court had
rejected piecemeal appeals and needed to delay the punishment to look at
"cumulative errors," saying Nichols had been deprived "of a complete and
meaningful post-conviction review of his case."

But about 90 minutes before Nichols was scheduled to die, the high court
turned down his appeal. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles earlier
this week rejected a commutation request.

Nichols was tried twice. At his first trial, jurors were unable to agree
on the death penalty and a mistrial was declared. Nichols missed by 30
days a change in Texas law that would have given him an automatic life
term if jurors were unable to agree on a death sentence.

It's the 2nd trial that Nichols' lawyers are accusing prosecutors of
changing tactics, suppressing evidence and arguing he was the shooter so
jurors would be more inclined to decide on a death sentence, which they
did.

"They had a parties charge (to the jury)," said Roe Wilson, who handles
capital case appeals for the Harris County District Attorney's Office,
denying any improper manipulations of evidence. "They were told the
prosecution thought Nichols was the shooter, but there was no ballistics
evidence."

Both Nichols and Williams told police they shot toward Shaffer, and jurors
heard testimony from a girlfriend of one of the shooters that when Nichols
returned to their car outside the store, he said he thought he shot the
victim in the chest.

"They knew both people said: 'I shot toward him,'" Wilson said, referring
to the jury. "And even if Nichols wasn't actually the one who hit him,
under the law of parties Nichols was still guilty."

The fatal bullet could not be recovered for ballistics tests.

"I never denied being there," Nichols said recently from death row. "I'm
not telling you I'm not guilty of anything."

But he insisted that when Williams fired the fatal shot, "I had already
left."

Nichols dropped out of high school when his girlfriend became pregnant,
then married her.

"You've got 2 kids trying to play parents, trying to be adults before our
time, and I end up going to the streets," he said.

In the robbery, he said Williams "got some change. I got nothing."

He was 20 when he arrived on death row.

"Honestly, I thought I'd be dead at 25," he said, describing his years in
prison as good and positive. "I was able to grow and do a few things,
experience life and meet different people.

"I don't want to die, but I've come to terms. No doubt, I'm regretful."

Tuesday evening, Robert Perez, 48, who prosecutors said was a high-ranking
officer in the notorious Mexican Mafia prison gang, received lethal
injection for a double killing in San Antonio in 1994. Perez had been
linked to more than a dozen other slayings in the mid-1990s in San
Antonio.

Nichols becomes the 8th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Texas and the 387th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on
December 7, 1982. Nichols becomes the 148th condemned inmate to be put to
death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2001. 3 more Texas
inmates have execution dates this month. Next is Charles Nealy, 42, set to
die March 20 for the 1997 slaying of Dallas convenience store clerk Jiten
Bhakta, 25. A 2nd store employee also was killed in the robbery.

Nichols becomes the 9th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1066th overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.

(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)

********************

Spring Break for advocates


31 years isn't considered a long time to live, but it's a long time to
wait to die.

Ronald Chambers has been on death row since the age of 21 for the Dallas
murder of Mike McMahon. Chambers waits to join the 385 already executed
since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty in Texas.

According to James W. Volberding, Chambers' lawyer of more than 10 years,
the convicted man spends his time thinking about what he did. Chambers and
an accomplice abducted McMahon and his date outside a Dallas club. They
then drove the couple to the Trinity River where they robbed and shot
them, killing McMahon.

"I think Chambers feels a great deal of remorse for all the harm he has
caused himself and the victims and the family," said Volberding. "He would
give anything to do it all over again."

Volberding said Chambers has been tried 3 times over the last 31 years.

He was given an execution date of Jan. 25, 2007, but due to the
possibility of a retrial, his fate is still pending.

Although Chambers is alone in his cell physically for about 23 hours of
his day in the Polunksy Unit, which houses Texas' death row inmates, he
isn't alone in spirit.

Some SMU students are trying to help people like Chambers. They are
participating in the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break, designed
for students who want to see the death penalty abolished.

The state of Texas is the frontrunner for the number of executions
performed each year. In the last 30 years, 35 % of the nation's executions
were performed in Texas.

The alternative spring break is a 5-day event starting on March 13.
Participants will have the opportunity to meet with legislators or their
aides and learn how to write press releases.

Junior Cynthia Halatyn is one of several SMU students going to Austin. She
will join college and high school students from across the United States.

"I think people tend to forget that the reality of it is they are still
people," Halatyn said. "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says
everyone has the right to life."

Halatyn also said she sees a trend worldwide away from the death penalty.
All western European nations and 12 American states have abolished it.
However, Texas is not following this trend - the state is looking into
expanding the death penalty. This week House Bill 8, a version of
Jessica's Law that will punish second sexual assault child offenders with
the death penalty, is going to be voted on.

However, not all SMU students agree that the death penalty should be
abolished. SMU senior Chris Limbaugh thinks it is a well-deserved
punishment.

"I think that is a balanced justice; you commit a capital crime, you can
receive a capital punishment," said Limbaugh. "You'd be letting a lot of
very guilty people off the hook. I think it's a necessary element of
justice."

SMU Human Rights Education Director Rick Halperin doesn't agree with
legalizing killing people, and he noted the flaws in the prosecution
process.

According to Halperin, one Texas man, Kerry Cook, was on death row for 22
years. He was 18 when he received his sentence but was found innocent at
40 after multiple trials, three of which found him guilty.

Cook will make an appearance on SMU's campus on April 12 for a book
signing. His story, "Chasing Justice," came out late last month.

Halperin, who is also the current president of the Texas Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty, fervently defends the human rights of death
penalty inmates even if that means sometimes defying law enforcement
officers.

"I've been arrested several times for protesting the death penalty at the
United States Supreme Court," said Halperin.

According to Halperin, there is an SMU student who graduated in the late
1980s currently on death row.

"Sooner or later he's going to get a date to be put to death and this
university is going to have to come to grips, even momentarily, with this
issue," Halperin said.

For more information on the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative spring break go
to www.texasabolition.org/pages/events/2006springbreak/2006.htm

(source: Southern Methodist University Daily Campus)

*******************

Death penalty for hardcore repeat offenders approved


Texas could sentence some hardcore child molesters to death under a bill
given preliminary approval Monday by the state House of Representatives.
In a bill designed to crack down on sex offenders who repeatedly prey on
children, the House voted to create a new category of crime  continual
sexual abuse of a young child or children  that carries a minimum of 25
years to life in prison and possibly the death penalty for a second
offense.

The bill represented a compromise after the House delayed a vote on a
broader death penalty provision over constitutional concerns and worries
it might lead some molesters to kill their victims.

Lawmakers said they talked with district attorneys, defense lawyers and
victim advocacy groups before coming back for a vote on Monday.

"This bill is supposed to go after the true pedophiles ... the worst of
the worst," said Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, a Republican and former
prosecutor who drafted the compromise.

"Nothing we do will be more important," Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, who
filed the original bill, said before the 118-23 vote of approval. The bill
still must get a final vote before going to the Senate, which is
considering a similar measure.

The bill is named Jessica's Law after Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl who
was abducted and killed. More than a dozen states have passed versions of
Jessica's Law to crack down on sex offenders and Gov. Rick Perry has
deemed passage of a child sex offender bill a legislative emergency.

The Texas version would make the Lone Star State the 6th to allow some
child sex offenders to be sentenced to death, although some legal experts
question whether it is constitutional to use the ulimate penalty in cases
where the victim did not die.

In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the death penalty in a Georgia
rape case. Louisiana has one inmate on death row in a child sex crime but
the case is still subject to appeals in state and federal courts.

The House bill defines continuous sexual abuse of a young child as more
than 1 sex act committed against a victim younger than 14 over a period of
30 days or more.

The 1st offense would carry 25 to 99 years in prison. If an offender was
released and later convicted of the same crime again, he or she would face
life without parole or the death penalty.

Lawmakers created a "Romeo and Juliet" exception to avoid prosecuting a
situation that might be a high school romance, such as a 17-year old
senior and a 13-year-old freshman engaging in consensual sex. That could
still be punishable under statutory rape laws, but not the new, harsher
continual assault law.

The bill also removes the statute of limitations for many sex crimes
against children, including indecency with a child and aggravated sexual
assault. The current limit to bring charges is 10 years after the victim's
18th birthday.

(source: Associated Press)

******************

Prison gang leader executed in deaths of San Antonio men


The leader of a notorious prison gang was all smiles before being put to
death by lethal injection Tuesday evening.

Robert Martinez Perez's sons, wife and brother greeted him with smiles and
waves as they entered the viewing chamber.

"Ernest, Christopher, Ochente, Mary and Jennifer, tell all the kids I love
them and never forget," Perez said in his final statement. "Tell Bobby,
Mr. Bear will be dancing for them. Tell Bear not to feel bad. My love
always, I love you all. Stay strong, Mary. Take care of them."

Perez was convicted of the 1994 shooting death of 2 Hispanic males, Joe
Travieso and Robert Rivas in San Antonio.

Perez shot both of them with a .380-caliber pistol, 9-millimeter pistol
and a .38-caliber pistol during an internal power struggle within the
Mexican Mafia.

Police arrested Perez at his home in November 1994  7 months after the
shootings  where they discovered $30,000 in U.S. currency, a magazine clip
with ammunition and a large quantity of jewelry.

No members of the victims' families were present.

Perez, 48, who rose to the rank of "general" in the military-structured
Mexican Mafia gang, was the seventh prisoner executed this year in Texas,
the nation's most active death penalty state, and the first of two in as
many nights.

A civil lawsuit on Perez's behalf challenging the Texas execution
procedures was dismissed in a Houston federal court last week.

Perez already was headed for a federal life prison term on racketeering
and conspiracy convictions for a series of robberies, drug deals and
murders in San Antonio from 1994 through 1997 when he was tried on state
charges for the 1994 slayings of Travieso and Rivas.

Their fatal shootings came during what authorities said was a struggle
within the gang, which lost its Texas "founder and president" Heriberto
"Herbie" Huerta when he was convicted in 1994 on federal racketeering
charges and sentenced to life in federal prison.

Huertas imprisonment left a split in the group founded to provide
protection for Hispanic inmates in Texas prisons.

Perez, on probation for a manslaughter conviction, took over one of the
gang's factions and the rivalry with another faction prompted the killings
of Travieso, 34, who was in a wheelchair with injuries from a previous
shooting, and Rivas, 27.

Travieso's nephew who was at the shooting scene testified against Perez,
along with 2 of Perez's companions. Another witness was an informant who
had served as Perez's triggerman.

Evidence also tied Perez  a father of 8  to more than a dozen other
slayings, including an infamous San Antonio gangland-style execution of
five people in 1997 known as the West French Place killings.

The trial was moved from San Antonio to Dallas because of publicity in
Perez's hometown.

"We presented evidence of between 12 and 18 homicides, all of which
occurred while Robert was general of the Mexican Mafia here in San
Antonio," said federal prosecutor Mary Green, who was a Bexar County
assistant district attorney when she tried Perez. "I found out later he
never pulled the trigger after the double (murders) in April 1994. All the
others were ones he ordered through the years."

Perez declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his
execution date. He did not testify at his capital murder trial.

"That was his choice," defense lawyer David Bires said. "I felt like he
had a fairly decent self-defense claim.

"There had been essentially another group of people that was plotting to
assassinate him and the groups came into contact and it resulted in a
shooting. There was evidence shots were fired from both sides."

But Bires said without Perez's own testimony, "It was hard to make
self-defense fly. ... Then the punishment phase was so horrendous, proving
up 13 other homicides. The punishment phase was absolutely gruesome."

Jurors sentenced him to death.

On an Internet site inmates use to seek penpals, Perez said he couldn't
promise letter writers much more than friendship and a "vow to be honest,
respectful, understanding and a very good listener. I give you my loyalty
in all aspects."

Jeff Mulliner, who was an assistant Bexar County district attorney who
also helped prosecute Perez, said Perez was "someone who did bad things
and has a whole dimensional shading to his character." But Mulliner, now
in private practice, also found Perez to have "an abundance of charisma, a
keen intellect, a sharp wit and a sense of humor."

"I kind of appreciated all those things about him," Mulliner said. "Other
than French Place, which is a footnote, I believe part of the honor of
Robert Perez is he was not dangerous to an elderly lady trying to cross
the street or to a young man on the bus to work. I think the only people
in danger from Robert Perez were people he was associated with that didnt
follow the rules."

Set to follow Perez to the death chamber Wednesday evening was Joseph
Nichols, convicted in the fatal shooting of a Houston convenience store
clerk more than 25 years ago.

(source: Huntsville Item)

**************

Jury weighs death penalty in Whitaker case-----Whitaker admits guilt in
killings and takes stand to say he's changed


After convicting Bart Whitaker of capital murder Monday, the jury in his
trial began deliberating today whether he will get a life sentence or the
death penalty.

Prosecutor Fred Felcman said in his closing statement that Whitaker is a
continuing threat to society, arguing that Whitaker had already received
probation for burglary and had also been caught in one previous plot to
kill his family.

"Nothing stops him. You can't stop him until he's in his grave," Felcman
said.

Whitaker admitted Tuesday he masterminded the plan to kill his mother and
brother but said he is a different person now and has found God.

"The only people I've ever hated, and all for the wrong reasons, were my
parents and my brother," Whitaker testified in a Fort Bend County
courtroom.

"I always felt that whatever love they gave me was based on a standard I
couldn't reach."

Bart Whitaker's testimony came after his father and uncle asked jurors to
sentence Whitaker to life in prison rather than handing down a death
sentence.

The 27-year-old's decision to testify surprised many people in the crowded
courtroom of state District Judge Cliff Vacek.

He was convicted Monday of engineering a plan to eliminate his family so
he could inherit a $1 million family estate. Bart Whitaker was arrested in
Mexico and returned to Texas in September 2005.

He took the stand just moments after his father, Kent Whitaker, told
jurors he had forgiven his son for killing Kent's wife, Patricia, 51, and
other son, Kevin, 19. The Whitakers were shot when they returned home from
dinner to their Sugar Land home.

Defense attorney Randy McDonald asked Bart if he was responsible for the
Dec. 10, 2003, attack.

"I'm 100 percent guilty. I put the plan in motion, " Whitaker said. "If I
had not done that it wouldn't have happened."

Whitaker admitted he had lied to many people throughout his life and said
he would accept whatever punishment the jury decided on.

He testified that he felt disconnected from people and his family and said
he believed his family's love for him was conditional.

"It was based on a standard I could not reach," Whitaker said. "That was
my perception."

Sobbing on the stand----McDonald then asked Whitaker if he knew what
impact his actions had on people.

Whitaker began crying and said, "Everyone I ever met in my whole life, I
feel sorry for having come in contact with me."

"Are you a criminal?" McDonald asked.

"Absolutely," Whitaker said.

Felcman, who is well-known in Fort Bend County legal circles for his
prowess in cross-examining defendants, immediately fired a barrage of
questions at Whitaker.

Felcman asked Whitaker why he did not plead guilty to begin with and what
would have happened if the jury found him not guilty.

"I didn't think that was possible," Whitaker said.

Testimony by Whitaker painted a picture of a young man who received a
generous allowance, whose college tuition was paid for and who had access
to an $80,000 annuity upon turning 21.

Felcman then walked Whitaker through the night of the slayings and
Whitaker admitted that earlier testimony by co-defendant and getaway
driver Steve Champagne had been truthful. Champagne has accepted a 15-year
prison term for agreeing to testify.

Whitaker said he went out with his family for dinner to celebrate his
graduation, a graduation that would never happen because he had not been
enrolled in school.

While the family was dining at the restaurant, accused triggerman Chris
Brashear was waiting at the Whitaker house with a pistol. Brashear faces a
separate trial.

"You are out with your family and you knew they were supposed to be dead
within minutes," Felcman said.

"Yes, sir," Whitaker responded.

Father also favors life

Before Whitaker testified, his uncle, William Bartlett, the brother of
Patricia Whitaker, told jurors that family members want a life sentence
for Bart.

"We are worn out," Bartlett said." We need for this to go away."

Bart Whitaker's father, Kent Whitaker, said he, too, favored a life
sentence.

"I don't want my son to die," he said.

(source: Fort Bend Standard)

********************

Crime linked to Taco Land killer detailed


Cynthia Adame just was trying to get into her house, she testified Tuesday
in the punishment phase of Joseph Gamboa's capital murder trial.

But she was drawn into what prosecutors contend was a spree of shootings
and robberies by Gamboa and an unidentified partner just 2 days after
Gamboa shot three people while robbing Taco Land on June 24, 2005.

Jurors convicted Gamboa, 24, of capital murder last week for the fatal
shootings of Taco Land owner Ramiro "Ram" Ayala, 72, and doorman Douglas
"Gypsy Doug" Morgan, 53. Bartender Denise "Sunshine" Koger, 41, was
wounded.

Co-defendant Jose Najera, 31, is awaiting trial in the slayings.

For Gamboa to get the death penalty in the punishment phase of the trial,
prosecutors must convince jurors that he's a threat to society. They're
putting a string of crime victims on the stand.

Adame had come home late and without her keys, she said. While she was
banging on the door to wake her mother, a man in a Corvette pulled up to
her house just off South Presa Street and began asking questions. Then a
man she identified as Gamboa ran up, pointing a gun at her and demanding
the driver get out of his car. That driver sped off, with Gamboa firing at
him.

Adame dove beneath a nearby truck, she said, and Gamboa came after her,
firing shots on the ground and ordering her out. She complied as an older
car pulled up. Adame said her mother came outside and began shouting at
Gamboa to leave her alone, and Gamboa shot at her, too. Then he tried to
force Adame into the car. She thought of her son inside the house, she
said.

"I told him that he was going to have to shoot me, because I wasn't going
to get in," Adame said. Gamboa fled.

Testimony continues today.

(source: San Antonio Express-News)

******************

Blame in TYC scandal shouldn't bypass Capitol


Acitizen could get cross-eyed watching the Texas Legislature jump back and
forth between moral outrage and self-parody.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst last year began a highly publicized push to
stiffen penalties on child molesters, even to the point of the death
penalty. On Tuesday, the House gave final approval to just such a bill, a
so-called "Jessica's Law," with somewhat weaker penalties than sought by
Dewhurst.

The House action came even as the state's own Texas Youth Commission
continued to be rocked by a scandal involving sexual abuse of youths in
state custody by state-paid staff members - and how agency leaders failed
to lead. There are also reports that local prosecutors failed to act when
cases were referred to them.

Also on Tuesday, in a report by staff writer Mike Ward, the
American-Statesman disclosed that a figure at the center of the scandal,
Ray Brookins, 41, now of Austin, was believed by investigators to be a
person known as XXXRayVijon, on the Internet site MySpace.com. The site
has a picture of him posing and smiling with a pornographic performer
(both fully clothed) in Las Vegas.

Brookins was forced out as assistant superintendent at the TYC's West
Texas State School in Pyote in 2005 after allegations that he had been
sexually involved with youths incarcerated there. No criminal charges have
been filed against him.

An internal investigation found that Brookins had "pornographic Web sites
saved to the favorites files" on his home and office computers, though he
claimed he had no idea how they got there. But a security guard at the
West Texas school reported that a nude photo of Brookins had been found on
a private Internet sex club site.

The Legislature was still taking in that revelation on Tuesday when state
Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, issued a statement entitled: "MySpace.com
safety bill advances in Senate."

Nelson's Senate Bill 136 directs the Texas School Safety Center to work
with the attorney general to write guidelines to help youths "protect
themselves against online predators who routinely scan personal profiles
posted on social networking sites such as MySpace.com in search of
victims."

If written, perhaps the guidelines should first be sent to youths in the
state's own facilities.

Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature are pounding hard on the commission,
as well they should. But the governor and lawmakers also ought to engage
in what the religious call an "examination of conscience."

Like other state agencies, TYC in recent years has faced a state budget
crunch. Executive Director Dwight Harris, who suddenly retired Feb. 23 as
the scandal broke, had asked for a major increase in the number of guards,
more training for the guards and more money for cameras and monitoring
equipment.

In all, the commission asked for $596.3 million over the next 2-year
budget cycle, a 17 percent increase over its current spending of $509.5
million. The Legislative Budget Board - led by Dewhurst and House Speaker
Tom Craddick - recommended a cut, to $491.5 million. Perry proposed
slashing the commission's budget 11 percent, to $453.2 million.

Of course, low pay, lack of training and short staffing do not justify or
excuse sexual contact between staff members and youths held by the state.
But the governor and Legislature ought to consider whether their devotion
to paring the budget down at all costs helped foster conditions that made
it easier for such abuse to occur and go unchecked for so long.

(source: Austin American-Statesman)





************************

Prosecutors to seek death penalty in 2006 slaying----Police accused Selwyn
Davis of attacking 2 people before killing girlfriend's mother.


With his chin up and his shoulders back, Selwyn P. Davis had no visible
reaction when state District Judge Julie Kocurek asked prosecutors Tuesday
whether they would seek the death penalty against him.

Davis, 25, is charged with capital murder in the Aug. 22, 2006, death of
his girlfriend's mother, Regina Lara, 57, who was stabbed to death in her
38 1/2 Street apartment. Court documents say the killing came during a
violent 2-day crime spree in which Davis broke his girlfriend's jaw and
fractured her eye socket, sliced his uncle with a knife multiple times and
tried to hit an Austin police officer with a minivan.

"We will be seeking the death penalty," Assistant District Attorney Judy
Shipway said. Davis remained quiet as Kocurek said she may set the case
for an October trial.

The decision to seek a death sentence is rare for Travis County District
Attorney Ronnie Earle, who estimates his office pursues the death penalty
at most once or twice a year. Many defendants opt to plead guilty and
accept life in prison to avoid the death penalty.

The last person sent to death row from Travis County was Guy Allen, found
guilty in 2002 of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend Barbara Allen and
her daughter Janette Johnson. He is one of four people from Travis County
on death row.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Travis County has sent 15
people to death row, fewer than any other urban county, according to the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Harris County tops the list with 282
people sent to death row in that time.

"We look at future dangerousness and future threat to other people," Earle
said, declining to comment on Davis' case specifically.

On Tuesday, Kocurek appointed defense lawyers Steve Brittain and Allan
Williams to represent Davis. The lawyers said they were too unfamiliar
with the case to comment.

For every capital murder case, Earle convenes a panel of his top deputies
to discuss the facts, then recommend whether to seek the death penalty.
Earle said the committee unanimously recommended that he seek the death
penalty against Davis.

A police affidavit said Davis' crime spree began Aug. 21, 2006, when he
attacked his girlfriend, Linda Martinez, at an apartment they shared in
the Lafayette Landing apartments on Burton Drive between East Riverside
Drive and Oltorf Street. Davis punched, strangled and cut Martinez with a
razor blade, slicing her thigh, breaking her jaw and fracturing her eye
socket, the affidavit said.

Later that evening, Davis went to his aunt and uncle's house near East
Stassney Lane in South Austin and asked for a place to stay, another
police affidavit said. When his uncle refused, Davis attacked him with a
knife, cutting him on his hands, arm and right cheek, the affidavit said.
Davis took money and a car keys from his aunt and fled, the affidavit
said.

Police responded to Lara's apartment after neighbors called 911 to report
a possible burglary and stabbing. When Davis spotted the officers, he
retreated into Lara's apartment, left through a back window and fled the
scene in Lara's minivan, nearly hitting an officer, court documents say.
He is accused of killing Lara sometime the next day.

(source: Austin American-Statesman)