Randall Hafdahl

Randall Wayne Hafdahl Sr., 48, was executed by lethal injection on 31 January in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a policeman.

In November 1985, a car carrying three men swerved off of a highway and into the back yard of a private residence. The car was driven by Randall Hafdahl, then 32. According to his trial testimony, Hafdahl was drunk and "pretty messed up" from eating hallucinogenic mushrooms. Unable to restart his car, Hafdahl grabbed a pistol and tried to run away.

James D. Mitchell Jr., 42, an Amarillo police officer, had just finished his shift and was driving home, still in uniform. Mitchell saw Hafdahl's car swerve around his truck and watched as it veered off the road. He stopped to investigate. When he saw Hafdahl running away, he ordered him to stop. With his revolver drawn, Mitchell pursued Hafdahl through the yard until Hafdahl was stopped by a locked gate. Hafdahl then turned and killed Mitchell at close range with four shots from his 9 mm semi-automatic pistol. Mitchell never returned fire.

After shooting Mitchell, Hafdahl fled the scene, only to turn himself in later that night. Shawn David Terry, 22, was arrested near the scene of the shooting. Daniel Louis Helgan, 24, was arrested later in New Mexico.

Under Texas law, murder of a police officer in the line of duty is a capital offense, but only if the killer knows that the victim is a police officer.

At his trial, Hafdahl admitting shooting Mitchell, but said he did not know he was a policeman. He said that he only tried to leave the yard in the first place in order to get to a telephone to call a wrecker. When he heard a voice behind him, he turned and saw a man with a gun. Fearing for his life, he shot him four times in rapid succession. He said he only realized Mitchell was a policeman as he was falling to the ground. He said that Mitchell was wearing a windbreaker that concealed much of his uniform.

The prosecution, however, depicted the killing as one that Hafdahl committed knowingly. They said that Hafdahl's first shot hit Mitchell in the wrist and disarmed him, then he continued to advance on the uniformed officer and pump rounds into him while he was on the ground.

The question of whether Hafdahl knew Mitchell was a policeman centered around three questions: 1) Was Mitchell visually identifiable as a policeman? 2) Did Mitchell verbally identify himself as a policeman? 3) Did Hafdahl see or hear Mitchell before shooting him?

The prosecution offered substantial evidence that Mitchell was visually identifiable as a policeman. They pointed out that Mitchell's police-issue windbreaker was marked, "Amarillo City Police" and bore a badge insignia. At least eleven witnesses, including Terry and Helgran, testified that they recognized Mitchell as a policeman from his uniform.

The prosecution also presented witnesses who testified that they heard Mitchell yell, "stop, police!" and similar warnings. The most hotly disputed question, therefore, was whether Hafdahl saw or heard Mitchell before shooting him. Hafdahl himself testified that his senses were numbed from the drugs and alcohol in his system. He heard someone yelling at him, but he couldn't understand, and wasn't even sure whether the man yelling at him was the same man who was chasing him, or one of his companions.

Shawn Terry testified that he saw Hafdahl shoot Mitchell four times in rapid succession. Daniel Helgran testified that he was removing the license plate from the wrecked vehicle when the shots were fired. He also said in a sworn statement that the shots were fired in rapid succession. The prosecution, however, used the testimony of Dr. Ralph Erdmann, a forensic pathologist, to reconstruct the crime. Erdmann testified that based on the distance and angle from which each shot was fired, only one shot -- the one in Mitchell's wrist -- could have been fired when Mitchell was standing. The other three, including the two fatal ones through the heart, were fired when Mitchell was already down. In addition, the prosecution brought four witnesses who said that they saw Hafdahl turn and look at Mitchell before shooting him.

Hafdahl had a previous conviction for delivery of LSD. He received a sentence of ten years' probation. Testimony at the punishment phase of his trial indicated that Hafdahl had previously overseen a methamphetamine production operation in Colorado. He had also been charged with aggravated kidnapping and had a warrant out for his arrest at the time of Mitchell's killing. He had dyed his hair and began using the aliases Robert Moore and Jack Douglas Cone. Prosecutors said that Hafdahl knew that if he was caught by Mitchell, he would be arrested and tried for kidnapping.

A jury convicted Hafdahl of capital murder in April 1986 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence in June 1990. He was originally scheduled to be executed in July 1995, but received a stay. Four the next 4½ years, Hafdahl won various motions to keep his case open. In August 2000, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear his case. After briefing and oral argument, the Fifth Circuit denied his appeal in May 2001. Hafdahl did not win any proceedings in state or federal court after that.

Daniel Helgran received a sentence of one year's probation for failure to stop and render aid.

After Hafdahl's trial, Dr. Ralph Erdmann pleaded guilty to perjury and tampering with government records in other cases he testified in.

In an interview on death row, Hafdahl retold his account of the shooting. "I believed him to be a driver who was coming at me angry because I hit him with my car," he said. In another interview, he said,"I started to turn around, and I saw someone standing at the other end of the fence, but I couldn't hardly see him. ... There was a gun, I could see that real clear." Mitchell didn't say anything, Hafdahl said. "Now, I been shaken down by police officers plenty of times in my life, and they ever do something like that, they always tell me, 'Put your hands on your head. Get on the ground.' - something," Hafdahl said. "They don't just run up on you. And when he ran up on me ... I just spun around and clipped him down. It was just Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! And as he's falling, and he's going to the ground, I realized right then who he was." Hafdahl said he felt remorse for the killing since the night it happened. "I wish I could give the Mitchells back what they lost. I wish I could give Mitchell back what he lost, but I can't," he said.

At his execution, Hafdahl released a written last statement that criticized the law enforcement and prosecution officials involved in his case, by name. He accused them of planting evidence and lying at his trial in order to secure his conviction. The next part of his statement read, "And to the Mitchell family: I truely am sorry for the tragedy that took place on Nov 11, 85. Thats all I can give you. Thats all I will give you. Because today your making my family and loved ones a victim just as you have cried to the world you were in this tragedy. I did not deliberately shoot James Mitchell. I had no premeditation in my thoughts when I spun around and fired, no matter how many fantasy motives Clayton and Sherrod fabricated. So today my family becomes a victim. You know, the truth sets you free, and the truth is, if your loved one had acted with any professionalism at all, he would be alive today! And thats all I got to say about it."

Hafdahl also made an oral last statement, in which he expressed affection for his daughter. After telling her and other friends that he loved them, he lifted his head from the death chamber gurney and shouted into the microphone, "The road goes on forever and the party never ends." He screamed, his faced turning crimson. "Rock 'n Roll!" he shouted. After this, he regained his composure and the lethal injection was begun. "It's on the way. I can feel it. Take me home. We got a party to go to," Hafdahl said. His voice rose again and he shouted "Remember Wet Willie. Keep on smiling. Keep on smiling." His eyes closed and he began to snore. He took about eight breaths and then stopped. Eleven minutes later, he was pronounced dead at 6:48 p.m.