Execution Report: Franklin Alix

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A jury convicted Alix of capital murder in September 1998 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in February 2000. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

In 2006, the Houston Police Department's crime lab was embroiled in controversy after complaints of shoddy work and mishandled evidence in numerous cases. In Alix's case, lawyers argued that the crime lab failed to report at his punishment hearing that his DNA was not found on evidence from Gregorio Ramirez's murder. The appeals courts however, ruled that Alix's "long history of violence" constituted a "larger body of proof" and that one set of disputed DNA results did not undermine the jury's decision to sentence him to death.

"I just got myself caught up in a web", Alix told a reporter in an interview from death row. He said he owed a friend "a couple of thousand dollars" and was forced to turn to robbery to get money. "I wanted to do the right things in life, but I got caught up with the wrong folks."

"I killed the dude," he said, referring to Eric Bridgeford. "I wasn't trying to, but I did. When the dude charged at me, the gun went off."

"I don't want to die. I'm remorseful. But I won't apologize," he said. He denied raping Karyl Bridgeford and said that she "volunteered to give me her TV" if he wouldn't kill her.

Of his other crimes, Alix said, "I'm not saying nothing happened to those people." He admitted committing "some of the robberies", but "no other murders" and no rapes.

Karyl and her mother, Janey, attended Alix's execution, as did members of Christopher Thomas's family.

In his last statement, Alix offered an apology to the Thomas family. "I been wanting to apologize to y'all for your son," he said. "They told me not to do it in court. I wrote him a letter, but they told me that they tore it up in court." Alix admitted that he "made lots of mistakes", but also said "I am not the monster they made me out to be." He said he committed "no rapes". He also expressed love to his family. When he finished his last statement, the lethal injection was started. He was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 4 April 2010.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press, court documents.