Execution Report: Daniel Lopez

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A jury found Lopez guilty of capital murder in April 2010 and sentenced him to death. The jury also found him guilty of nine other offenses: assaulting Officer Cox, the attempted aggravated assault of another officer, the attempted capital murders of five officers, evading arrest with a vehicle and causing death, and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

Lopez smiled through most of his trial, and he nodded and smiled as the judge announced the jury's decision to put him to death. "I don't have to spend my life in prison," he said in an interview afterward.

In an interview from death row in 2011, Lopez said, "I'm ready. Ain't no point in staying here any longer."

Under Texas law, all death sentences imposed in the state are automatically sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for review. Lopez unsuccessfully attempted to waive this mandatory appeal. He then requested permission to represent himself, but the judge denied this request. His guilty verdict and death sentence were affirmed in October 2012.

After that decision, Lopez sent a handwritten letter to the trial court, requesting that his "sentence should be carried out in a speedy manner," to finally punish him for his crime, so that the "victim's family can finally see justice and have closure in their life."

Even though Lopez waived the rest of his appeals, he still maintained that he did not deliberately kill Alexander.

In 2014, Texas death row inmate Travis Runnels interviewed Lopez and posted the transcript on a web site. In the interview, Lopez said he decided to drop his appeals after visiting with his mother and sister in October 2012. He said his mother told him, "I always worry about you. It hurts me so much every day to know you are in a place like this. I know you are stuck in a little cell all day and can't move around when you want. That's inhuman and torture. I agree with you, Son. The sooner the better for us all. You are such a good person, and I know you will be in Heaven."

Lopez said that he failed to be a father to his children, but they had father figures in their lives now, and "I see it best to step aside and let them forget me," because knowing him would only cause them "confusion, depression, denial, hate, and sadness."

"What good am I now?" Lopez continued. "Now I will be a burden on the state. Wasting the taxpayers' money. All because of an accident and three lying police officers trying to get revenge for their fallen brother in blue."

Even when a condemned prisoner waives his appeals and "volunteers" for execution, it takes time for an execution date to be scheduled, for the courts must order a psychological evaluation to ensure that the prisoner is mentally competent, and then they must ensure that the prisoner's decision to waive his appeals is fully informed and voluntary.

The process was further prolonged in Lopez' case because of his own lawyers, who continued to file appeals, against his wishes. Attorney David Dow argued that Lopez' assertion that Lieutenant Alexander's killing was unintentional superseded his desire to waive his appeals, and that this "actual innocence" claim must be exhausted before he could be executed. The Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed this appeal, noting the trial jury had already considered and rejected Lopez' claim that he killed the victim unintentionally. Dow also claimed that Lopez had an "obvious and severe mental illness," was suicidal, and was using the legal system to take his own life.

Lopez continued to write letters to judges, pleading for them to ignore his lawyers and allow his execution to move forward.

"It's crazy they keep appealing, appealing," Lopez said about his lawyers in an interview the week before his execution. "I've explained it to them many times. I guess they want to get paid for appealing."

"I've accepted my fate," Lopez said. "I'm just ready to move on."

The victim's widow, Vicky Alexander, attended Lopez' execution, watching it from a witness room with three friends.

"I hope this execution helps my family and also the victim's family," Lopez said in his last statement, staring in Alexander's direction. "This was never meant to be, sure beyond my power. I can only walk the path before me and make the best of it. I'm sorry for putting you all through this. I am sorry. I love you. I am ready. May we all go to Heaven." The lethal injection was then started. After Lopez lost consciousness, one of his personal witnesses, watching from a different viewing room, sang "Amazing Grace." He was pronounced dead at 6:31 p.m.

Outside the prison walls, members of the Thin Blue Line Motorcycle Club revved the engines of their motorcycles to drown out the voices of the small group of anti-death-penalty protestors who were there. A group of police officers from Corpus Christi and Huntsville saluted Alexander as she exited the prison. She said she felt Lopez showed "a little bit of remorse" when they made eye contact. She also said that Lopez' execution "is not about revenge. It is about the law."

By David Carson. Posted on 13 August 2015.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Huntsville Item, KIII.TV., wordsbytravis.com.