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 Donald Newbury, 52, is set to be executed by lethal injection at
the state's death chamber in Huntsville at 6 p.m. CST. If the
execution goes ahead, it will be the 521st in Texas, the most of any
state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in
1976.
Newbury was part of what was known as the "Texas Seven," a group
that overpowered 14 prison employees, tied them up and then broke
out of the Connally Unit, about 60 miles southeast of San Antonio.
Group members then went on a crime spree for the next several weeks
that included the armed robbery of a sporting goods store in the
Dallas suburb of Irving.
Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins, who had just finished a
Christmas Eve dinner with his family, pulled up to the store in
response to a call of suspicious activity. He was shot in his
vehicle, pulled out of the car and shot again repeatedly, dying on
the pavement, court papers said.
 The group then fled to Colorado, where its members ere eventually
apprehended. One member of the group committed suicide rather than
be captured.
The remaining six members were sentenced to death for Aubrey's
murder. Two have already been executed.
Lawyers for Newbury have been seeking a stay, saying his trial
counsel did not do a proper job defending him.
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"Newbury confessed to his role in the escape and robbery and blamed
poor police training for Officer Hawkins's murder," the 5th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in 2014 when considering a request
for a stay.
Newbury had been serving a 99-year sentence for armed robbery at the
time of his escape, the Texas Attorney General's Office said.
Since being on death row, Newberry has been involved in more than 50
disciplinary incidents, including 13 cases of assaulting staff
members, five cases for weapons possession and one case of helping
incite a riot, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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