Final Meal:
None requested.

Final Words:
"To the media, I would like for you to tell all the victims and their loved ones that I am truly, truly sorry for taking their loved ones' lives. And I hope they will find it in their heart to forgive me for what I did to them. I am a different person now, but that does not change the fact of the bad things I have committed. God can give you the same peace He gave me and you can be in His hands. And to my beautiful family, be strong. Remember what I said, "God is the Way, the Truth, and the Life." OK, Warden."

Internet Sources:

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (Juan Chavez)

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information on Juan Rodriguez Chavez, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, 2003.

On March 27, 1996, Juan Rodriguez Chavez was sentenced to death for the capital murder of Jose Morales, which occurred in Dallas County, Texas, on July 2, 1995. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On July 1, 1995, Juan Rodriguez Chavez and Hector Fernandez stole a car from a Greyhound maintenance facility in Dallas, Texas. In the early morning hours of July 2, they drove the car to a Dallas County apartment complex. Jose Morales and Yadira Ramirez were standing outside the apartment building near public telephones. Chavez exited the stolen car and walked toward the telephones, as if he were going to make a call. Instead, Chavez drew a revolver and shot Morales. After Morales fell to the ground, Chavez took Morales' wallet from his back pocket and shot him again. Morales died of a gunshot wound to the back.

Chavez and Fernandez then drove the stolen car to a construction site where Chavez killed security guard Susan Ferguson by shooting her in the face and then running over her body with the stolen car. Forty minutes later, Chavez shot another security guard, Kevin Hancock, in a West Oak Cliff apartment complex, leaving Hancock permanently paralyzed. Ten minutes after the attack on Hancock, Chavez and Fernandez went to East Oak Cliff where they robbed three men standing by the roadside. Chavez shot and killed Jesus Briseno, while Fernandez, using a 9 mm pistol stolen from Hancock, shot and wounded Francisco Jaimes and Alberto Guevara.

About an hour later, Chavez and Fernandez drove back to West Oak Cliff where they found Alfonso Contreras and Guadalupe Delgadillo-Pena sitting inside a pickup truck in front of another apartment complex. Chavez approached the truck and fired his gun inside it, killing Contreras and wounding Delgadillo-Pena. Chavez then stole the truck with both victims still inside. Fernandez followed him in the initial stolen vehicle. Shortly thereafter, Chavez pushed Contreras from the truck and ran over him. Chavez and Fernandez then drove the stolen vehicles to the Trinity River bottom where Fernandez shot Delgadillo-Pena in the head upon Chavez's instruction. Chavez subsequently ran over her body with the stolen car. At approximately 4:00 a.m., Chavez drove the stolen pickup truck to an exit off of Interstate 20 and burned it.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Chavez was indicted in the 265th District Court of Dallas County, Texas, for the capital offense of murdering Jose Morales in the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery. Chavez pleaded not guilty and was tried before a jury. In March 1996, the jury found Chavez guilty of capital murder. On March 27, 1996, following a separate punishment hearing, and based on the jury's answers to the special issues presented during that hearing, the trial court assessed Chavez's punishment at death by lethal injection.

Chavez's conviction and sentence were automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed the conviction and death sentence in an unpublished opinion on April 7, 1999. Chavez did not seek certiorari review in the United States Supreme Court.

On Dec. 11, 1998, Chavez filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in state court. After the state habeas court entered detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law recommending that habeas relief be denied, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied the application in an unpublished order on Sept. 13, 2000.

Chavez then filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on Sept. 11, 2001 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. The district court denied habeas relief on Dec. 13, 2001, and denied a certificate of appealability ("COA") on Jan. 16, 2002. Thereafter, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit also denied Chavez a COA in a published opinion delivered on Oct. 29, 2002. Chavez then filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. The Court denied certiorari on March 10, 2003.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Chavez committed the current offense during a brutal three month crime spree in which he committed a total eight armed robberies and nine murders. Chavez committed five of these murders during the 24 hours surrounding the current offense.

During the punishment hearing, the State's evidence indicated that Chavez had previously been convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for murdering Vincente Mendoza in Dallas County on Dec. 28, 1985. Chavez served seven of the 15 years before receiving parole in 1994. The record also showed several unadjudicated criminal offenses in which Chavez was involved, including an incident on March 22, 1995, in which Chavez shot and killed Jose Castillo and stole Castillo's car keys; an incident on May 20, 1995, in which Chavez shot and killed Juan Pablo Hernandez and stole Hernandez's car; and an incident on July 4, 1995, in which Chavez shot and killed three men - Antonio Banda, Michael Duran and Antonio Rios - after two of the men obstructed the entrance to a tire shop from which Chavez, Fernandez, and a third cohort planned to steal a car. Chavez also had been cited more than 40 times for violating prison regulations.

ProDeathPenalty.com

Juan Rodriguez Chavez was convicted of the 1995 robbery and murder of 40-year-old Jose Morales during a murder spree in Dallas. On July 2, 1995, Jose was at a phone booth when Chavez approached him and exchanged words with him. Chavez then pulled a gun and shot Jose in the chest. Before fleeing, Chavez stole Jose's wallet from his pants pocket.

Chavez had previously been convicted of murder with a deadly weapon for which he received a 15-year sentence. He was released on mandatory parole after serving just over 7 years of that sentence. During the months of March through July of 1995, Chavez killed 11 people for their money or just the "thrill of killing," authorities said. "Robbery was the motive in at least some of these," said Greg Davis, a Dallas County assistant district attorney. "But in others, it was just the thrill of killing." All 11 people were killed between March and July, including five on a single day: July 2. Three of them were shot and ran over by his car, Jose Morales was shot while talking on a pay phone and the last victim of the day was shot in a robbery. Two days later Chavez shot two men in the parking lot of a tire shop and, moments later, another man was killed outside a nearby apartment building. "As far as killings, we believe this is the most prolific suspect in recent times," said police spokesman Ed Spencer.

Police believe the killing spree began with the March shooting death of robbery victim Jose Castillo followed by the fatal shooting of Juan Hernandez on May 20. Then on July 2, police found the bodies of security guard Susan Ferguson in north Dallas and Alfonso Contreras and Maria Guadalupe Delgadillo in south Dallas - all with gunshot wounds and injuries from being run over by a car. On the same day, Jose Vasquez Morales was fatally shot as he talked on a pay telephone, and Jesus Briseno was killed with a shotgun during an apparent robbery. Two days later, Antonio Rios and Manuel Duran were both shot in the head in a tire shop parking lot. Antonio Banda was fatally wounded moments later outside a nearby apartment. A July 23 carjacking left Juan Carlos Macias dead. Police say the same .38-caliber revolver has been linked to six of the slayings.

At the time of Chavez's arrest, a 15-year-old boy in the custody of juvenile authorities was reported to know Chavez and could provide information on at least one of the slayings. But the prosecutor declined to discuss details. "I'm concerned about his safety and security right now," he said, "and don't want to go into it." A spokeswoman for the youth's attorney also declined to elaborate, saying she feared retaliation by unnamed people aiding Chavez from outside jail. One victim was a devoted son, shot in the chest when he went out to lock his car while visiting his invalid mother over a holiday weekend. Another victim was described as a simple man who had come to Texas from Mexico to find work after a family dispute over the sale of a cow. A third was said to be a quiet family man whose father was so grief-stricken by the loss that he died last week of a broken heart. Those are just three of the 11 killings charged to Juan Rodriguez Chavez, a man authorities here are calling a "thrill killer."

The slayings were scattered over Dallas, but most were in Hispanic neighborhoods on the west side near the area where Chavez lived. The picture that emerges from interviews and reports of police investigators is one of honest people who suffered the great misfortune of crossing paths with a ruthless robber or robbers. John Lozano, 62, stepfather of one victim, showed the place on the sidewalk where his 53-year-old stepson was shot when he went out to lock his car for the night: "I heard all kind of shooting, and I ran out and said, `Tony, are you all right?' and he said, `I been shot.'" Lozano ran into his small frame house in the West Oak Cliff neighborhood to call 911, and when he returned his stepson, Antonio Banda, had died of a bullet to the heart. "They just went on down the street shooting," he said of his stepson's attackers.

Sean Olgin, 29, whose younger brother was a victim, said his brother was a quiet family man who worked at extra jobs to support his wife and 2-year-old daughter. His brother, Antonio Rios, 27, was one of two men shot at point-blank range while preparing to get into a pickup at the tire store where they worked. Olgin said his father, who was 67, died Saturday of a heart attack which Olgin believes was brought on by the stress of his brother's slaying last July. "He was very close to my brother. My brother still depended on him, and my dad wouldn't ever deny anything for him." The other man slain with Rios, Manuel Duran, 31, may have died because he balked at giving up his truck, said his friend and co-worker, Zack Cazares, 29. Cazares said he had given his Isuzu pickup to Duran in exchange for Duran's promise to make the remaining installment payments on it. He thinks Duran may not have wanted to give up the truck because it wasn't really his. "But no one knows if there was any words," Cazares said. "He was very good-hearted," Cazares said. "He didn't speak that much English. He came here because his brother sold a cow that belonged to the family. They blamed it on him, so he left the ranch and came here to Dallas to work. He worked very hard here, and he would go out of his way to satisfy people." Duran and Rios were found dead on either side of the pickup, which was standing with its doors open and motor running, Cazares said. "Maybe they were going to steal the truck, and then it got too busy out on the street, and after the shooting and all, they decided to take off."

Cazares said he was perplexed by the release last week of two men originally arrested and charged in the crimes along with Chavez. "The police brought one of them, not Chavez but one of the others, here (to the scene of the killings) later, and he was showing them how it all happened," Cazares said. Dallas police have said only that the other two men originally arrested were released because they were cleared by a subsequent investigation, even though one of the two had confessed. A spokesman told The Associated Press that a 15-year-old witness in protective custody may provide key evidence against Chavez. All 11 slayings in which Chavez is charged occurred in a five month period. One victim was shot while washing his car at a coin-operated carwash. Another was shot in the head in a grocery store parking lot. Another when he stumbled on Chavez and an accomplice robbing two people. Another was shot in the head while driving, after two men in a car had tried to force him at gunpoint to pull over. Others were simply found dead by the road. Chavez is accused of stealing almost $2,000 from his victims but may have taken only small amounts from some. In several cases he and accomplices were trying to steal vehicles, and in two cases they succeeded, police said. Some victims were not robbed. Police said that Chavez was charged with nine capital murders, two simple murders and a robbery.

UPDATE: He became known in Dallas as "The Thrill Killer" for random attacks believed to have left at least a dozen people dead, including five on a single bloody night in the summer of 1995. Many victims over the five-month period were robbed or carjacked. Some were shot with a handgun, others with a shotgun. Some were mowed down by a stolen car or truck -- their heads deliberately run over after they already had been shot. Today, five days shy of his 35th birthday, Juan Rodriguez Chavez, labeled an "equal opportunity assassin" by authorities, is set to die for one of those slayings -- the robbery and fatal shooting of a 39-year-old man gunned down while he was talking on a pay phone in northwest Dallas. "We called him the thrill killer," said Jason January, one of the Dallas County district attorneys who prosecuted Chavez. "It definitely fit. He was truly a living breathing killing machine, and the world's going to be safer once he's gone. He was one of the few people I dealt with in 15 years with the DA's office that clearly demonstrated he enjoyed killing."

Chavez was arrested a month after Jose Morales was shot at a pay phone near Dallas' Love Field about 1 a.m. on July 2, 1995. According to a witness, the gunman approached Morales, asked in Spanish if he was "on the line" and opened fire, shooting the victim in the chest. Then he grabbed Morales' wallet from his pants and shot him again before fleeing. The wallet contained $2. By the time the sun came up that morning, seven other people had been shot, four of them fatally, including a female security guard at a construction site. "He pulled up, she leans in the window," January said, recalling testimony from a 15-year-old who accompanied Chavez on the spree. "He starts acting like he wants directions, then pulls a gun and asks her if she has children. She's crying by then and says yes and he shoots her anyway. Then he takes his car and runs over her head. This guy was unreal." Considered a threat even while in custody, he wore to court an electronic stun belt that inadvertently activated during the first day of testimony. Jolted by the voltage, he stood up, saying: "It's shocking me," then slumped to the defense table. He was uninjured but his attorneys asked for a mistrial, contending his constitutional presumption of innocence was violated. The request was denied, then became an issue in unsuccessful appeals.

Chavez was a middle child in a family of 19 born to a migrant farm worker couple who moved to Dallas three months after he was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., April 27, 1968. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade and at age 17 was convicted of murder for killing a neighbor and wounding another man during a burglary. While serving a 15-year prison term, he racked up more than 40 disciplinary violations, including punching a corrections officer and scaling a pair of fences topped with razor wire so he could attack another inmate in a recreation area. But by March 1994, he had accrued enough "good time" in prison to be paroled. He had served less than half of his sentence. "He should have never been let out of jail," January said. "He's a poster child for parole reform."

The killing spree began a year later with a fatal shooting during a robbery at a car wash. He was arrested in August 1995 when he reported to his parole officer. Chavez in recent weeks declined requests from reporters to speak from death row. At his trial, he was described as jovial, grinning at spectators, many of them relatives of slaying victims, when State District Judge Harold Entz asked if there was any reason he shouldn't be sentenced. "I still say I'm not guilty," he said. Earlier that day, he warned court bailiffs he would antagonize relatives of his victims, many of them Hispanic, by smirking. "You ever seen a courtroom full of mad Mexicans?" he said. "You oughta see them when I walk in the courtroom smiling. "I'm not going to let them see me sweat."

Huntsville Item

Man Set to Die for 1995 Murder," by Brian Lacy. (April 22, 2003)

A man convicted of a 1995 murder in Dallas County that was part of an early morning crime spree in which he murdered three others, is set to die by lethal injection this evening inside the Huntsville "Walls" Unit. Barring a last-minute injunction, Juan Rodriguez Chavez, 34, is scheduled to be the 13th inmate executed by the state of Texas this year. He was sentenced to death on March 27, 1996, for the July 2, 1995, murder of Jose Morales in Dallas County.

According to information provided by the Attorney General's office, Chavez and a friend -- Hector Fernandez -- stole a car from a Greyhound maintenance facility in Dallas. In the early morning hours of July 2, they drove the car to a Dallas County apartment where Chavez shot Morales, who was standing outside with a friend. After Morales fell to the ground, Chavez took his wallet and shot him again. That was just the start of a long night for Chavez. He and Fernandez drove the stolen car to a construction site where Chavez killed security guard Susan Ferguson by shooting her in the face and then running her body over with the stolen car.

Forty minutes later, Chavez shot another security guard, Kevin Hancock, in a West Oak Cliff apartment complex, leaving Hancock permanently paralyzed. Ten minutes later, Chavez and Fernandez went to East Oak Cliff where they robbed three men standing by the roadside. Chavez shot and killed Jesus Briseno, while Fernandez, using a 9 mm pistol stolen from Hancock, shot and wounded Francisco Jaimes and Alberto Guevara.

About an hour later, Chavez and Fernandez drove back to West Oak Cliff where they found Alfonso Contreras and Guadalupe Delgadillo-Pena sitting inside a pickup truck in front of another apartment complex. Chavez approached the truck and fired his gun inside, killing Contreras and wounding Delgadillo-Pena. Chavez then stole the truck with both victims still inside, while Fernandez followed in the other stolen vehicle. Soon after, Chavez pushed Contreras from the truck and ran over him. Chavez and Fernandez then drove the stolen vehicles to the Trinity River bottom where Fernandez shot Delgadillo-Pena in the head upon Chavez's instruction. Chavez then ran over her body with the stolen car. At approximately 4 a.m., Chavez drove the stolen pickup truck to an exit off Interstate 20 and burned it.

The murder of Morales came near the end of a three-month crime spree in which Chavez committed a total of eight armed robberies and nine murders. He committed murders in March and May 1995, and three days after killing Morales, he killed three men -- Antonio Banda, Michael Duran and Antonio Rios -- after two of the men obstructed the entrance to a tire shop from which Chavez, Fernandez and a third accomplice planned to steal a car.

Chavez had served seven years in prison during the 1980 and early '90s for the 1985 murder of Vincente Mendoza in Dallas County.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson.

Juan Rodriguez Chavez, 34, was executed by lethal injection on 22 April 2003 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder and robbery of a 40-year-old man.

In the early morning of 2 July 1995, Chavez, then 37, and Hector Fernandez, a juvenile, drove to a Dallas apartment complex in a car they had just stolen. There, they saw Jose Morales and Yadira Ramirez standing outside, near some public telephones. Chavez exited the car and walked toward the telephones, as if he were going to make a call. He then exchanged words with Morales, then drew a revolver and shot him in the chest. After Morales fell to the ground, Chavez stole his wallet from his rear pants pocket. Chavez then shot Morales again. Morales died in the hospital.

Chavez and Fernandez then drove the stolen car to a construction site, where Chavez killed security guard Susan Ferguson by shooting her in the face and then running over her with the car. Forty minutes later, Chavez shot another security guard, Kevin Hancock, in an apartment complex, leaving him permanently paralyzed. Ten minutes after that, Chavez and Fernandez robbed three men standing by the roadside. Chavez shot and killed Jesus Briseno, while Fernandez, using a 9 mm pistol stolen from Hancock, shot and wounded Francisco James and Alberto Guevara.

About an hour later, Chavez and Fernandez drove back to the apartment complex where they shot Kevin Hancock. They found two people, Alfonso Contreras and Guadalupe Delgadillo-Pena, sitting inside a pickup truck. Chavez approached the truck and fired into the cab, killing Contreras and wounding Delgadillo. Chavez then stole the truck with both victims still inside. Fernandez followed him in the other stolen car. Shortly thereafter, Chavez pushed Contreras' body from the truck and ran over it. The bandits drove the stolen vehicles to the Trinity River. There, Fernandez fatally shot Delgadillo in the head and Chavez ran over her body.

At approximately 4:00 a.m., Chavez drove the stolen pickup truck to an exit off of Interstate 20 and burned it. In a crime spree that lasted less than four hours, Chavez and Fernandez had killed five people, paralyzed another, and wounded two others.

Two days later, Chavez shot and killed three men -- Antonio Banda, Michael Duran, and Antonio Rios, for obstructing the entrance to a tire shop from which he, Fernandez, and a third accomplice planned to steal a car.

Chavez committed his first murder at age 17. In February 1987, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing Vicente Mendoza with a deadly weapon. While in prison, Chavez received over 40 disciplinary violations, including attacking a guard and another prisoner. Nevertheless, he was paroled after 7 years, in March 1994, because of strict prison population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.

Chavez committed his second murder in March 1995, when he shot and killed Jose Castillo and stole his car keys. In May 1995, he shot and killed Juan Pablo Hernandez and stole his car. Chavez was nicknamed the "The Thrill Killer" by the media.

Fernandez testified against Chavez at his trial in exchange for a sentence of aggravated robbery. Just before the judge passed the sentence, Chavez said, "I still say I'm not guilty." A jury convicted Chavez of capital murder in March 1996 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in April 1999. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

On death row, Chavez declined interview requests from the media. He maintained his innocence. "To the media, I would like for you to tell all the victims and their loved ones that I am truly, truly sorry for taking their loved ones' lives," Chavez said at his execution. "I am a different person now, but that does not change the fact of the bad things I have committed." Chavez finished his last statement by telling his relatives, "God is the way, the truth, and the life." He then told the warden he was ready and closed his eyes, and the lethal injection was started. After a few seconds, Chavez opened his eyes and asked, "Is it working?" He then closed his eyes again and began praying. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

TheDeathouse.Com

"Texas Executes a 'Killing Machine'," by Robert Anthony Phillips. (April 22, 2003)

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. - Juan Chavez, a "killing machine" who prosecutors said murdered more than 12 persons during a four month robbery and carjacking spree in 1995, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison Tuesday night. Before he died, Chavez said he was a "different person." Chavez, 34, received the death sentence for the murder of Jose Morales. Morales, 39, was talking on a Dallas public telephone when Chavez shot him in the chest and took his wallet. Chavez was already on parole from prison for committing a previous slaying.

Apology

The lethal chemicals that would end the life of Chavez began flowing at 6:11 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. Before he died, Chavez told media witnesses that wanted to apologize to the families of the victims - none of whom witnessed his execuiton. "I would like for you to tell all the victims and their loved ones that I am truly, truly sorry for taking their loved ones lives," Chavez said. "I'm a different person now, but that does not change the fact of the bad things I have committed." Then, the lethal drugs were administered as Chavez's mother, sister and brother watched.

Killed For Wheel Rims The killing of Morales was just the beginning of Chavez's murder spree. He apparently choose his victims at random, sometimes shooting them because he liked the wheel rims on their cars, The Dallas Morning News reported. Prosecutors and lawmen used words such as "thrill killer," "sadistic" and "killing machine" to desribe Chavez. Lawmen said his victims were robbed or carjacked and then killed with a pistol or shotgun. Prosecutors said Chavez frequently used a stolen vehicle to run over the head of victims after he shot them.

One prosecutor told reporters that the world would be a better place without Chavez. “He was truly a living, breathing, killing machine, and the world's going to be safer once he's gone. He was one of the few people I dealt with in 15 years with the DA's office that clearly demonstrated he enjoyed killing,” said Jason January, a Dallas County assistant district attorney who helped prosecut Chavez

Stunned In Court

Chavez was also involved in a bizarre incident at his trial. He was forced to wear an electronic stun belt because corrections officials heard of the accused man's alleged plans to escape by disarming officers and shooting his way out of court. But on the first day of the trial, through no fault of Chavez, the stun belt activated and gave him an electrical shock, knocking him to the floor. His lawyers asked for a mistrial because, they argued, Chavez was denied the presumption of innocence by having to wear the stun belt in court.

The lawyers appealed on the issue, but the argument was denied. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records state that Chavez had previously served 15 years in prison on a conviction of murder with a deadly weapon. He had been released on mandatory parole in March 1994.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Juan Chavez, Texas - April 22, 2003

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Juan Rodriguez Chavez April 22 for the robbery and murder of Jose Morales. Chavez, a Hispanic man, allegedly shot Morales at a phone booth in Dallas on the night of July 2, 1995. The state sentenced him to death in 1996, following one of the most bizarre trial episodes in Texas history.

On March 18, 1996, just two days into Chavez’s trial, his “stun belt” inadvertently activated. The mechanism, designed to subdue defendants in case of an escape attempt, delivered a 50,000-volt electrical shock to Chavez, who was quietly seated at the defense table. In front of the entire court and the jury that would eventually determine his fate, he began jerking his arms in the air screaming, “I’m getting shocked!”

A bailiff rushed forward and pulled the belt off Chavez after eight seconds of electrical shock. Meanwhile, the jurors watched in horror before the judge shuffled them out of the courtroom. Revelation of the “stun belt” – which was otherwise inconspicuous – clearly eliminated the presumption of innocence the jurors needed to fairly assess the evidence brought forth in the trial.

This event should have undoubtedly caused an immediate mistrial. The court’s solution – to simply interview the jurors and officers in charge of the “stun belt” – fell far short of re-establishing a fair environment for a capital trial. Not surprisingly, the same jurors that watched Chavez squirm like a caged animal under electrical shock in the middle of his trial sentenced him to death shortly thereafter.

The mere fact that this case has survived the appeals process for seven years offers quite a commentary on the appellate courts’ degree of concern for death row inmates and the fairness of their convictions and sentences. Chavez fully deserves a new trial, in which his jurors do not hold pre-conceived opinions as a result of an event over which he had no control. Please write the state of Texas and request a stay for Juan Chavez so that he can exercise his right to a fair trial.

Houston Chronicle

"Thrill Killer Executed Today; Juan Chavez is 13th Texas execution this year." (AP 4/22/03)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A convicted killer believed responsible for at least a dozen slayings over a five-month period while on parole was executed Tuesday for one of five murders authorities said he committed on a single bloody night in Dallas eight years ago. Juan Rodriguez Chavez, 34, who had earned the nickname "The Thrill Killer" for the random attacks was smiling and grinning broadly as his mother, a brother and a sister came into the death chamber to watch him die.

"To the media, I would like for you to tell all the victims and their loved ones that I am truly, truly sorry for taking their loved ones' lives," Chavez said in a brief and apologetic final statement. "I am a different person now but that does not change the fact of the bad things I have committed." Chavez said he hoped God would give them the same peace that he had. Looking at his relatives, he urged them to be strong and told them, "God is the way, the truth and the life." He told the warden he was ready and closed his eyes, but looked up a few seconds later and asked, "Is it working?" He closed his eyes and began praying. As the drugs began taking effect, his eyes popped open, he gasped for breath and stopped breathing. Seven minutes later, he was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

Jason January, one of the Dallas County district attorneys who prosecuted Chavez, said Chavez's nickname fit. "He was truly a living breathing killing machine...," January said. "He was one of the few people I dealt with in 15 years with the DA's office that clearly demonstrated he enjoyed killing."

Chavez was the 13th condemned prisoner put to death in Texas this year and the first of two on consecutive nights. Many of Chavez's victims were robbed or carjacked. Some were shot with a handgun, others with a shotgun. Some were mowed down by a stolen car or truck -- their heads deliberately run over after they already had been shot. "To shoot somebody, get a car and turn around and on several occasions take the tire of the vehicle and run over their heads, that's sadistic," January said.

Chavez, labeled an "equal opportunity assassin" by authorities, was condemned for the robbery and fatal shooting of Jose Morales, 39, gunned down July 3, 1995 while talking on a pay phone in northwest Dallas. A witness said he grabbed Morales' wallet from his pants and shot him again before fleeing. The wallet contained $2. Morales was one of eight people shot -- five fatally -- during the early morning hours that day. Chavez was arrested a month later when he reported to his parole officer. He had been released from prison the previous year after serving less than half of a 15-year term for killing a neighbor during a burglary. Chavez, a ninth-grade dropout, was 17 at the time of that slaying.

At his trial for the Morales murder, he wore to court an electronic stun belt that inadvertently activated during the first day of testimony. Jolted by the voltage, he stood up, saying: "It's shocking me," then slumped to the defense table. He was uninjured but his attorneys asked for a mistrial, contending his constitutional presumption of innocence was violated. The request was denied, then became an issue in unsuccessful appeals.

Chavez was a middle child in a family of 19 born to a migrant farm worker couple who moved to Dallas three months after he was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., April 27, 1968.

While serving his first murder sentence, he accumulated more than 40 disciplinary violations, including punching a corrections officer and scaling a pair of fences topped with razor wire so he could attack another inmate in a recreation area. But by March 1994, he had accrued enough "good time" in prison to be paroled. "He should have never been let out of jail," January said. "He's a poster child for parole reform." The killing spree began a year later with a fatal shooting during a robbery at a car wash.

At his trial, he was described as jovial, grinning at spectators, many of them relatives of slaying victims. When State District Judge Harold Entz asked if there was any reason he shouldn't be sentenced, he replied: "I still say I'm not guilty." He also had warned court bailiffs he would antagonize relatives of his victims, many of them Hispanic, by smirking. "I'm not going to let them see me sweat," he said.

Chavez v. Cockrell