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Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (Michael McBride)

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Michael Lee McBride, who is scheduled to be executed, after 6 p.m., Thursday, May 11th:

FACTS OF THE CRIME

McBride was convicted of the shooting deaths of Christian Fisher and James Holzer, both eighteen years old. On October 18, 1985, Holzer, Cody Minnick, and Karen Tidwell, went to Lubbock to visit Fisher who was attending Texas Tech University. McBride, whom Fisher had been dating for about eleven months and with whom she had a "very stormy" relationship, was angry that Holzer and Minnick were staying in Fisher's apartment for the weekend. On Saturday, October 19, 1985, McBride entered Fisher's apartment with a key and attacked Holzer as he lay sleeping on the couch. Minnick testified McBride was screaming, "You are sleeping with my girlfriend." Minnick intervened, and while he and Holzer wrestled with McBride, a glass bookcase was broken in Fisher's apartment. After being subdued, McBride yelled at Fisher "to bend down and pick up" his keys, and then McBride picked up someone's sunglasses, crushed them, and threw them on the floor. McBride then grabbed his own sunglasses and left.

The foursome (Fisher, Tidwell, Minnick, and Holzer) did not hear from McBride again until Monday evening, October 21st, when he phoned Fisher. McBride and Fisher were apparently ending their relationship, and Fisher wanted some money McBride owed her. McBride told Fisher to come to his house "alone" and he would give her a painting worth the amount he owed her. Before concluding the phone call, McBride also told Fisher, "If I can't have you, nobody will."

Fisher's friends expressed concern for her safety if she were to go to McBride's house alone, so the foursome proceeded to McBride's in two cars. Fisher and Holzer parked in front of McBride's house, while Minnick and Tidwell parked several car lengths behind them. McBride's house was very dark and no one answered when Fisher knocked at the front door. As Fisher was walking back towards the street, Minnick noticed a figure behind his car and heard a gun cock, and then McBride pointed a .30 caliber M-1 carbine rifle, with a 30 round clip, at him. McBride demanded Minnick and Tidwell exit the car or else he would kill them, and he proceeded to smash out Minnick's driver's side window with the rifle butt. McBride also fired two shots into the air, which Minnick described as "warning shots." McBride then turned his attention toward Fisher and Holzer, and at that time Minnick escaped to a neighbor's home for help.

A neighbor of McBride's, Patrick Potter, and Tidwell both witnessed the double homicide. Potter lived in an apartment behind a house which was across the street from McBride's. While sitting in his apartment, he saw a male matching McBride's description run past his open front door. As his dogs took chase, Potter followed and saw McBride bash out Minnick's window. Potter returned home to tell his wife to call the police, and then went back to the scene, where he heard McBride load his weapon. Tidwell witnessed McBride and Fisher struggling with the rifle in the middle of the street immediately before McBride shot Fisher. Fisher yelled at McBride, "You won't do it." Fisher sustained ten gunshot wounds to her face, chest, abdomen, and thigh. McBride continued to shoot Fisher at close range even after she had fallen to the ground.

After McBride murdered Fisher, he fired several shots through the windshield of her car, repeatedly striking Holzer who was now in the driver's seat. McBride then "hopped around" to the driver's side of the car, smashed out that window, and fired again at Holzer, at one point actually placing the rifle against his head. Holzer sustained nine gunshot wounds, one of which destroyed his heart and was fatal. McBride then shot himself under the chin, the bullet traveling through his mouth and exiting his forehead. Police officers and EMS personnel arriving at the scene found McBride on his hands and knees on the ground apparently trying to crawl to his weapon, which several witnesses kicked away from him. He was violent and aggressive with the EMS personnel, resisting their efforts, making threatening remarks, and using profanity. He admitted shooting Fisher and Holzer "because it was time for them to go." At the hospital, McBride was more cooperative, and even commented to a male nurse that "if you ever need any pointers or information on how to handle your women, just let me know."

Prior to the murders, McBride had moved to Lubbock to be with Fisher while she attended Texas Tech. He was employed as a bartender at a Lubbock country club, but Fisher helped him financially "all the time." She was apparently unhappy in Lubbock and was preparing to move home to Fort Worth in the near future. Her friends encouraged the move as McBride's behavior was "unpredictable." Fisher's mother did not like her dating McBride, and felt that her daughter saw him "too frequently." Tidwell described McBride as having a "very explosive, short tempered" personality, and stated Fisher reacted to him with fear but tried to help him.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

McBride was indicted in the 99th District Court of Lubbock County, Texas, for the capital offense of murdering James Holzer and Christian Fisher during the same criminal transaction. The case was tried by a jury upon McBride's plea of not guilty, and the jury found him guilty of the capital offense on February 11, 1988. After a separate punishment hearing, the jury answered in the affirmative the special issues submitted, and in accordance with state law, McBride was sentenced to death.

McBride's conviction and sentence was automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed on June 16, 1993. McBride's petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 1994. McBride then filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court on April 5, 1995. The district court denied habeas relief on February 16, 1996, but granted McBride permission to appeal on June 4, 1996. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of habeas relief on July 29, 1997. McBride's petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court on January 20, 1998. McBride then returned to state court and filed an application for writ of habeas corpus, which was denied by the Court of Criminal Appeals on February 16, 2000.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

In the spring of 1985, at a Fort Worth bar, McBride twice punched in the face a man who had borrowed a cigarette from Fisher then ignored McBride's directive to leave their table. In another incident, McBride jumped an "island" in a parking lot and drove "pretty fast" toward Tidwell (who had parked in the middle of the parking lot) and tried to run over her. McBride apparently was angry because a few days prior Tidwell did not admit to him that she and Fisher had gone to a bar. Tidwell stated that outbursts of anger were typical behavior for McBride. She stated that in the ten months she had known McBride (prior to this offense) she had seen him lose his temper many times. Tidwell also related that, in January or February of 1985, McBride stormed into a bar where she, a friend, and Fisher were playing pool. McBride forced Fisher to leave and "pulled her out the door." Fisher's mother described an occasion during that summer when McBride became belligerent with a sheriff's deputy who did not issue a ticket to a young woman who had rear-ended Fisher's car.

Two Lubbock police officers testified they answered an aggravated assault call at Fisher's apartment at 4:23 a.m. just sixteen days prior to this offense. Leslie Holder, a mutual friend of the victims and McBride, testified that she tried to get into Fisher's apartment during the assault as Fisher was yelling for help. After McBride fled, she and Fisher found a teddy bear with its head ripped off and a threatening, profanity-laced note from McBride stuffed inside. Earlier that same day, McBride and Holder went for a drive in McBride's truck so that he could talk to her about his problems with Fisher. It was only a short drive as McBride was "roaring up behind cars and then slamming on his brakes" which scared Holder.

Holder also described an incident in Fort Worth in which McBride broke the windows in his apartment with a chair because he was angry that Fisher and Holder had gone out one evening. In 1985, McBride also became enraged and threatened a Fort Worth police officer, who also worked as a security guard at the apartment complex where McBride lived, when the officer answered a disturbance call. In profane and explicit terms, McBride threatened violence against the officer, who had already identified himself as a peace officer. A former manager of that same apartment complex testified that McBride tried, more than once, to destroy his third floor apartment. When the manager approached him about a broken window in the apartment, McBride first reacted calmly, then violently, and threatened her. McBride later admitted that he broke the window when he lost his temper and tried to throw someone through the window. Subsequently the manager inspected the apartment in McBride's absence and discovered fist sized holes in almost every wall of the apartment, "a lot of guns," and a set of weights. McBride owed $520 in damages upon moving out. Another witness testified that, in 1979, McBride drove his car through her backyard and into her garage, "knocking everything into a bedroom." He emerged from the car swearing at her and threatened to sue her after she pushed him because she was so upset by "his language and his attitude."

The State also presented testimony from persons who had been associated with McBride while he was in jail awaiting trial. Numerous incidents were detailed where McBride lost his temper, used offensive language, and/or attacked someone with little or no provocation. The evidence also showed McBride wanted to borrow an empty shampoo squeeze bottle to fill with jalapeno peppers and squirt the juice in the eyes of people who were annoying him. Further, the State presented three witnesses from Fort Worth, who attended Texas Tech, who testified that McBride's reputation for being peaceable and law-abiding was bad. Finally, a psychiatrist testified that, in his opinion, McBride would continue to be a threat to society.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

Execution has been set on May 11 for Michael Lee McBride, a former Lubbock bar manager convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her companion in 1985. McBride, 38, had been found guilty of capital murder in the shooting deaths of Christian Fisher and James Alan Holzler, both 18. Christian had gone to McBride's home to pick up some belongings on Oct. 21, 1985. She was killed in a hail of bullets after challenging McBride to shoot, according to witness accounts in the records. McBride then went to the car and shot James in the head and chest. Both Christian and James died at the scene, according to the records. McBride turned the .30-caliber rifle on himself and fired once at his head. He was lying on the ground and reaching for the weapon when police arrived.

APBNews Online

"Man Executed for Killing Texas Couple; Calls Lethal Drugs 'Cool' as He Dies." May 12, 2000 - HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A bartender has been put to death for shooting his ex-girlfriend and a companion to death in a jealous rage in 1985. Michael Lee McBride, 38, was convicted of gunning down two 18-year-olds from Fort Worth, ex-girlfriend Christian Fisher and James Holzer. He insisted the shootings were in the heat of passion and did not amount to capital murder. "God bless all of you," he said before his execution. As the lethal drugs began taking effect, he said: "Pretty cool, I feel it in the back of my throat. Bye."

Friends tried to protect victim

McBride, a bartender in a Lubbock country club, dated Fisher for about 11 months before she broke up with him. He lured the Texas Tech student to his house under the pretense of giving her a painting he said was equal to money he owed her. He concluded the conversation by saying: "If I can't have you, nobody will." Her friends worried about her and accompanied her in two cars to McBride's home. Holzer was with Fisher. She knocked on the door but got no answer. As she was returning to her car, McBride emerged wearing camouflage clothing and carrying a semiautomatic rifle. He shot Fisher at least 10 times and Holzer nine times.

CCADP Pen Pal Request - Michael Lee McBride

I am Michael Lee McBride. I have been on Texas Death Row since 1988 as a result of an altercation which transpired in 1985. I have posted my information on this site because I am interested in corresponding and possibly meeting with journalists and / or media representatives not directly affiliated with news media corporations within the United States. I am not interested in supporting the US perspective as portrayed in American corporate media. University students who are interested in learning more about capital punishment per se or the perspective of Texas Death Row from a man who has lived in it for nearly 15 years are welcome to contact me as well. I shall answer each inquiry I receive and deem to be made in good faith. My ultimate desire is to bring understanding and education and to shed that that informative light into the dark corners of ignorance and prejudice. If you wish to learn more about capital punishment and the results of a sentence of death as experienced before the execution of that sentence, please write to me. With kinds regards and respect,

Michael Lee McBride 000903
Polunsky Unit D.R
12002 FM 350 South
Livingston Texas 77351 USA

Waving at Death - Michael L. McBride's Life on Death Row (Homepage)

This is Michael Lee McBrides webpage. He has been on death row in Texas since 1988 and was executed on May 11th 2000.

Letter from Michael to all his friends.

This webpage describes his opinions about the death penalty and not because he feels that he is a victim. Read what he has to say.

Some final written words from Michael

Support a Death Penalty Moratorium, sign your name to this form to be counted.

Michael's final statement both written and spoken.

Visit the online bookstore and find books about the death penalty and prison issues.

Friends of Michael McBride have their say.

Take part in a discussion with other members of the death penalty community

" A trial isn't a seach for truth; it's a contest to determine a winner." When you lose in the trial for the right for your own life, what else do you sacrifice until that time that your life ceases? And we are no longer natural born members of the human family? Is it not enough for you to simply kill me? (Michael L McBride, 11th March 2000.)

Death Row Huntsville Texas: February 2000 - "Debased Guard Behavior and Abuse Escalates Pending Death Row Transfers," by Michael L. McBride.