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Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (Emerson Rudd)

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

November 14, 2001 - MEDIA ADVISORY -Emerson Edward Rudd Scheduled to be Executed.

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Emerson Edward Rudd, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 15, 2001. On March 17, 1989, Rudd was sentenced for the capital murder of Steve Morgan, which occurred in Dallas County, Texas, on September 2, 1988. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows:

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On September 2, 1988, 18-year-old Emerson Edward Rudd intentionally shot Steve Morgan during a robbery at a Captain D's restaurant in Dallas County. The victim was a manager of the restaurant and married with a young child. When the victim told Rudd that Captain D's did not have large amounts of money, Rudd leveled his weapon and shot him in the abdomen at close range. While the conscious victim lay wounded on the floor, Rudd threatened a 4-month-old child unless the mother, who worked at the restaurant, cooperated in finding money. Rudd later threatened another employee of the restaurant. Rudd and his companions eventually left the Captain D's and committed aggravated robbery at another restaurant. Later that evening, Rudd bragged to his friends about having shot Morgan at Captain D's, saying, "(the victim) tried to be a hero, so (Rudd) made him a zero." Rudd also told others that he had to shoot the "whore" (Morgan) when he said Captain D's did not have a lot of money. Steve Morgan died a few hours later at a hospital.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 20, 1988, Rudd was indicted for capital murder for causing the death of Steve Morgan during the course of committing and attempting to commit the offense of robbery. The jury found him guilty of capital murder on March 10, 1989. After a separate hearing on punishment, the jury affirmatively answered both special issues required to assess the death penalty. In accordance with state law, the trial court then sentenced Rudd to death by lethal injection. On September 22, 1993, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction on direct appeal. On June 30, 1994, the Supreme Court denied certiorari review.

Next, Rudd sought state collateral relief in the convicting court. The trial court recommended that relief be denied and, upon review by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, relief was denied on October 29, 1997. Rudd filed his federal application for habeas corpus on May 1, 1998. On September 8, 2000, the district court entered its order adopting the magistrate's findings and recommendations and denied relief. Rudd filed an application for a certificate of appealability with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on January 3, 2001. His application was denied on June 28, 2001. On August 27, 2001, Rudd filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court denied his petition on October 29, 2001.

CRIMINAL HISTORY

During the punishment phase of trial, the State presented evidence that Rudd was placed on probation as a juvenile for the offenses of aggravated robbery, two aggravated assaults and theft. Rudd subsequently violated his probation and was placed in juvenile detention where he continued to commit acts of violence by fighting and stealing. The State further presented evidence that after being released from juvenile detention, Rudd robbed five fast food establishments between August 13, 1988, and August 25, 1988, the weeks immediately preceding the robbery and murder of Steve Morgan. Finally, the State presented evidence that Rudd robbed a Mr. Jim's Pizza later that same evening of the Captain D's robbery and a Pizza Inn two days later.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson.

Emerson Rudd

Emerson Edward Rudd, 31, was executed by lethal injection on 15 November in Huntsville, Texas for the armed robbery and murder of a restaurant manager. In September 1988, four young men entered a Captain D's Seafood restaurant in Dallas and demanded money at gunpoint. Restaurant manager Steve Morgan, 23, told the lead robber that the restaurant did not have large amounts of money. Upon hearing this, the robber shot Morgan in the abdomen at close range. Under threat, other employees cooperated in finding money. The robbers left with about $800 in cash. Morgan was taken to the hospital, where he died the next morning.

Two days after the robbery, police stopped a car matching witnesses' descriptions of the getaway car. Four young men were inside. An employee who witnessed the shooting of Steve Morgan positively identified one of them, Emerson Rudd, then 18, as the killer. During the punishment phase of his trial, the state presented evidence that Rudd had juvenile convictions of aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, and theft. Upon being released from juvenile detention in August 1988, he robbed at least eight fast food restaurants before being arrested.

After deliberating for 12 minutes, a jury convicted Rudd in March 1989 of capital murder and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction in September 1993. All his other appeals in state and federal courts were denied.

In an interview on death row, Rudd said that he didn't intend to kill Steve Morgan. "I'm definitely sorry this took place," he said. "There's nothing an individual can say. I can only say it happened and I wish it didn't happen." Rudd also questioned the fairness of his sentence. "I'm not somebody trying to set bombs and kill hundreds of people," he said. "I got involved with a robbery, and an individual got shot and he died." In the same interview, Rudd said he would resist prison officials on the day of his execution. He also said that he would refuse his last meal, calling the tradition "pretty much an insult". When the time came for prison officers to transport him from death row in Livingston to the execution chamber in Huntsville, Rudd did in fact resist. Officers used pepper gas to control him, and he gave no further trouble. He kept his promise to refuse his last meal. At his execution, Rudd told Morgan's parents, "I'm sorry for shooting your son down at that particular robbery." he said. "Politicians say that this brings closure, but I beg to differ because my death doesn't bring your son back -- it doesn't bring closure. I wish that I could do more, but I can't. I hope this brings you peace." He then expressed thanks and encouragement to his friends. He was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m.

After Rudd's execution, the victim's brother, Ronald Morgan, told reporters that the family accepted Rudd's apology. He added, "Even though he didn't think it would bring closure, I think for many of us, it did."

The other robbers were identified as Frenchitt Collins, 18, Darron Price, 17, and Kendrick Smart, 17. They were each convicted of murder and aggravated robbery. They were given sentences of 10, 20, and 15 years, respectively. No further information was available regarding their status.

New Hampshire Coalition Against The Death Penalty

Amnesty International

Emerson Edward Rudd (m), black, aged 31

Emerson Rudd is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 15 November 2001. He was sentenced to death in 1989 for a murder committed in 1988.

Steve Morgan, black, was shot on 2 September 1988 during a robbery of the Dallas restaurant where he worked as a manager. The assailants were four teenagers - two aged 17 and two aged 18. Emerson Rudd, who was identified as the person who shot Steve Morgan, had turned 18 the previous month. He was sentenced to death. His three co-defendants received prison terms. At the time of the crime, Emerson Rudd was emerging from a childhood of abuse and neglect. His sister has stated in an affidavit that "our whole life was traumatic growing-up in the house with my mother and father". She added that her mother was raped by their father; that her parents "fought with themselves, friends and other family", and that "there was never any love shown in our home". She indicated that her father was a drug addict, who stole to feed his addiction, and did "God awful things in front of us". She has stated that Emerson and the other siblings were beaten with extension cords and water hoses. Emerson Rudd's cousin has also signed an affidavit testifying to the physical and mental abuse that Emerson was subjected to from an early age. The death of Emerson Rudd's elder brother in front of him is said to have been particularly traumatic.

The appeal courts have rejected claims that Emerson Rudd's trial lawyer was ineffective for not having presented to the jury the full details of his young client's abusive upbringing. The courts have responded that some of this information was presented, and that any more would simply have been cumulative and would not necessarily have changed the jury's sentencing decision. The courts have also rejected the appeal lawyer's efforts to review the state's file on the case to determine if there is any exculpatory evidence in it.

Emerson Rudd's lawyer is asking Governor Rick Perry to grant a 30-day reprieve, pending resolution of the issue of payments to lawyers for their work preparing clemency petitions to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Earlier in October, he filed a motion in a federal district court seeking either pre-payment of funds to prepare a clemency petition for Emerson Rudd or a stay of execution, pending a decision by another federal court in a separate case where this issue has been raised. The lawyer has stated that he has been financially unable to file a clemency petition on behalf of Emerson Rudd. The deadline for filing such a petition with the Board has now passed.