HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A Texas death row inmate plans to put up a fight when guards take him away for his scheduled execution Thursday.
Emerson Rudd, 31, is to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. CST for the 1988 murder of 23-year-old Steve Morgan during a Dallas restaurant robbery that netted $800. Rudd would be the 16th convicted killer executed by Texas this year.
In a recent interview with The Dallas Morning News, Rudd admitted he killed Morgan but he said he does not plan to go to the death chamber peacefully.
"If they come and tell me, 'Let's go,' I have no intention of going anywhere with anyone talking about killing me," he said. "I have no intention of participating in my own death. Suicide is when people cooperate. And I'm not suicidal. I have no intention of hurting anyone else. I'm just going to defend myself."
In the past, Texas prison officials have used an "extraction team" of specially trained guards to remove uncooperative death row inmates from their cells for execution.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Rudd's latest appeal Wednesday and he is expected to seek a last-minute stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rudd's execution would be the second this week in Texas. Jeffery Eugene Tucker, 41, received a lethal injection Wednesday night for the 1988 robbery and murder of 65-year-old Wilton Humphreys at Granbury, Texas.
Tucker's execution had been postponed from Sept. 11 because the U.S. Supreme Court was closed after the terrorist attacks and he had no access for any last-minute appeal.
