HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- George Rivas, mastermind of the Texas Seven prison breakout and a convicted cop killer, was put to death Wednesday night, officials said.
Texas Corrections Department officials administered a lethal dose of drugs to Rivas, 41, as punishment for killing Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins during a Christmas Even 2000 robbery that followed the prison escape, The Dallas Morning News reported. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m.
The newspaper said Rivas smiled as the drugs began to move through his body. His chest pumped up and down rapidly, and he snored before going quiet.
Before killing Hawkins following his prison escape, Rivas had been serving more than a dozen life sentences for other crimes he had committed.
Rivas had previously expressed a desire to die.
"I don't want to just exist anymore like an animal in prison," Rivas once said. "What you call the death penalty, I call freedom. I can finally be free."
Rivas' wife was among the witnesses to his death.
Curtis Hawkins, Aubrey Hawkins' father, said he had no interest in the execution or anything Rivas has to say, but knowing justice was served was enough.
The slain officer's widow declined comment, the newspaper said.
