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"I am infinitely sorry that I killed Ralph Ablanedo... I stole from you and the world the precious and irreplaceable life of a good man."

David Lee Powell's apology for a murder that took place in 1978 comes on the eve of his execution.

Ablanedo had pulled over Powell's girlfriend, Sheila Meinert, near downtown Austin for not having a rear license tag. Powell, who was wanted at the time for misdemeanor theft and for passing more than 100 bad checks in Austin, was riding in the car.

Evidence showed Ablanedo was walking toward the vehicle when he was shot through the back window with the AK-47 in semiautomatic mode. The fallen officer tried to get up and Powell opened fire again, switching the weapon to full automatic mode.

Powell and Meinert were arrested at a nearby apartment complex parking lot following a shootout with other officers. Meinert later testified that Powell gave her a grenade and told her to remove tape from it. She said she became hysterical and shoved it back to him.
Officers testified that Powell threw it and started running away. The grenade was found about 10 feet from a police car but failed to explode because a safety clip hadn't been removed.

How can it take so long to carry out the death penalty? Powell has been tried ? and sentenced to death ? 3 times. He recently failed in an attempt to get a 4th trial. (You can read the case here: PDF.)

Full post as published by Althouse on January 29, 2010 (boomark / email).