Breaking New: Texas Executes Cop Killer!

HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS -- The Texas Department of Criminal Justice executed convicted murderer George Rivas, 41, by lethal injection the evening of Wednesday, February 29. He was declared dead at 6:22 p.m.

Rivas was leader of the fugitive gang known as the "Texas Seven," which escaped on December 13, 2000, from the John Connally prison unit, near the south Texas town of Kenedy, where they had been serving lengthy sentences. Eleven days later, on Christmas Eve, they killed 29-year-old Dallas-area police officer Aubrey Hawkins (shown below) while robbing a sporting goods store in Irving, Texas. Rivas and his companions fled the scene of the killing and were found hiding in Colorado in January 2001.

"For the Hawkins family, I do apologize for everything that happened, not because I'm here, but for closure in your hearts. I really believe you deserve that,” Rivas said during his final statement.

None of Hawkins' family attended the execution but four of the officer's colleagues and the district attorney who prosecuted the case were present on their behalf. A number of Rivas' friends and his Canadian wife, who he married recently while imprisoned, also attended.

"I am grateful for everything in my life," Rivas said. "To my wife, I will be waiting for you."

Rivas, a native of El Paso, is the second member of the "Texas Seven" to be executed. One of the others, Larry James Harper, committed suicide before he was captured by authorities and the other four -- Joseph C. Garcia, Randy Ethan Halprin, Patrick Henry Murphy Jr., and Donald Keith Newbury -- are currently on death row and awaiting execution.