Here is the story behind one of Texas latest executions. There was no doubt about guilt and it still took 13 years for the process to be completed.
Kenneth Mosley, 51, was executed by lethal injection on 7 January 2010 in Huntsville, Texas for killing a police officer in a bank.
On 15 February 1997, Mosley, then 38, entered a bank in Garland. One of the tellers recognized him from a previous robbery at the bank. The teller informed her manager. After the manager saw Mosley, he also recognized him from tapes of the other robbery. The manager returned to her office, pushed the alarm button, and called bank security and 9-1-1.
The manager then went outside and met police officer David Moore, who responded to the emergency call, and described Mosley to him. Moore, who was in uniform, then went inside, approached Mosley, and asked to speak with him. Moore struggled with Mosley, who refused to keep his hands still. Mosley then pulled a 9 mm pistol from underneath his shirt. Several shots were fired. Officer Moore then shoved Mosley through a window. Both men fell to the ground into one of the drive-through lanes. Mosley then stood up and shot Moore while he was still on the ground.
As Mosley was walking away from the bank, a second officer spotted him and ordered him to drop his gun and get on the ground. When Mosley turned toward the officer, the officer shot him once in the wrist. Mosley dropped the gun, then complied with the officer's orders. When searching him, authorities found a holdup note.
Paramedics arrived at the scene within minutes, but Officer Moore was already dead. He had been shot four times. One bullet struck him over the top edge of his protective vest.
At Mosley's trial, a witnesses testified that after the two men fell through the window, he saw Mosley pause to look around, point the gun at Moore, and shoot him.
Mosley claimed that he walked into the bank unaware that he had a gun in his pocket. When Officer Moore asked him what was in his hand, Mosley remembered the gun and pulled it out only to "get rid of it". In the ensuing struggle, he shot the officer.
"I wasn't pulling it out thinking anything would happen," he said.
Mosley had no prior criminal convictions, but the state presented evidence of prior robberies and thefts he had committed, including the previous robbery of the same bank. At the time of the murder, he was wanted for robbing a fast-food restaurant in Mesquite five days earlier. The state also presented testimony that while in jail, Mosley once said, "it would make my day to kill another cop."
As the jury pronounced the death sentence, Mosley exploded into an obscenity-laced tirade and was forcefully removed from the courtroom.
A jury convicted Mosley of capital murder in October 1997 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in May 2000. Mosley filed a motion for a rehearing, which was granted. The Court of Criminal Appeals then reaffirmed the conviction and sentence in June 2003. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.
Mosley's execution was attended by Sheila Moore - his victim's widow - and by Garland police captain Bill Cortez. Mosley did not look at the witnesses during his execution. He declined to make a last statement. He was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.
