Texas executes rap fan who killed police officer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (Reuters) – Texas executed a man on
Thursday who killed a police officer and blamed it on rap music
that he said goaded him into violence.

Ronald Ray Howard, 32, was the 14th person put to death
this year in Texas, the nation’s leading death penalty state.

He was condemned for the shooting death of Texas Department
of Public Safety Trooper Bill Davidson on April 11, 1992.

Howard was driving a stolen vehicle and shot Davidson in
the neck when the officer pulled him over and approached his
car.

At his trial, Howard’s lawyers argued the rap music he
listened to for hours, particularly that of late rapper Tupac
Shakur, carried a message of violence toward police that
influenced Howard’s behavior.

In a final statement while strapped to a gurney in the
Texas death chamber, Howard said he hoped his execution “helps
a little” for Davidson’s family, but added, “I do not know
how.”

“I love you all very much. Thank you very much,” he said.

Howard did not request a last meal.

He was the 350th person executed in Texas since the state
resumed the death penalty in 1982, six years after a U.S.
Supreme Court decision lifted a national ban on capital
punishment.

Nine more executions are scheduled in Texas this year.