Martin Gurule

Martin Edward Gurule (born November 7, 1969 , † November 27, 1998 ) was an American prisoner who escaped from Texas death row in 1998. It was the first successful Texas death row prison break in over 64 years when Raymond Hamilton was freed by Bonnie and Clyde on January 16, 1934 .

Life

Martin Gurule belonged to the Hispanic ethnic group and grew up with his father and grandmother, as his mother died shortly before he was one year old. He attended Ray High School in Corpus Christi and then cared for mentally retarded patients at Corpus Christi State School , a facility of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation . His 23-year-old friend Malisa Smith worked as a cashier at the local U&I restaurant .

crime

Late one night on October 12, 1992, Gurule entered the U&I restaurant and shot co-owner Mike Piperis and employee Anthony Staton. Gurule testified that Piperis had ordered him into the restaurant at night because he wanted to confront him on charges of tax evasion. He was then attacked by the men and only defended himself to save his life.

However, the investigators disagreed with this version. According to their account, Staton was sitting in an armchair when he was killed by a shot in the back of the head. Piperis was kneeling against a chair in front of an open safe and had also been shot in the back of the head. The investigation also revealed that Gurule's friend Malisa Smith had been fired the week prior to the crime. The prosecution therefore assumed that Smith, together with her boyfriend, had planned the robbery on her former employer. To make matters worse, Gurule's previous convictions included credit card fraud, theft, and two bank robberies in 1986. District Attorney Carlos Valdéz called it a "crime built up over the years".

In July 1993, Martin Gurule was sentenced to death for premeditated murder and his girlfriend was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was transferred to Ellis Unit , the only Texas prison with death row for male prisoners. This facility is located in a community free area in Walker County . There Martin Gurule was selected for the so-called “Work Capable Program” together with around 150 other death row inmates during his imprisonment. This was an experimental program in which selected death row inmates were allowed to move relatively freely outside of their cells, maintain contact with other inmates and carry out supervised work within the detention center. Less than a year before he fled, his appeal against his death penalty had been denied.

Escape

Martin Gurule and six other death row inmates were hiding in a recreation room on November 26, 1998 during a festive Thanksgiving dinner . They had prepared the beds in their cells beforehand with pillows and sheets so that the guards would not suspect anything through visual checks. They had also darkened their white prison clothes with felt-tip pens to make them harder to see at night. After the cells closed, they broke open a door to the leisure yard, worked their way through a separating fence and got to the main yard. From there they climbed the roof of a building and waited for darkness to come.

Shortly after midnight, however, they were recognized by a guard on their way down, who immediately sounded the alarm and opened fire, whereupon six of the inmates surrendered. Gurule, however, ran around 30 meters over open ground, was able to overcome a barbed wire fence, ran again around 20 meters across a clearing, overcame another barbed wire fence and disappeared into the darkness, although a guard fired at least 18 aimed shots at him.

In the subsequent manhunt, more than 500 officials from surrounding cities and counties were deployed, supported by sniffer dogs, boats and helicopters. Governor George W. Bush also brought in the Texas Rangers and a reward of $ 5,000 was offered for clues leading to his capture.

Seven days later, two anglers found his body in a watercourse on the Trinity River near Huntsville . He was wearing layers of clothing and had magazines and cardboard wrapped around his body to help him get over the barbed wire. A gunshot wound to the back was discovered during the autopsy , but the cause of death was found to be drowning . In addition, the time of death was backdated to November 27, which means that Gurule was killed the same night he fled. The police suspect that he jumped into the river to cover up traces, but probably drowned there from exhaustion, not least from the gunshot wound.

Because of Gurule's successful escape, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice moved Texas Death Row from March 1999 to the Allan B. Polunsky Unit ( Terrell Unit until 2001 ), a higher security detention center in West Livingston , Polk County . The Work Capable Program has been discontinued.

Accomplices

Eric Dewayne Cathey, 27, on death row since 1997
James Edward Clayton, 32, executed May 25, 2000
Henry Earl Dunn, 24, executed on February 6, 2003
Gustavo García, 26, executed on February 17, 2016
Howard Guidry, 22, on death row since 1997
Ponchai Wilkerson, 27, executed March 14, 2000

See also

Briley Brothers , escaped with four other inmates on Virginia death row, largest death row outbreak in US history.
Robert Fieldmore Lewis , only inmate escaped from Florida death row.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ USA: Texas executes 43-year-old robbery. In: Spiegel Online . February 17, 2016, accessed February 15, 2017 .

personal data
SURNAME	Gurule, Martin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gurule, Martin Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American convict
DATE OF BIRTH	November 7, 1969
DATE OF DEATH	November 27, 1998

[1] USA: Texas executes 43-year-old robbery. In: Spiegel Online . February 17, 2016, accessed February 15, 2017 .