Sometimes, lethal injection goes exactly as planned.
A Texas man convicted of stabbing and beheading three young children, including his own 2-month-old daughter, was executed Thursday evening. His long-awaited execution comes more than two decades after the unspeakable killings shocked and horrified a community along the U.S.-Mexico border.
John Allen Rubio, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, following a lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville.
Rubio did something unimaginable. He was convicted of the March 11, 2003, murders of 3-year-old Julissa Quesada, 14-month-old John E. Rubio and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio. The murders took place inside the family’s small, windowless apartment in Brownsville, Texas.
The two older children were the biological children of Rubio’s common-law wife, Angela Camacho, while Mary Jane was the couple’s daughter together.
https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/2121145155176570906?a=KYh0E1e-g9EiC-UoewM&s=20
Before his execution, Rubio thanked family members, friends and prison staff. He even stated that his years behind bars had changed him. “I’m not the same person I once was,” Rubio said, per the AP. He also apologized to Camacho’s family, acknowledging that his death wouldn’t undo his devastating crimes.
“I want to say I’m sorry to my wife’s family,” Rubio said. “I can’t change the past but I can tell you my life is going to be over. But that’s not going to make you happy.”
Rubio then made a final, chilling reference to the three children whose senseless murders had sent him to death row.
“I’m going to be with my kids in a little bit,” he said. “I’m ready to go to heaven to be with my lord and savior.”
A spiritual adviser prayed over Rubio before prison officials administered the pentobarbital, the sedative used in Texas executions. Rubio was pronounced dead 21 minutes after the injection began.
The children’s murders had shocked Brownsville, where the apartment building where the children were killed was eventually torn down. The area was later made into a park and community garden.
Court records reveal a deeply disturbed and troubled household in the months leading up to the killings.
Rubio and Camacho had struggled financially and faced intervention from Child Protective Services. The two older children had even been temporarily removed from the home before going back, after the couple completed parenting requirements. Court records state Rubio earned a living by “washing cars” and as a “prostitute.” Rubio’s mother also lived with them, and was also described as a prostitute, but she couldn’t pay her share of the rent. Rubio reportedly had a male lover who would help with groceries and rent from time to time.
He began abusing drugs and alcohol and struggled to support the family. Federal court records claim that Rubio said the children were possessed by demons, and he believed he was “chosen to save the world.” He even claimed that 3-year-old Julissa spoke in a strange voice shortly before the murders, allegedly telling him she was his grandmother.
The day of the murders, Rubio believed someone they had encountered that day somehow made the children evil. “Rubio swept an egg over Julissa and cracked it into a glass of water. Examining the glass, he determined that someone had “done something evil to Julissa,” per court documents.
Court records also state that Rubio nailed the back door shut “to keep bad spirits
from entering the apartment.” He then killed the family’s pet hamsters with a hammer and bleach, because he believed them to be possessed. He then reportedly began speaking about the anti-Christ and an impending battle between good and evil.
The most heartbreaking detail emerged during testimony from the children’s mother, Camacho, who said Julissa was desperately pleading for her life. “Papi, stop, don’t hurt me,” the little girl cried as Rubio attacked her, per Camacho. Rather than intervene, Camacho said that she held her daughter’s legs at Rubio’s direction while he stabbed and decapitated the child. Rubio later told investigators that Julissa had also begged her mother to make him stop. It’s unspeakable.
Court documents revealed he also forced Camacho to have intercourse after the murders, threatening that he’d have his friends come and gang assault her if she didn’t comply.
His defense attorneys argued that he suffered from severe mental illness and was legally insane when he committed the murders. Defense experts diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, but the prosecution’s own experts disagreed. They argued that Rubio’s actions were driven by financial woes, including his fear of losing their food stamps and government assistance. The day before the murders, Rubio was informed by a hospital that they couldn’t provide the necessary Social Security records to the government to fix the issue regarding their government assistance. He also claimed his wallet was stolen and that he had the rent money that was due the next day.
Rubio’s first capital murder conviction was actually overturned in 2007 after an appeals court determined that statements made by Camacho had been improperly admitted into evidence. He was tried again in 2010, when another jury rejected his insanity defense and sentenced him to death.
Camacho pleaded guilty to her role in the killings and received three life sentences. She remains incarcerated. But Rubio continued fighting his execution through multiple appeals.
The Texas Tribune reported that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected his latest argument on Nov. 5, just a week before his scheduled execution. His attorneys had said that a prosecution psychiatric expert gave false testimony about Rubio’s mental health history.
Rubio also joined another death row inmate in an unsuccessful lawsuit over Texas’ use of pentobarbital, alleging problems with the state’s supply of the lethal injection drug.
A federal court opinion detailed the family’s troubled history and the competing arguments about Rubio’s mental state. His execution was the eighth carried out in Texas this year.
It also came just hours after Oklahoma executed James Pavatt, 73, for the 2001 murder of his girlfriend’s estranged husband.
For Brownsville, Rubio’s execution closed another chapter in a case that had haunted the community for more than 23 years.
The post Texas Man Executed for Beheading 3 Children, Including His Own 2-Month-Old Baby appeared first on LAmag.
