The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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March 31, 2010

Man executed for ’98 Houston murder

By Mary Rainwater Staff Reporter

HUNTSVILLE — Condemned inmate Franklin DeWayne Alix was executed Tuesday for the robbery-slaying of a Houston man in 1998, making his the fifth execution in the state so far this year.

Alix, 34, received lethal injection for the slaying of 23-year-old Eric Bridgeford, who interrupted Alix as he robbed the apartment of Bridgeford’s sister. The sister also had been abducted and raped in what authorities said was part of a six-month series of crimes by Alix more than 11 years ago.

“I am not the monster they made me out to be,” Alix said in his last statement to the victims’ family. “I made lots of mistakes that took your son. I messed up, made poor choices.

“I’ll take it to the grave, I will be at peace,” he added. “It is what it is. I got peace in my heart.”

Alix was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m., just seven minutes after the lethal drugs entered his system.

Among those witnessing the execution were Bridgeford’s sister and her mother. Others in the death chamber’s witness area were the father and sister of Christopher Thomas, another man authorities said was killed by Alix the day after Bridgeford was slain.

“Our lives are forever changed but we need to go on,” Janey Bridgeford said after watching her son’s killer die. “It was hard. I didn’t take pleasure in that. I have forgiven him.

“I didn’t think I’d get a verbal apology from him. I understood he may not come clean with everything.”

That message of forgiveness was echoed by Thomas’ sister Fernellifa Jolivette.

“I have to accept it and I have to forgive in order for me to find peace within myself and a place in Heaven,” Thomas’ sister Fernellifa Jolivette said afterward. “If you don’t, it will consume you. It will eat you alive ... In the end, he has God to answer to.”

In all, authorities linked Alix to at least four killings. Alix’s lawyer, Robert Rosenberg, said court appeals to stop the execution were exhausted.

According to trial testimony, Alix abducted Bridgeford’s sister Jan. 3, 1998, forced her into the trunk of a car, drove around and raped her, then brought her home. As he was ransacking her apartment, Bridgeford came in, saw Alix with a gun and ran off but was shot in the back. Alix fled and was arrested a few days later.

Scheduled to die next, on April 22, is William Berkley, 31, condemned for the March 2000 abduction, robbery, rape and fatal shooting of 18-year-old Sophia Martinez, whose body was found outside El Paso.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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