The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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January 2, 2009

7 executions set for January

By Kristin Edwards

Seven executions to be carried out at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Walls Unit have been scheduled throughout the month of January.

The first execution, that of Curtis Moore, is scheduled for Jan. 14, and the final of the six executions to follow is scheduled for Jan. 29.

Moore, 40, was received from Tarrant County. According to their official Web site, TDCJ is awaiting information on the details of his offenses.

Jose Garcia Briseno, scheduled for execution on Jan. 15, was 33 years old on the date of his offense.

According to TDCJ, Briseno was convicted of the 1991 murder of Dimmit County Sheriff Ben Murray.

Following a violent struggle with Briseno and his accomplice, Alberto Gonzalez, Murray was found dead in his home with numerous stab wounds. The wounds were inflicted with a butcher knife found buried in his chest.

Briseno and Gonzalez reportedly killed Murray to avenge previous arrests he made against them.

Frank Moore, who is scheduled to be executed on Jan. 21, was 34 at the time of his alleged crimes.

In 1996, Moore was convicted of the January 1994 shooting deaths of 23-year-old Samuel Boyd and 15-year-old Patrick Clark.

Prior to his arrest, Moore reportedly threatened to kill family members of witnesses if they cooperated with police investigation.

Frank Perkins, 53, is scheduled for execution on Jan. 22.

According to the TDCJ Web site, Perkins — who at the time of the December 2000 offense was 45 years old — strangled his 64-year-old step-mother, resulting in her death. Her body was found in the trunk of her vehicle in a parking garage.

On Jan. 27, 37-year-old Lary Swearingen is scheduled to be executed for kidnapping and strangling a 19-year-old in 1998.

Virgil Martinez, scheduled for execution on Jan. 28, was 28 at the time of his 1996 offense.

Martinez was convicted in Harris County of fatally shooting a 3-year-old female, a 6-year-old male, an 18-year-old male and a 27-year-old female.

Finally, 46-year-old Ricardo Ortiz is scheduled for execution on Jan. 29.

At 34, while confined in El Paso, Ortiz and two other inmates were cooking heroine.

The subject made a triple dose of heroin and injected it into a 22-year-old Hispanic male. The victim died of a heroin overdose and was found when officers did a count in the cellblock.



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