Ricky Rector Executed For Arkansas Officer Murder

Ricky Rector was executed by the State of Arkansas for the murder of Officer Robert Martin

According to court documents Ricky Rector would murder a man during a robbery at a restaurant. Three days later Officer Robert Martin would arrange for Rector to surrender however when the Officer would show up he would be fatally shot

Ricky Rector would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Ricky Rector would be executed by lethal injection on January 24 1992

Ricky Rector Photos

Ricky Rector - Arkansas

Ricky Rector Case

The first stage of the trial was brief, the facts being essentially undisputed. On March 22, 1981, Rector, age 28, shot and killed Arthur Criswell at a restaurant in Conway and wounded two other men. For two days the police searched for Rector.

On the afternoon of March 24 Officer Martin, in uniform, went to the home of Rector’s mother, in Conway. While the officer was talking to Rector’s mother, sister, and nephew, Rector entered the back of the house and came into the living room. Rector and the officer knew each other and may have exchanged a few words of greeting. Within a few minutes Rector, who had not joined in the conversation, drew a pistol and shot Officer Martin twice.

Rector left by the back door and said to his nephew’s wife, whom he met crossing the yard: “I just shot that cop.” A few moments later Rector attempted suicide by shooting himself in the forehead, the bullet entering the front part of his brain. That evening the wound was surgically cleaned and closed.

https://law.justia.com/cases/arkansas/supreme-court/1983/cr-83-39-1.html

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