Craig Ogan was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Officer James Boswell
According to court documents Craig Ogan was working as a DEA informant. On the day of the murder Ogan would walk over to a police car and asked for help. When Officer James Boswell asked him to wait Ogan would fatally shoot him
Craig Ogan would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Craig Ogan would be executed by lethal injection on November 19 2002
Craig Ogan Photos
Craig Ogan FAQ
When Was Craig Ogan Executed
Craig Ogan was executed on November 19 2002
Craig Ogan Case
Craig Ogan claimed he was a successful informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration. He also claimed he was a genius. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office and 12 jurors said he is nothing but a cop killer. For that reason, he was executed Tuesday evening at the Huntsville “Walls” Unit.
Defiant until the end, Ogan claimed the “real crimes” in his case were “the attempted murder and intimidation of a federal drug informant by Officer James Boswell and Officer Clay Morgan Gaines.” Ogan, who was a DEA informant — but never hired by the federal government — shot Boswell on the night of Dec. 8, 1989 after Boswell did not respond to his demands for assistance quickly enough. Even during his final statement, Ogan claimed he was acting in self-defense.
“I acted in self-defense and reflex in the face of a police officer who was out of control,” he said. “The people responsible for killing me will have blood on their hands for an unprovoked murder.” During his final statement, which lasted several minutes, Ogan repeatedly spoke of “physical evidence” and “possible motives” Boswell might have had to hurt him. While speaking about Boswell’s dealing’s with “enemy agents,” Ogan suddenly snorted, gasped twice and was silent. At 7:05 p.m., the lethal dose of chemicals had been started. “Very good,” commented one unidentified witness.
Ogan was pronounced dead at 7:13 p.m. His execution, which had been scheduled to take place an hour earlier, had been delayed while two final appeals were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. One of those appeals claimed Ogan — who boasted of his high IQ — could not be executed because he was mentally retarded.
Boswell’s mother, three brothers and a sister remained silent during Ogan’s final statement, but spoke briefly to reporters afterward. “He didn’t say anything he hadn’t already said,” Martha Boswell, the slain officer’s mother, said. “It didn’t surprise me; I was OK with it.” Martha Boswell called Ogan “Jim’s judge, jury and executioner, without a second thought.” “(Tuesday) is the night justice was finally served, plain and simple,” she said. “It’s way past time.”
Boswell’s father Sonny, confined to a wheelchair, waited outside the “Walls” Unit with nearly 80 motorcyclists who came to show their support for the Boswell family. Most of the motorcyclists were members of the Houston Police Department or Harris County Sheriff’s Department and included Gainer, Boswell’s partner. “It’s time. It’s just time,” Gainer said. “I want justice to be done,” Sonny Boswell said as he clutched a picture of his son. “The State of Texas pronounced sentence on him, and I think it should be carried out.”
Originally from Missouri, Ogan was described as a “marginally successful” DEA informant who had moved to Houston after his cover had been blown. After he moved to Houston, he ignored warnings from DEA agents to keep a low profile and became known on the city’s drug scene. The night of the murder Ogan was moved from his apartment to a motel by DEA agents after a drug dealer put a gun to his head and accused him of being a “DEA snitch.”
Ogan became enraged when he discovered the motel lacked heat and long distance telephone service. He went to the motel’s office to complain, yelling at the clerk and kicking a door in frustration. When he stormed out of the office, he noticed a police cruiser nearby. The vehicle was driven by Boswell and Gainer.
Ogan walked over to the cruiser and rapped on Boswell’s window. When Boswell asked Ogan what he wanted, he said, “DEA dropped me off here, and I’m cold.” Since the officers were in the middle of a traffic stop, Gainer later testified, Boswell asked Ogan to step back until they were done. Ogan, making what he describes as a “polite request,” knocked on the window a second time and continued to ramble about his DEA work. Boswell told him again to back away, and when he refused, Boswell said, “You need to get out of here if you’re not willing to step out of the way and wait. You either need to leave or you’re going to jail.” Boswell then got out of the squad car and unlocked the back door of the vehicle. Suddenly, Gainer testified, Ogan grabbed Boswell’s gun, shot him once in the head, and fled. Gainer then shot Ogan in the back and arrested him. Boswell was dead before his body hit the ground.
Ogan claimed Boswell was “in an insane rage” when he got out of the car. “I saw his gun clear the holster and/or come into view,” he wrote. “Reflex took over … Then I saw the gun in my hand as the horrible realization crept over me. I had just shot a policeman in the head.” Ogan used claims of self-defense during his trial and said he feared for his life when he shot Boswell. A Harris County jury did not buy into Ogan’s story, convicting him of capital murder on June 25, 1990, and sentencing him to death four days later.
While incarcerated at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Ogan wrote a remarkable, rambling diatribe about his case — much of which he repeated in his final statement — and posted it on the Internet. In it, he claimed the state of Texas would commit “premeditated mass murder” by executing him and halting his ability to procreate. “Those future Ogans … for anyone knows (may) be blessed with the intellect of an Albert Einstein or George Washington Carver,” Ogan wrote. “Haven’t they a right to life, regardless?”
Craig Ogan went on to claim Boswell and Gainer committed “federal felonies,” that Gainer “via his fabrication and perjury, has thus far avoided imprisonment,” and that he was preparing to accept “an offer of immediate employment” with the CIA when he shot Boswell. In the end, none of Ogan’s claims were able to reverse his sentence. As the execution witnesses began to filter out of the “Walls” Unit, the motorcyclists wordlessly turned and drove off into the night.