Demarco McCullum was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Michael Burzinski
According to court documents Demarco McCullum and three accomplices were responsible for a series of shootings and robbery. The group would see Michael Burzinski leave a club and would attack forcing the man into his vehicle. Michael Burzinski was driven to a remote location where he was fatally shot
Demarco McCullum was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Demarco McCullum would be executed by lethal injection on November 9 2004
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When Was Demarco McCullum Executed
Demarco McCullum was executed on November 9 2004
Demarco McCullum Case
A former football hero and celebrity at Aldine High School was executed Tuesday evening for killing a man 10 years ago. Seconds before he was executed, Demarco McCullum said he loved his mother and expected to see her in heaven. “I just want to say to all those who supported me over the years that I appreciate it and love you,” McCullum said. “I just want to let my mom know that I love her and I will see her in heaven.”
McCullum, 30, was convicted of capital murder for the July 29, 1994, robbery and shooting death of Michael Burzinski, 29.
Burzinski’s family members, who witnessed the execution, said they were relieved the sentence was completed. “I’m sure he was nervous. I’m sure he was afraid and possibly it gave him a slight taste of what our Michael went through 10 years ago,” Kay Burzinski, Burzinski’s mother, said after McCullum died. She said the execution did not bring closure, that closure and recovering from the loss of a loved one to violent crime was difficult. She said she felt her son was with her before the execution. “When I looked out at the beautiful sunset about 5:30, I had the feeling my son was with me,” she said.
A doctor pronounced McCullum dead at 6:17 p.m. He was the sixth inmate who was convicted in Harris County and the 21st in the state to be executed this year. Today, another Harris County inmate, Freddie McWilliams, is scheduled to be executed for the September 1996 murder of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a 39-year-old meat-truck driver. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied McCullum’s request for clemency Friday. His appeals also were denied. He asked that his body be donated to science.
McCullum seemed poised for success in 1994, the year he graduated from Aldine. He was the Mustangs’ starting quarterback, won a football scholarship to Tyler Junior College and was admired by teachers and coaches for his courteous, respectful behavior. Friendly and sociable, he was voted Mr. Aldine by his classmates. But he had a dark side.
Prosecutors said he took part in a violent crime rampage in the summer of that year. In addition to killing Burzinski, they said, he attacked several people and shot a man in the spine, paralyzing him. McCullum denied that shooting.
McCullum and three Aldine teammates — Terrance Perro, 29, Decedrick Gainous, 29, and Chris Lewis, 27 — attacked Burzinski as he left a Montrose bar July 29. Police said they beat Burzinski and drove him in his car to a bank, where they used his ATM card to withdraw $400 from his account. Then they drove to a secluded area in north Harris County off Interstate 45 and pulled him from the car. Perro said he begged McCullum not to shoot Burzinski. He said McCullum walked with Burzinski away from the car. Then he heard one shot.
Prosecutors said Burzinski appeared to have been shot once in the back of the head. In an interview from death row a few days before he was put to death, McCullum said killing Burzinski was wrong, but he couldn’t stop himself from doing it. It was “like a ball going downhill so far, it just goes,” he said. He didn’t consider the consequences of his actions.
Perro pleaded no contest to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, and Gainous was convicted of capital murder. Both are serving life sentences. Lewis pleaded no contest to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was recently paroled.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2893346
