Pablo Melendez was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of Michael Sanders
According to court documents Pablo Melendez would approach two men and would demand money. When the men hesitated Melendez would open fire hitting both men with Michael Sanders dying from his injuries
Pablo Melendez would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Pablo Melendez Now
SID Number: 05060609
TDCJ Number: 00999192
Name: MELENDEZ,PABLO JR
Race: H
Gender: M
Age: 47
Maximum Sentence Date: DEATH ROW CUMULATIVE OFFENSES
Current Facility: POLUNSKY
Pablo Melendez Case
On the evening of September 1, 1994, [Melendez], who was eighteen years old, visited and drank beer with a group of friends in the driveway of a Fort Worth residence. At approximately 11:30 p.m., [Melendez] stated, in a voice loud enough for most to hear, his intention to rob “some mother fucker,” and he walked away alone.
At that same time, in the nearby parking lot of a self-service wash, the two victims in this case had parked their pick-up truck parallel to a walk-up pay phone. They had been there a number of minutes when one of them, Tommie Joe Seagraves, noticed [Melendez] walking up behind the truck. As Seagraves looked on, he warned the truck’s driver, Michael Sanders, of [Melendez’s] approach. [Melendez] positioned himself about fifteen feet from the driver’s side door. Without any warning or even a word being spoken, [Melendez] turned and fired one shot into the cab of the vehicle, and it struck Seagraves in the neck. [Melendez] then announced his first demand that Sanders hand over all the money in the truck. As Sanders pleaded with [Melendez] not to shoot him, he was ordered from the vehicle, then forced to walk toward [Melendez] and hand over the money. Relieved of his money, Sanders turned and started back toward the truck where Seagraves still sat wounded and unable to move. Before he reached the vehicle, [Melendez] fired again and struck Sanders in the back. In rapid succession, [Melendez] fired three more shots and all struck Sanders in either the back or the arm. Sanders finally toppled forward through the open driver’s side door and came to rest in the floorboard of the truck with his head resting against Seagraves’ leg. As Sanders lay dying, [Melendez] approached, reached through the cab with the gun in hand, placed the muzzle next to Seagraves’s forehead, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The gun was empty, so [Melendez] simply turned and walked back in the direction he had come. In the end, Seagraves received two bullet wounds; the initial wound when [Melendez] first approached and a second wound received from a bullet that had passed through the decedent and struck Seagraves’s arm. Sanders was shout four times and died within minutes.