Robert Drew was executed by the State of Texas for a murder that took place following a fight
According to court documents Robert Drew and Earnest Purleauski were involved in a fight with a seventeen year old Jeffrey Mays. Following the fight Robert Drew would fatally stab Jeffrey Mays and took his possessions
Earnest Purleauski would quickly sign a plea deal and testify against Robert Drew
Robert Drew would be convicted and sentenced to death
Earnest Purleauski would later recant his testimony and told investigators that he alone killed Robert Drew
Robert Drew would be executed by lethal injection on August 2 1994
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When was Robert Drew executed
Robert Drew was executed on August 2 1994
How was Robert Drew executed
Robert Drew was executed by lethal injection
Robert Drew Case
Texas inmate Robert Drew was executed by lethal injection Tuesday after a the Supreme Court and a Houston federal judge refused to halt his execution for the 1983 stabbing death of a 17-year-old. In his last words, Drew denounced the death penalty and urged four friends attending the execution to ‘keep up the fight, the death penalty is legal murder. They’ve taken the life of an innocent man.’ Drew’s case has attracted national attention because of his claims that he has new evidence that proves his innocence and his sentencing order on which a Houston judge drew a ‘Happy Face’ next to his signature.
Drew was convicted of the 1983 stabbing death of Jeffrey Mays, a 17- year-old from Alabama who agreed to give Drew and Ernest Puralewski a ride in exchange for gas money. Mays was slain after they arrived in the Houston area. Puralewski was sentenced to life in prison after testifying that Drew carried out the killing, but recanted his story 101 days after Drew was sentenced to death. Texas law states that new evidence must be presented within 30 days of sentencing, so Puralewski’s recantation could not be used in his appeals. After the execution, Drew’s lawyer Ron Kuby read a statement from Drew in which he again proclaimed his innoncence. ‘Since the truth of my innocence has come to light the state has tried twice as hard to execute me because the knew their case would crumble under their feet,’ the statement said
In Houston, three death penalty protesters gathered outside the district attorney’s offices and criticized Gov. Ann Richards for not immediately granting Drew a 30-day reprieve. ‘This should not have been a capital case,’ said Jimmy Dunne of Houston and chairman of the Death Penalty Education Project. ‘We believe he’s innocent.’ In 1992, State District Judge Charles Hearn of Houston sketched a ‘Happy Face’ on Drew’s execution order, explaining that he did so because it symbolized his Christian faith. State and federal courts said the drawing did not violate Drew’s constitutional rights and rejected his appeals. In yet another unusual twist to Drew’s case, convicted murderer Doug Mason last week offered from his Vermont prison cell to be executed in the place of Drew, also a Vermonter.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/08/02/Robert-Drew-executed-in-Texas/8130775800000/