A Texas man was executed on Wednesday evening for the brutal 2013 stabbing deaths of his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son. During the execution, he offered heartfelt apologies to the woman’s older son, who survived the attack and was present to witness the event.
At the age of 51, Cedric Ricks was declared dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT after receiving a lethal injection of pentobarbital at the Huntsville state penitentiary.
Ricks had been sentenced to death for the murders of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her young son, Anthony Figueroa, which took place in their Bedford apartment, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
In the same violent incident, Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, suffered 25 stab wounds but managed to survive by pretending to be dead.
Throughout the execution, Ricks repeatedly expressed remorse to the seven family members of the victims who were present, particularly addressing Marcus Figueroa.
Marcus, who had lived through the harrowing ordeal, watched the execution impassively from behind a glass window, just feet away from where Ricks lay on a gurney.
On the back of Marcus Figueroa’s neck, visible above his shirt collar and below his hair, were several scars apparently from the attack.
“I want to say that I’m sorry for taking Roxann and Anthony from y’all,” Ricks said when asked by the warden if he had a final statement. “I’m glad to be able to speak to tell y’all that face to face.”
He said he hoped one day that his victims’ relatives would be able to find it in their hearts to forgive him. He also addressed Marcus Figueroa, saying he hated that he took his mother and brother away.
“I always thought about you and I’m sorry that I took your mom and your brother away. I hate that you had to experience that, I just can’t imagine, but I’m truly sorry for what I’ve done, and I wish y’all peace and joy as much as you can but I’m sorry, that’s all I can say,” Ricks said. His voice cracking and tear forming in his eye, he added that he hoped to find the woman and her son in heaven and “tell them I’m sorry face to face.”
“I hope y’all go in peace. I really do. I’m sorry,” he concluded before the injection began.
As the drug took effect, he took 19 quick breaths, then made 10 snoring sounds, followed seconds later by some intermittent gurgles. Then all movement and sounds stopped, and he was pronounced dead 30 minutes after the injection had begun.
Among the other witnesses were Roxann Sanchez’s stepfather and brother, and Anthony Figueroa’s father, brother and grandmother.
None of them showed any emotion in the death chamber witness area and declined to speak with reporters afterward.
The night of the killings, prosecutors said, Ricks and Sanchez had been arguing in their apartment when the woman’s two sons from a previous marriage tried to break up the fight.
Ricks grabbed a knife from the kitchen and began to stab Sanchez multiple times, court records showed.
Marcus Figueroa ran to his bedroom closet and tried to call police. After killing Anthony Figueroa, Ricks began stabbing Marcus Figueroa, who played dead until his attacker left the apartment, authorities said.
Ricks did not harm his own then-9-month-old son Isaiah, according to court records. Ricks fled and was later arrested in Oklahoma.
At his ensuing capital murder trial, Ricks testified that he had anger issues and had been defending himself against the two boys after they had come to their mother’s defense.
“Explaining my rage, I was upset. Things happen. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I wish I could bring them back, like, right now,” said Ricks, who also apologized at the time for the killings.
A day before the stabbings, Ricks had appeared in court after having been charged with assaulting Sanchez during a previous incident.
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court rejected Ricks’ final appeal without comment. His attorneys had argued that prosecutors violated Ricks’ constitutional rights by eliminating potential jurors on the basis of race while selecting the trial panel.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office said court records show the prosecution’s jury selection decisions were “race neutral” and lower courts have already concluded that prosecutors’ actions were not discriminatory.
And earlier this week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Ricks’ request to commute his death sentence or grant a 90-day reprieve.
Ricks was the second person put to death this year in Texas and the sixth in the country. Texas has historically held more executions than any other state.
Charles “Sonny” Burton, a 75-year-old inmate in Alabama, had been scheduled for execution Thursday. But Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday commuted his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Burton had been condemned for a fatal shooting during a 1991 robbery at an auto parts store even though he didn’t pull the trigger.
