A North Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son inside a Bedford apartment is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection tonight at the Huntsville Unit.
Cedric Allen Ricks, 51, is set to receive a lethal injection after 6 p.m. CDT at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston.
Ricks was sentenced to death for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in Bedford, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Prosecutors said Ricks and Sanchez were arguing in their apartment when Sanchez's two sons from a previous marriage - Anthony and Marcus Figueroa - tried to break up the fight. Ricks grabbed a knife from the kitchen and began stabbing Sanchez multiple times, according to court records.
After stabbing Sanchez, Ricks turned on 8-year-old Anthony, who was stabbed and cut more than 40 times. Marcus Figueroa ran to his bedroom closet and tried to call police. After killing Anthony, Ricks resumed stabbing Marcus, who survived the attack by playing dead.
Sanchez's 12-year-old son survived 25 stab wounds and testified at trial, detailing how he feigned injury to make the attacker stop - mimicking the gurgling sound his dying brother had made. Ricks did not injure his then 9-month-old son, Isaiah, who was also present in the apartment, according to court records.
Ricks fled the scene in Sanchez's car, calling his family and confessing to the murders. He was later arrested in Oklahoma. The jury needed only 45 minutes to convict Ricks of capital murder, then deliberated approximately seven hours before deciding on a death sentence.
His attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution, arguing that prosecutors violated Ricks' constitutional rights by eliminating potential jurors on the basis of race. The Texas Attorney General's Office said court records show the prosecution's jury selection decisions were "race neutral" and that lower courts have already concluded prosecutors' actions were not discriminatory.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday denied Ricks' request for a 90-day reprieve or commutation of his death sentence.
If the execution is carried out, Ricks would be the second person put to death this year in Texas and the sixth in the country. Texas has historically carried out more executions than any other state.
A day before the 2013 stabbings, Ricks had appeared in court after having been charged with assaulting Sanchez during a previous incident.
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