After the Texas' game warden shootout, James Freeman is scheduled to face the death row in the busy death penalty state of Texas this week. He is set to be executed on Wednesday in Huntsville.
According to the Associated Press, Freeman, 34, is the second man to be executed this year. He is one of the eight Texas prisoners, who is bound to be put to death through lethal injection in the upcoming months. After Freeman, another prisoner is scheduled to face the death penalty in two weeks. On Monday, Freeman's request for clemency was rejected by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. On Jan. 11, The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to review his case.
"This is a troublesome case," said Don Vernay, Freeman's lawyer. "He never did anything wrong in his life other than a DUI. This kid was not a future danger, he was just a loser. ... He got drunk and got in a shooting."
Vernay claimed that Freeman deserves a second chance after the Texas' game warden shootout. He insisted that his client had no previous criminal records, unlike the other offenders that commit a capital murder. A psychologist who examined Freeman claimed that he drank nine beers in his home and then he decided to roam with his truck to hunt for birds and snakes that night, which he usually does. Stanley Schneider, a trial lawyer, said in court that the unemployed welder tried to commit "suicide by cop," News Yahoo reports.
On the night of March 17, 2007, the Texas' game warden shootout started when Freeman was caught illegally hunting in Southeast Texas' Wharton County. Justin Hurst, a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden spotted him. Freeman led a chase among cops for 90 minutes before he started firing to officers. As KSL.com reported, Hurst was fatally wounded. Hurst is among the 18 officers, who died since game wardens like him started implementing the conservation laws.
Freeman will be executed in the state that carries out death penalty more than any other state. Last year, it sets the record of lethally injecting 13 criminals, which accounts for about half of the 28 death penalties given in the whole United States. Do you think Freeman deserves to be heard after the Texas'game warden shootout?
