John Allen Rubio in 2003 (Texas Department of Criminal Justice photo)
BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Texas death row inmate John Allen Rubio is scheduled to be executed Thursday by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the 2003 murder of his three young children in Brownsville.
Death Row execution scheduled
The backstory:
Rubio, 45, was convicted of capital murder for the decapitation killings of 3-year-old Julissa Quesada, 14-month-old John E. Rubio, and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio. Authorities said Rubio told investigators after his arrest that he believed the children were demonically possessed.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals recently rejected a motion by Rubio’s defense attorneys requesting a stay of execution. The ruling followed an October decision by a state district judge who found Rubio legally competent to face execution after reviewing psychiatric evaluation findings.
Texas court rejects death row inmate Melissa Lucio’s bid for new trial
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected Melissa Lucio’s latest effort to overturn her 2008 conviction and death sentence for the death of her 2-year-old daughter, ruling that she failed to show prosecutors withheld evidence that could have changed the outcome of her trial.
Rubio was originally convicted and sentenced to death in 2003, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction in 2007. He was retried in 2010, found guilty a second time of capital murder, and again sentenced to death.
His common-law wife and the children’s mother, Angela Camacho, was also convicted for her role in the killings and is serving three consecutive life terms.
If carried out, Rubio’s execution will take place at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit.
The Source: Information in this article is from the Texas Deparment of Criminal Justice, court documents, and previous reporting.