HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KHOU) - A man convicted of killing a Texas game warden became the second person executed by the state of Texas this year on Wednesday.
James Freeman, 35, was killed by lethal injection just after 6 p.m. inside the Walls Unit, more than nine years after he fatally shot Justin Hurst.
Freeman was illegally hunting in Wharton County the evening of March 17, 2007, when a game warden stopped to cite him. Freeman fled the scene and led police on a 90-minute chase before bailing from his truck and firing on officers with a pistol. After he emptied his clip, Freeman pulled out an assault rifle and fatally shot Hurst. It was Hurst's 34th birthday.
Freeman was shot four times. More than 100 game wardens with the Texas Parks and Wildlife stood outside the Walls Unit in support of Hurst Wednesday evening.
James Clark, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said Freeman appeared unemotional in the hours before he was executed.
“He didn’t have anything to say, other than yes and no,” Clark said.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month refused to review Freeman's case. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles declined a clemency petition for Freeman. Freeman is the second death row inmate executed in Texas in the past two weeks.
Richard Masterson, who was convicted of strangling a professional female impersonator, was killed by lethal injection Jan. 20 inside the Walls Unit.
Texas carries out capital punishment more than any other state.
