A Texas inmate was executed Tuesday evening for the death of a corrections officer during a short-lived escape from prison six years ago, reports the Associated Press. Jerry Martin, 43, had requested that no additional appeals be filed on his behalf, clearing the way for his lethal injection. From the death chamber gurney in Huntsville, Martin told relatives of the slain corrections officer that he was sorry. “I wish I could take it back, but I can’t,” he said.
Martin was serving a 50-year sentence for attempted capital murder when he and another inmate, John Falk Jr., broke away from a work detail outside a Huntsville-area prison on Sept. 24, 2007. In the ensuing chaos and gunfire, a 59-year-old prison officer on horseback, Susan Canfield, suffered fatal head injuries. Martin and Falk sped away in a stolen pickup truck but were quickly captured. Martin’s execution was the 16th and last scheduled for this year in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state.