Texas executes man for bludgeoning mechanic to death in robbery

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas on Thursday executed Gregory Russeau, 45, who was convicted of killing a 75-year-old auto mechanic in a 2001 robbery and driving off from the crime scene in the victim's car.

Russeau was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m. CDT after receiving a lethal injection at the state's death chamber in Huntsville, a prisons official said.

"I would like to thank my family and friends for what y’all have done for me. Thank you for being here with me that I do not have to transition alone. I have peace," Russeau was quoted as saying in his last statement by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Russeau was convicted of bludgeoning James Syvertson to death with a hammer at Syvertson's automobile repair garage in Tyler, about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Dallas.

Police apprehended Russeau, who was on parole at the time, while he was driving a car that belonged to Syvertson. Investigators found Russeau's fingerprints at the crime scene and DNA evidence that linked him to the murder, the Texas attorney general's office said.

A previous death sentence for Russeau was overturned on appeal in 2005 when a court ruled his right to confront witnesses at trial had been violated. A jury in 2007 resentenced him to death.

The execution was the 527th in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Since then, Texas has accounted for 37 percent of all executions in the United States.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler)