Man Executed for Death of Austin Officer 32 Years Ago

As the death penalty debate wages on, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final request for a stay of execution in the case of David Lee Powell.  The execution was carried out and finished at 6:19 p.m. Tuesday, 32 years after Powell shot and killed Austin officer Ralph Ablanedo.

Days before Powell took his final breath, Austin-American Statesman reporters Tony Plohetski and Chuck Lindell talked to the death row inmate in a candid interview you can watch here.  "Of course I'd like to live," Powell begins.  He argues he is a changed man who doesn't recognize the person who shot and killed Ablanedo with an AK-47 during a traffic stop in 1978.

The death row process extended more than three decades, making Powell the longest serving death row inmate in the United States.  Opponents of the death penalty protested outside of the death row unit in Huntsville, saying capital punishment is not the answer.  Friends, family, Austin police officers, and Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, gathered to support each other.  They said Powell's execution took far too long, cost taxpayers far too much, and put family members through far too much pain.