Trooper Jose Cavazos




Facts of Crime: On February 24, 1993, in Dale City, shot Jose Cavazos, a state trooper who had stopped his uncle’s car for speeding

Victim: Jose M. Cavazos

Time of Death: 9:04 p.m.

Manner of execution: Lethal Injection

Final Statement: "Sorry for everything I've done to the Cavazos family, my family, to everyone around the world--and I just thank the Cavazos family for what they've tried to do for me. I love them."





March 17, 2000

Trooper's Killer Executed in Virginia

JARRATT, Va., March 16 (AP) -- Lonnie Weeks Jr. was executed tonight for killing a Virginia state trooper who had stopped the stolen car he was driving on Interstate 95 in Prince William County.

Weeks, 27, shot Trooper Jose M. Cavazos on Feb. 24, 1993, in Dale City. He was executed by injection and pronounced dead at 9:04 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center.

In a final statement, Weeks said he was sorry "for everything I've done to the Cavazos family, my family, to everyone around the world--and I just thank the Cavazos family for what they've tried to do for me. I love them."

About two hours before the execution, Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R) rejected Weeks's request for clemency. Gilmore noted that Weeks was on probation when he fired at least six shots at Cavazos and that Weeks admitted the shooting.

In an interview Wednesday, Weeks said he was ready to die. "I've been ready for a long time. The Lord has given me unbelievable strength, and it feels good to be so strong. I'm sitting here right in the face of death and I'm going head-up with it, and I'm not afraid."

His execution was opposed by the trooper's grown children, one of whom spoke with Weeks a week ago.

Weeks fired at least six 9mm, hollow-point "man-stopper" bullets at Cavazos, who was wearing a protective vest. Two of the bullets entered the trooper's body beside the shoulder straps of the vest, killing him.

Weeks had been scheduled to be executed in September, but with about two hours remaining, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the execution to hear Weeks's appeal, which argued that the jury was confused by the sentencing instructions.

The jury twice asked the judge for further instructions, and one juror said after the verdict that she didn't know she could opt for a lesser sentence. In fact, all juries are free to recommend life in prison if they believe a death sentence is unwarranted.

In a 5 to 4 decision in January, the justices ruled that the instructions were clear and that Weeks could be executed.

The Virginia Supreme Court rejected Weeks's appeal on Wednesday.

Correspondence between the Cavazos family and Weeks was attached to Weeks's clemency petition to Gilmore last year.

"Lonnie, I forgive you for what you have done. Unfortunately, your fate is out of my hands," Leslie Cavazos-Almagia, the trooper's daughter, wrote Weeks in an Aug. 18 letter.

Cavazos-Almagia spoke to Weeks last week. "It was a blessing to talk to her," Weeks said.

The trooper's widow, Linda Cavazos, supported the death sentence.

No members of the trooper's family witnessed the execution, according to a Department of Corrections spokesman.

As the execution hour approached, about a half-dozen death penalty opponents conducted a candlelight vigil outside the rural prison's main gate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...031601702.html