In 2007, a man was executed for shooting a Dallas police officer.

On Wednesday, a man was executed after a nearly 16-year-old shot and killed a Dallas police officer who followed a high-speed pursuit.

Wesley Ruiz, 43, was executed by lethal injection at a state prison in Huntsville, Texas, for the March 2007 murder of Lance Corporal Mark Nix of the Dallas Police Department.

After Ruiz was seen driving a car that matched the description of the one used by the murder suspect, he led the police in a quick chase. After the chase, the officer allegedly tried to smash the passenger window of the car, after which Ruiz allegedly shot Nicks. An artery in his neck was severed when the bullet hit Nix’s badge, shattered it, and shrapnel entered his neck. He later died in the hospital.

When he was killed, Nix, a 33-year-old US Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm who had served in Dallas for almost seven years, was engaged.

Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a motion by Ruiz’s lawyers to stay the execution. To determine whether Ruiz poses a threat to others in the future — a prerequisite for a death sentence in Texas — jurors relied on “overtly racist” and “blatantly anti-Spanish stereotypes,” according to the defense. Ruiz was Spanish.

The Texas Attorney General’s office said in court documents filed late Tuesday with the Supreme Court that Ruiz’s allegation of jury bias was unfounded because Dallas County District Attorney John Crizo’s evaluation of the allegations last week found no evidence of such bias. According to the court document, one of the jurors, accused by Ruiz’s lawyer of racism, told Creso: “I was not and did not discriminate against anyone or any race.”

Last week, Ruiz’s lawyers sought a stay of execution, but U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas denied their request, saying they failed to demonstrate that the jurors expressed “clear racial bias” in their deliberations. A similar request for a stay based on allegations of racial bias was denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday. The Court of Appeal dismissed the claim on procedural grounds, and did not consider the claim on the merits.

In an earlier attempt to prove that the prosecution’s expert witness, who said that Ruiz was a constant threat during the 2008 trial, lied, Ruiz’s lawyers were unsuccessful. His lawyers said that while prosecutors were aware of the misleading testimony, they chose not to say anything. The expert testimony, according to Godbey’s conclusion, “was quite possibly harmless”, and even if it were corrected, the jury’s decision to execute Ruiz would not change.

On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole unanimously denied Ruiz’s request for a commutation of his death sentence.

Ruiz was one of five Texas death row inmates who filed a lawsuit to prevent the state’s prison system from using allegedly dangerous and obsolete execution drugs. Two of the state’s highest courts allowed the execution of one of the inmates involved in the dispute on Jan. 10, despite an Austin civil court judge tentatively agreeing to the claims.

Prison officials deny the allegations in the lawsuit and argue that government supplies of lethal injections are safe.

Ruiz testified during his trial that he shot Nix in self-defense because he feared for his life after an officer allegedly threatened to kill him. He added that, in his opinion, the police opened fire first.

“I didn’t try to kill the cop. Ruiz said, “I was just trying to stop him.

In addition, Ruiz claimed that the reason he eluded the police that day was because he had illegal drugs in his car and was using drugs.

Gabriel Luciano, a security guard who worked with Nix, recalled that the officer was always quick to help customers at the convenience store in northwest Dallas where Luciano worked.

Luciano described him as a “guardian angel”. “No matter what, it still hurts. Nothing can close it.

Ruiz became the second prisoner to be executed in Texas this year, and the fourth nationwide. Seven more executions are scheduled in Texas this year, one of which will take place next week.

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