Friday, October 29, 2004

TEXAS LAST MEAL
RICKY EUGENE MORROW
October 20, 2004

...he was paroled 1 year before the murder of the victim...

Last Meal: A cheeseburger, French fries, onion rings and iced tea.

The skinny: Morrow, 53, was executed for the slaying of a savings and loan office worker during a robbery 22 years ago.

More skinny: Morrow and his girlfriend drove to the Metropolitan Savings and Loan in Dallas. Armed with a .38 caliber revolver and a .25 caliber automatic, Morrow entered the savings and loan and robbed the institution.

Thirty minutes later, they went to First Texas Savings, also in Dallas. Morrow approached one of the teller windows with one pistol aimed at the head of a bank employee and the other pistol aimed at a bank teller. Morrow ordered the teller to place all of her money inside a bank bag and she complied. After receiving the bag from the teller, Morrow fired a single shot into the head of the victim, another bank employee, who died instantly. The couple fled with $5,000 to a nearby hotel, where they were tracked by police officers and FBI agents, who surrounded the room. Morrow pushed his girlfriend from the room and she was arrested. When the officers asked Morrow to surrender, he threatened to kill the officers. After an exchange of gunfire, Morrow surrendered.

Morrow, 53, acknowledged firing the shot that killed the 26-year-old victim. But the former welder, who carried a gun in each hand during the $5,500 holdup in 1982, said he shouldn't have been sentenced to death because the shooting was an accident.

Morrow testified at his trial. "It was something I never ever intended would happen." Morrow said that day he'd consumed a bottle of vodka and also had taken cocaine and heroin, with the combination leaving him irrational and paranoid.

Love: Morrow later married his girlfriend in crime.

Priors: Morrow was previously convicted Aggravated Robbery and Aggravated Robbery, Burglary, Theft, and Possession of a Dangerous Drug and was sentenced to 25 years. He was paroled after five years in 1975. He was again convicted of Aggravated Robbery in 1976 and again sentenced to 25 years. He was paroled in 1981, 1 year before the murder of the victim.

Last words and such: "I am so sorry you are going through what you are now," he told three sisters who watched from a few feet away. "But we are both headed to a better place." He listed a number of people by their first names and said he loved them all. Addressing his sisters again, he said, "Thank you for having been there for me - and our father and mother. Give them a hug and give them my love." As the drugs began taking effect, he sputtered and gasped several times.

Factoids: Morrow was the...

51st murderer executed in U.S. in 2004
936th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
17th murderer executed in Texas in 2004
330th murderer executed in Texas since 1976