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Thursday, August 23, 2001
Jurors hear details of Connally Unit escape plot
'I will not hesitate to kill you,' guard quotes Rivas, whose trial is in the punishment phase
By Susan Parrott
Associated Press

Associated Press

George Rivas looks back at the courtroom during testimony in the punishment phase of his trial.


   DALLAS - Prosecutors seeking the death penalty for the leader of a gang of escaped convicts tried to show jurors Wednesday that 17 previous life sentences couldn't keep George Rivas behind bars.
   Rivas was found guilty of capital murder Tuesday in the Christmas Eve killing of police officer Aubrey Hawkins, who was shot and run over with a car during the robbery of a sporting goods store in Irving.
   Rivas faces the death penalty or life in prison.
   During testimony Wednesday in the trial's sentencing phase, jurors heard for the first time about the gang's meticulously planned Dec. 13 breakout from the Connally Unit in Kenedy, where they stole a pickup and 16 guns and left a note threatening, "You haven't heard the last of us yet."
   Prison guard Alejandro Marroquin testified he was beaten unconscious and feared for his life.
   '"Marroquin, if you keep on fighting, I will not hesitate to kill you,'" the guard quoted Rivas as saying.
   "I was telling him I'd comply," Marroquin said. "Just don't hurt anyone else."

Associated Press

Alejandro Marroquin Jr., a former officer at the Connally Unit prison complex in Kenedy, explains how he and others were taken prisoner by George Rivas and six other inmates during an escape that ultimately led to the death of a police officer in Irving.

   Patrick Moczygemba, a maintenance supervisor at the Connally Unit, told how the men tricked prison workers into letting them stay in the maintenance department during lunch, then hit him over the head - nearly severing an ear - and tied him up.
   Twelve prison workers and three inmates not involved in the plot also were taken hostage as they returned from lunch and were locked in a small electrical room. They managed to free themselves and used their bodies to blockade the door when several of the escapees tried to re-enter with a homemade knife.
   "They were trying to stab anybody that was standing by the door," Moczygemba said.
   When workers held hostage set off a fire alarm, an officer at the central control picket turned off the alarm signal on her control panel after calling the maintenance department and getting no answer.
   On cross examination, defense attorney Karo Johnson said the inmates kept their promise not to harm guards if they cooperated and even left ice water in the electrical room.
   "It might have been easier to kill you. But that didn't happen, did it?" Johnson asked Moczygemba, who quit his job several months later.
   Correctional officer Lou Gips testified that when he let Rivas, dressed as a maintenance worker, into a watchtower at the back of the prison, Rivas grabbed a loaded gun off the desk.

Associated Press

Prosecutor Toby Shook points his finger at George Rivas during the punishment phase of the trial on Wednesday.

   "He pointed it at my head and said this was escape. He told me to sit down in a chair and don't try anything or I'd be killed."
   Rivas and another escapee then broke into a gun cabinet in the tower and stole more weapons. The two men fled with the other five escapees in a prison pickup. They escaped with a 12-gauge shotgun, an AR-15 rifle and 14 .357-caliber revolvers.
   Mary Lynn Berry, a manager of a Pearland Radio Shack, testified about the robbery two days later that authorities say Rivas orchestrated to steal money, walkie talkies and police radio scanners.
   "I knew by the cold, hard look in his eye, that if anybody moved he wouldn't kill just one of us, he'd kill all of us."
   Dallas County prosecutor Toby Shook, arguing against another life sentence for Rivas, led a deputy sheriff step by step down Rivas' long list of prior sentences.
   Prosecutors presented evidence for five days last week, including a confession in which Rivas asked for forgiveness and said he deserves to die for shooting Hawkins.
   Jurors also heard testimony from robbery victims, forensic experts and the officer's widow.
   Defense attorneys have indicated that Rivas may take the stand.
   Rivas' attorneys argued that he never intended to kill Hawkins, only to disarm him by shooting him in the shoulders. He said the other escapees joined in the gunfire.
   "These guys were just in a panic," said attorney Johnson.
   Rivas was the first of the escaped convicts to be tried for Hawkins' murder.

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