Ronald Ray Howard (July 22, 1973 – October 6, 2005) was a convicted American murderer executed by lethal injection by the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. He was convicted of the shooting death of

Texas Highway Patrol The Texas Highway Patrol is a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety and is the largest state-level law enforcement agency in the U.S. state of Texas. The patrol's primary duties are enforcement of state traffic laws and commercial veh ...

Trooper Bill Davidson after Howard was stopped for a broken headlight on April 11, 1992.

Life

Born in Houston, Texas, Howard dropped out of school in the 8th grade. By age 15, he was stealing cars and dealing drugs. He started, but never finished training in electrician, building maintenance, computer data entry, and heavy diesel mechanics. He was married with three daughters and one son. Howard's prior criminal convictions were burglary of a motor vehicle (6-year probated sentence) and theft for which he received a 45-day jail sentence. At the time of the crime, Howard was 19 years old and on

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

Crime

On April 11, 1992, Trooper Bill Davidson stopped Howard, originally from the South Park area of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

,Philips, Chuck.
Rap Defense Doesn't Stop Death Penalty `The music affected me,' says Ronald Ray Howard. `That's how it was that night I shot the trooper.'
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

''. July 15, 1993. Start page 1. Retrieved on February 8, 2010. "He grew up on the streets of South Park, a tough Houston ghetto dominated by drug-dealing, prostitution and gang warfare-where automatic rifles can be..." on U.S. Highway 59 about 5 miles (8 km) south of

Edna, Texas Edna is a city in Jackson County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,499 at the 2010 census and 5,987 at the 2020 census. Edna is the county seat. Edna is the gateway to Lake Texana, which covers the site of Texana, Texas. Edna has ...

in a 1986 GMC Jimmy, as his vehicle had a broken

headlight A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...

. When Davidson approached the driver-side window of the car, he was shot in the neck. Howard drove off but was apprehended later in the night, with a

9 mm 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

pistol. The car was later found to be stolen. Three days later, Davidson died of his injuries. Drug tests showed that Howard had

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

and

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

in his system at the time of the murder. Howard also said that the rap music that he listened to had conditioned him to hate police officers. He had been listening to

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

's " Soulja's Story" when pulled over. The song talks about the harsh life of a young black male being pulled over by a police officer and then shooting him.

Sentencing

On June 8, 1993, Howard was convicted of capital murder and just over a month later sentenced to death. On December 18, 1996, however, the

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin, is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight judges. Article V of ...

overturned the sentence (but not the conviction) because a prospective

juror A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England dur ...

had been erroneously dismissed. The appeals court ordered a new punishment trial, which took place on January 26, 1999; the new trial again sentenced Howard to death. This new sentence was confirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeals on December 19, 2001. On March 30, 2005, after appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States, the

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

and the District Court for the Southern District of Texas his execution date was set as October 6. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Howard continued to regret his actions and worked to stop at-risk youth following his lead.

Death

Howard was executed by lethal injection on October 6, 2005, in

Huntsville, Texas Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home ...

. When asked by the

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

if he had a final statement, he looked at the family of Davidson and said: "Yes sir, I do. To the victim's family, I hope it helps a little. I do not know how, but I hope it helps." He then looked at his family and friends and said: "I love you all, all of you. You know I love you. Thank you for bringing my children back to my life. Thank you. I love you all. I love you all very much. Thank you very much." Howard was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m.

References

;Notes ;Sources *The webpage of Ron R. Howard
Media Advisory: Ronald Ray Howard Scheduled For Execution
from the Attorney General of Texas
National Coalition to Abolish the Death PenaltyAppeal to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (PDF)
*
Offender Information
''

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

''. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
Last Statement
''

''. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
Ronald Ray Howard
''The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney''. Retrieved on 2007-11-15. {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Ronald Ray 1973 births 2005 deaths 21st-century executions by Texas American people executed for murdering police officers Anti-police violence in the United States Executed African-American people People convicted of murder by Texas 21st-century executions of American people Criminals from Houston People executed by Texas by lethal injection Executed people from Texas 21st-century African-American people

Life

Crime

Sentencing

Death

See also

References