Daniel Lopez, now 27, is scheduled to be administered a lethal injection sometime after 6 p.m. at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, barring any last-minute court orders preventing it.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined earlier Wednesday to hear an emergency appeal from Lopez’s attorneys, allowing the execution to proceed, according to CBS News.
Lopez had previously ordered his attorneys to stop appealing his conviction for the 2009 murder of Corpus Christie police Lt. Stuart Alexander during a high-speed near downtown, saying he had accepted his fate.
Witnesses said Lopez intentionally swerved his vehicle and struck Alexander, who was putting spike strips in the roadway to prevent him from fleeing a traffic stop in the city’s Molina neighborhood, CBS said.
Assistant Police Chief Mark Gutierrez told KRIS TV in Corpus Christie that he would be among a group of officers witnessing Lopez’s execution.
“I think this is appropriate for us to send representatives to show that we have not forgotten and we will never forget,” he said.
Lopez was previously convicted of child molestation and was a registered sex offender, CBS said.
Lopez would be the 10th inmate executed this year in Texas, which has carried out half of all executions in the United States this year.
