New Record Broken a Day Later

Daniel Joe Hittle, 50, was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. after receiving the fatal injection for killing officer Gerald Walker, 48, during a traffic stop 11 years ago. Hittle allegedly later the same night killed his drug dealer and three other people, including a 4-year-old child.

Hittle's final statement was unintelligible, prison officials said.

Becky Walker, the slain officer's widow, was one of five witnesses for the officer.

Earlier this week, she told The Dallas Morning News she would witness the execution in memory of her husband.

"I owe this to him. I can't do anything less for my husband but see this through," she said. "I'm seeing this through for Gerald. It's not going to help me."

Mrs. Walker, who heard her husband's last words on a police scanner the night of the shooting, rarely leaves her home. She gave up her job as a city court supervisor because of the stress of interacting with people. She now works for the court from her home.

Hittle was on parole in Texas at the time of the slaying after serving 11 years for the 1973 stabbing death of his parents in Staples, Minn., and Mrs. Walker blames Texas officials for accepting Hittle's transfer to Texas and not keeping a closer watch on him.

Hittle shot Walker in the chest with a .20 gauge shotgun Nov. 15, 1989, when he was stopped by the officer as he drove to the home of his drug dealer in a rage. Neighbors recalled Hittle stormed from his home earlier with a gun, threatening to killer the dealer, Mary Goss.

After shooting Walker, police said Hittle drove to Dallas where he killed Goss, 39; her daughter, Christy Condon, 4; her boyfriend, Richard Joseph Cook Jr., 36, and Raymond Scott Gregg, 19. He was arrested by police after a car chase and gunfight.

Hittle was charged with multiple counts of murder but only tried in the officer's slaying.

Hittle was the 39th convicted killer executed this year in Texas, a new record for a single year in the state that leads the nation in executions. It was the 238th execution carried out in Texas since the state restored the death penalty in December 1982.

Hittle's execution was one of three scheduled this week at Huntsville. Garry Dean Miller was executed Tuesday night for the rape and murder of a 7-year-old West Texas girl and Claude Jones was scheduled to die Thursday for killing a store owner during a 1989 robbery.

Copyright 2000 by United Press International.