Texas executes convict for 1990 fatal shooting, rape

This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Rickey Lynn Lewis. Six months after he was paroled in early 1990 from a 25-year term for a third burglary conviction, Lewis was arrested for shooting and killing 45-year-old George Newman, raping Newman’s fiancée and stealing her truck after breaking into the couple’s home about 90 miles east of Dallas in Smith County. On Tuesday, April 9, 2013Lewis, 50, of Tyler is scheduled to become the second man executed in Texas this year. (AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Rickey Lynn Lewis. Six months after he was paroled in early 1990 from a 25-year term for a third burglary conviction, Lewis was arrested for shooting and killing 45-year-old George Newman, raping Newman’s fiancée and stealing her truck after breaking into the couple’s home about 90 miles east of Dallas in Smith County. On Tuesday, April 9, 2013Lewis, 50, of Tyler is scheduled to become the second man executed in Texas this year. (AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Rickey Lynn Lewis. Six months after he was paroled in early 1990 from a 25-year term for a third burglary conviction, Lewis was arrested for shooting and killing 45-year-old George Newman, raping Newman’s fiancée and stealing her truck after breaking into the couple’s home about 90 miles east of Dallas in Smith County. On Tuesday, April 9, 2013Lewis, 50, of Tyler is scheduled to become the second man executed in Texas this year. (AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)
By Michael Graczyk
Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE —

Lewis, 50, acknowledged the rape, but not the killing.

“If I hadn’t raped you, you wouldn’t have lived,” he told Newman’s fiancee, Connie Hilton, in the moments before the single lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered. “I didn’t kill Mr. Newman and I didn’t rob your house.

“I was just there. … I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through. It wasn’t me that harmed and stole all of your stuff,” he said to Hilton, who stood behind a glass window a few feet away.

Lewis said the two people responsible for Newman’s killing are still alive. He didn’t identify them.

He told Hilton he watched her flee the house to get help. “When I saw you in the truck driving away, I could have killed you, but I didn’t,” he said. “I’m not a killer.”

Lewis thanked his friends who watched through a nearby window “for the love you gave me.”

“I thank the Lord for the man I am today. I have done all I can to better myself, to learn to read and write,” he said, appearing to choke back tears. “Take me to my king.”

As the drug began taking effect, he said he could feel it “burning my arm.”

“I feel it in my throat. I’m getting dizzy,” Lewis said before he started to snore and, seconds later, lost consciousness.