Insanity plea fails to impress jury in child murders case: death penalty delivered
ByTexas man gets death penalty for beheading 3 kids
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN,
EDINBURG, Texas – A jury sentenced a south Texas man to death on Thursday, four days after convicting him of capital murder for beheading his common law wife's three children in 2003.
It is the second death sentence for John Allen Rubio, who was convicted of killing the children all under the age of four — smothering, stabbing and ultimately decapitating them — in a windowless Brownsville apartment.
Jurors deliberated for about four hours before returning the sentence.
Before entering the sentence, Hidalgo County District Judge Noe Gonzalez asked Rubio if there was anything he would like to say.
"I thank the jury for giving me a chance to show what I could," Rubio said quietly.