A North Texas resident, Cedric Ricks, is facing the death penalty for the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend and her young son, an event that took place nearly 13 years ago. The execution is scheduled for Wednesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, approximately 70 miles north of Houston.
Ricks, now 51, was convicted for the May 2013 murders of Roxann Sanchez, 30, and her 8-year-old son, Anthony Figueroa, in their Bedford apartment, a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. During the attack, Sanchez’s other son, Marcus Figueroa, who was 12 at the time, sustained injuries but survived.
In an effort to halt the execution, Ricks’ defense team has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that racial bias was present during jury selection. They claim prosecutors unjustly excluded jurors based on race, contrary to the 1986 Supreme Court ruling in Batson v. Kentucky, which prohibits such actions under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Legal representatives for Ricks contend that notes, obtained in 2021, from the jury selection process highlight the exclusion of minority jurors. However, the Texas Attorney General’s Office maintains that the jury selection was conducted on a “race neutral” basis, a stance supported by previous court rulings.
“The public has a strong interest in enforcement of Ricks’ sentence,” stated the attorney general’s office, emphasizing the gravity of the crime where Ricks “viciously stabbed his girlfriend Roxann and her eight-year-old son Anthony to death.”
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recently declined Ricks’ appeal for a 90-day stay or commutation of his death sentence. Prosecutors recount that the violence erupted during a domestic dispute between Ricks and Sanchez. Her sons, Anthony and Marcus, attempted to intervene, leading to Ricks attacking them with a kitchen knife. Although Marcus survived by feigning death, Anthony was killed. Ricks’ 9-month-old son, Isaiah, was unharmed.
Following the incident, Ricks fled but was apprehended in Oklahoma. During his trial, Ricks admitted to having anger issues and claimed he acted in self-defense against the boys. Reflecting on the tragedy, Ricks said, “I wish I could bring them back, like, right now,” expressing remorse for his actions.
The execution of Ricks would mark the second in Texas this year, a state with the highest rate of executions in the U.S. Nationally, he would be the sixth person to face capital punishment in 2023.
Meanwhile, in Alabama, the scheduled execution of Charles “Sonny” Burton was commuted by Governor Kay Ivey. Burton, who was sentenced for a murder committed during a 1991 robbery, will now serve life in prison without parole, despite not having fired the fatal shot.
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