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HUNTSVILLE, Texas (February 10) - A convict known as Spiderman because he once slipped through the bars bars of his jail cell and escaped was executed by lethal injection Wednesday night for the fatal beating of a man during a carjacking.
George Cordova already had a long criminal record when he was arrested for the 1979 murder of Jose Hernandez, 19, in San Antonio. Hernandez's girlfriend was beaten and gang-raped during the attack, but survived and testified against Cordova.
Cordova, 39, apologized to Hernandez's family in a rambling, nine-minute final statement.
"If I could die a hundred times to bring him back I would do it," he said. "I hope you all can take this bad experience and turn it into something positive."
He continued: "If I see your brother I'm going to hug him. ... If he will allow me to be his servant, I'll tie his shoes. I'll do anything."
Cordova, whose first arrest came at age 11 for tormenting a police dog, escaped from jail while awaiting trial for the Hernandez murder in 1980. He slipped through a gap in the bars and climbed out of a fourth-floor window by using a rope made of sheets.
Five months later, he was arrested in Florida and later sentenced to 30 years for raping a teacher. The day before his rape trial, he was caught trying to saw his way out of jail.