Texas Escapee: I Killed Cop

By Caitlin O'toole

Tuesday June 02, 1998 12:00 AM EDT

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George Rivas, the alleged leader of seven escaped Texas convicts who were recaptured this week, admitted to killing a police officer and said he expects the death penalty, according to an interview published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Rivas, 30, a convicted kidnapper and armed robber, also told the Star-Telegram that he was shot in the abdomen when he wounded and then killed Texas policeman Aubrey Hawkins during a Dec. 24 robbery, 11 days after the escapees broke out of a south Texas prison. Hawkins was shot 11 times -- six in the head, according to autopsy reports. "I can't get Hawkins out of my mind," Rivas said from the Teller County Jail, adding that he expects the death penalty. "I'm guilty. I'm prepared for it. It's what I deserve," he said. Rivas and the other escapees were reportedly leaving a sports store with about $80,000 and a cache of weapons when Hawkins arrived on the scene and was killed. Police say the policemen's gun was not fired at all. Explaining the prison escape, Rivas said, "I know it sounds like hypocrisy, but several of us do love the Lord. But with 18 life sentences and no hope of coming out again, I just wanted a new life." Rivas is among six of the seven convicts being held at the Teller County Jail pending extradition to Texas to face capital murder charges for the policeman's slaying; the seventh, Larry Harper, killed himself when he was unwilling to surrender.