Friday January 26 7:16 PM ET
'Texas Seven' Inmate Challenges Extradition

By Clark Curtis

CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. (Reuters) - One of the ``Texas Seven'' prison escapees captured after an intense manhunt on Friday challenged an order to return him to Texas to face capital murder
charges because, his attorney said, that state's heavy use of the death penalty made it a ``killing field.''

A second fugitive, Randy Halprin, said he was considering similar action.

Joseph Garcia, 29, who was serving a 50-year-prison sentence for murder when he and six buddies broke out of the Connally prison in Kenedy, Texas, last month, officially challenged the extradition order to send him back to Texas when he made his second court appearance on Friday.

``Well, it's Texas and I'm always concerned when someone is charged with first degree murder there. It's a killing field and has been for years,'' Garcia's court-appointed lawyer, Ann Kaufman, told reporters after the brief hearing.

Four of the escapees, including Garcia and Halprin, were captured on Monday near a trailer park in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains after an intense manhunt that began on Dec 13 with their prison escape.

A fifth, Larry Harper, shot himself to death. Patrick Murphy Jr. and Donald Newbury, who surrendered on Wednesday in Colorado Springs after being interviewed on television, where they

criticized the Texas penal system, have a court date on Monday.

Another Escapee Considering Challenge

An attorney for Halprin, 23, who was serving a 30-year-sentence for beating a baby who he said would not stop crying, said his client was considering challenging the extradition order.

Texas has executed 241 convicts since it resumed capital punishment in 1982, by far the most of any U.S. state.

The extradition papers were signed on Friday by Colorado's acting governor, Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, Doug Dean. The papers would be sent to the court by a state trooper, his spokeswoman said.

Halprin's attorney, Roland Zingale, declined to specify on what grounds the extradition could be challenged. ``When a man says he doesn't want to go to Texas it's my job to keep him out of Texas,'' Zingale said.

The lawyer said Halprin asked him to tell the public that his client ``did not participate in that shooting,'' a reference to the Dec 24 murder of Irving, Texas, police officer Aubrey Hawkins.

The gang's admitted ringleader, George Rivas, 30, signaled on Thursday he will not fight extradition to Texas, against the advice of his attorney, but Michael Rodriguez, 38, asked a judge at his hearing for time to consider challenging his extradition. Rivas and Rodriguez were captured on Monday along with Halprin and Garcia.

A judge set a Feb. 22 date to take up the extradition matter for all the escapees who have challenged their extradition or are considering it -- three so far. But the matter may come up sooner, depending on when the extradition papers arrive, the attorneys said.

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