HOUSTON – A man convicted in the fatal beating of a 75-year-old auto repair shop owner in East Texas is facing execution this week, with no court appeals pending.
Gregory Russeau is scheduled for execution Thursday evening for the May 2001 death of James Syvertson.
Russeau was driving the victim's car when police pulled him over in front of a known drug house in Longview, about 200 miles north of Houston. Police found Russeau about eight hours after relatives of Syvertson, who owned an auto repair shop in nearby Tyler, found his body.
Court records indicate Russeau was on a cocaine binge and on parole at the time. DNA, fingerprint and palm-print evidence helped convict Russeau of capital murder.
The 45-year-old Russeau would be the ninth inmate executed this year in Texas.
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