Decades Later, Cop Killer Goes to Death Chamber

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ When Officer Ralph Ablanedo in 1978 saw a red Ford Mustang driving near downtown Austin with no rear license plate, the lawman pulled it over, gave driver Sheila Meinert a ticket and ran a routine check on her passenger.

The passenger, 27-year-old David Lee Powell, had misdemeanor warrants for theft and for passing bad checks.

Investigators say Powell grabbed an AK-47 and opened fire, shooting through the rear window of the Mustang. Ablanedo was hit 10 times and died.

Now, 32 years later, Powell, is set to die Tuesday evening for killing the 26-year-old officer. The victim was the father of two.

The lethal injection would make Powell the longest-serving condemned inmate executed in Texas and one of the longest-serving in the nation put to death.

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