Chuck Lanehart details the murder, trial, manhunt and execution of Lubbock County’s first execution in Voice for the Defense online.

Notable for not only being the first criminal defendant charged in Lubbock to be executed, but for the heinous crime against the Sheriff of Dicken’s County.

Previously we covered Virgil Stalcup in a blog article titled Execution Rarely Happens to Convicted Lubbock Murderers.

It’s a surprise, the story hasn’t been picked up by Hollywood. It involves a variety of twists and turns, including:

– The crime scene happened in a small jail, back when the Sheriff lived above inmates.

– Multiple jail breaks and police conflict occurred between Brown and Stalcup before the murder. Notably, Brown and Stalcup injured other police officers in one shootout. Upon recapture, police brandished machine guns mounted to their cruiser.

– The wife of Brown, Thelma smuggled the suspected murder weapon into a jail cell with her beauty. She was successful at giving the revolver to her husband.

– Witness accounts and firearm experts disagreed on the murder weapon and how the murder was orchestrated. Nevertheless, it took the jury 6 hours to agree on a guilty verdict and death penalty.

– Stalcup continued to maintain his innocence upon death and even refused his last meal. No statements were made.

Texas Executes Another for Murder of Police Officer in April 2022

Lubbock executed Virgil Stalcup for a murder that occurred in 1934. It took only 2 years before he was electrocuted in 1936. Now that is swift justice!

On April 21, 2022 a death row inmate, Buntion received lethal injection for the murder of a Houston police officer in 1990. For the oldest serving inmate on death row, it took nearly 32 years from murder to execution.