Cop-killer makes final appeal

AUSTIN (KXAN) - After 32 years on death row, the man who murdered an Austin police officer in 1978 is just a day away from being executed. However, his attorney is making one final request for an appeal.

David Lee Powell has been on Death Row longer than any other inmate after killing 26-year-old Officer Ralph Ablanedo, who was married with two young children, during a traffic stop in 1978.

“I'm so, so sorry from having killed Ralph Ablanedo,” said Powell last December in an interview posted on a website that advocates for his sentence to be commuted.

Ablanedo was gunned down with an AK47 after a traffic stop in 1978.

"Stolen from him everything he might have become, and all the worlds that he shared with others,” Powell continued.

Now about a hundred members of the Austin Police Association, both retired and current officers, are heading to Huntsville to show support for Ablanedo's family at the execution, scheduled for Tuesday.

“The family is doing all right right now,” said Sgt. Wayne Vincent, President of the Austin Police Association. “They are waiting for this thing to be concluded."

At the time of the murder, 27-year-old David Lee Powell, was hooked on meth.

He graduated as his high school's valedictorian, but spent the '60s and '70s as an addict. All these years later, his supporters still gather, hoping for last minute unlikely reprieve. Gov. Rick Perry can do nothing but delay the execution for 30 days one time, though it's highly unlikely he'll do so.

The groups with the power are the Board of Pardons and Parole - which voted unanimously last week to uphold his execution - and the court of appeals, which can overturn a conviction or sentencing.

"We don’t anticipate anything, but the official judges’ order being carried out today it’s been 32 years and three juries have come to the same conclusion we anticipate justice will be served tomorrow,” said Vincent.

Meanwhile, Powell and his supporters hope the criminal court of appeals will hear their final appeal, spare his life and change his sentence to life in prison.