Parolee Who Killed Officer Is Executed

A paroled murderer convicted of killing a police officer during a Dallas shooting spree 11 years ago was executed by injection in Huntsville. Daniel Joe Hittle, 50, was accused of killing five people on Nov. 15, 1989, including a 4-year-old girl. He was tried only in the slaying of Gerald Walker, 48, a 17-year police veteran who had pulled Hittle over for speeding. The execution was the second of three scheduled for this week and the 39th this year in Texas, adding to the state’s record total. Michael Radelet, chairman of sociology at the University of Florida and the keeper of a database on U.S. executions, said the total is the most carried out by a state in American history.