Texas man executed for killing retired deputy during 2002 holdup

photo This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows John Manuel Quintanilla.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A Texas man convicted of fatally shooting a retired sheriff's deputy during the robbery of an amusement center more than a decade ago has been put to death.

John Manuel Quintanilla received lethal injection Tuesday evening for gunning down 60-year-old Victor Billings at a game room in Victoria, about 125 miles southwest of Houston. The 2002 slaying came just a few months after Quintanilla had been released from prison after serving a sentence for several burglary convictions.

The 36-year-old Quintanilla became the ninth Texas inmate to receive lethal injection this year and the 501st since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982.

His execution was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court refused two last-day appeals.

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