Convicted cop-killer Brandon Daniel is attempting to expedite his execution. The 27-year-old Austinite, sentenced to death for the 2012 killing of Austin Police Department Officer Jaime Padron, stood before Travis County District Judge Brenda Kennedy Friday and asked the court to allow him to waive all future automatic appeals and simply move straight forward with his sentence. Daniel told the judge that he wanted to minimize additional anguish for his and Padron’s families, and that he wanted to limit his time in prison.
Kennedy said that she could not grant Daniel his request – the Court of Criminal Appeals had previously denied his petition to waive future appeals – but that she will decide within the next week whether she’ll allow him to represent himself in future appeal proceedings, an action that would expedite the process. She scheduled Daniel a meeting with a psychologist to determine his mental competence, and reset his hearing for July 2.
Padron, a Marine veteran who spent 14 years with the San Angelo PD before arriving in Austin in 2008, was the first APD officer shot and killed in the line of duty since 1978. He was murdered while trying to prevent Daniel from shoplifting at a North Austin Walmart on April 6, 2012.
This article appears in June 26 • 2015.