Bio

Gerald Albert Gallego was born on April 29, 1928. Before the Mississippi murder case, Gallego had a criminal record in California. The Mississippi Supreme Court described him as an escaped California convict who was violating parole when he came to Mississippi. Later summaries identify him as the father of Gerald Armond Gallego, who later became a serial killer with Charlene Gallego, but Gerald Albert Gallego’s own confirmed Mississippi case was separate and occurred decades earlier.

By May 1954, Gallego was in Mississippi while avoiding California authorities. The official court record states that he was apprehended by Officer Ernest Beaugez in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and then attacked the officer after being taken to the jail. The events that followed led to Beaugez’s murder, a bank robbery in Alabama, Gallego’s arrest, and a rapid capital trial in Jackson County.

Murder Story

During the early hours of May 27, 1954, Ocean Springs police officer Ernest Beaugez detained Gerald Albert Gallego and took him to the Ocean Springs jail. The Mississippi Supreme Court stated that Gallego severely beat and disarmed Beaugez at the jail. After taking control of the officer, Gallego forced him into the police car and made him drive east toward Mobile, Alabama.

Somewhere between midnight and daylight, about 26 to 28 miles east of Ocean Springs, Gallego killed Beaugez in Jackson County, Mississippi. The court record states that Gallego later gave officers a detailed confession about the murder. After the killing, he continued toward Alabama and robbed the American Bank & Trust Company in Mobile of about $1,000 six or seven hours after Beaugez’s death.

Gallego was arrested shortly after the killing and bank robbery. He was indicted quickly in Jackson County for Beaugez’s murder. His trial was held on June 9 and June 10, 1954. The Mississippi Supreme Court later noted that he was tried and convicted during those two days and sentenced to death for the murder of Officer Beaugez.

Gallego appealed his conviction and death sentence. His appeal challenged issues including the speed of the trial, denial of a continuance, refusal to grant a change of venue, and whether he should have received a directed verdict based on insanity. The Mississippi Supreme Court rejected those arguments and affirmed the conviction and death sentence.

While under sentence of death, Gallego became connected to a second killing. Secondary case summaries report that on September 10, 1954, Gallego and another condemned inmate, Minor Sorber, overpowered and killed jailer J.C. Landrum before escaping. They were reportedly recaptured after several days. Because Gallego was already under a death sentence for Beaugez’s murder, the execution record remained tied to the Beaugez conviction.

The Mississippi Supreme Court issued its final decision on January 17, 1955. The court unanimously affirmed Gallego’s conviction and set March 3, 1955, as the date for carrying out the death sentence.

Gerald Albert Gallego was executed by lethal gas at the Mississippi State Penitentiary on March 3, 1955. The Mississippi Department of Corrections records him as the first prisoner executed in Mississippi’s gas chamber after the state installed it in 1954. The same official list records his offense as murder and his execution date as March 3, 1955.