Bio 

Javier Suarez Medina was born on June 17, 1969, in Mexico. He moved to the United States as a child and spent most of his life in Texas. Before the murder, Medina lived in the Dallas area. He was 19 years old when he became involved in the drug-related incident that led to the death of undercover Dallas police officer Lawrence Rudy Cadena.

Murder Story

On December 13, 1988, Dallas police officer Lawrence Rudy Cadena was working undercover in a narcotics operation. He arranged to buy cocaine at a Stop-n-Go convenience store in Dallas.

Cadena met with men connected to the drug deal and waited in his undercover vehicle. Javier Suarez Medina later arrived in a pickup truck wearing a long coat. He walked to Cadena’s car and threw a bag of white powder inside.

Medina then pulled out a semiautomatic weapon and fired multiple shots at Cadena. Officer Cadena was struck several times and was fatally wounded.

Other undercover officers were watching nearby. One officer fired at Medina and wounded him, stopping him from firing again. Another suspect, Fernando Fernandez, then entered Cadena’s car and appeared to search him for money. He was also shot and wounded by police.

A third suspect, Hector “Tony” Rodriguez, attempted to flee in a vehicle and was fatally shot by police. Medina was taken to Parkland Hospital for treatment of his gunshot wounds. While there, he gave a recorded confession.

Medina was indicted for capital murder on December 22, 1988. A Dallas County jury convicted him on May 24, 1989. On June 5, 1989, he was sentenced to death.

Medina appealed for years. His case became the subject of international attention because he was a Mexican citizen and Mexican officials said he had not received proper consular notice after his arrest. Mexico, human-rights groups, and international organizations asked Texas to stop the execution, but the courts and Texas officials refused to intervene.

Javier Suarez Medina was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, on August 14, 2002. He apologized to the Cadena family in his final statement and thanked the people of Mexico for their support. He was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m.