Licho Escamilla was born on July 3, 1982. 

Licho Escamilla was convicted for the murder of police officer Christopher Kevin James in 2002. The crime occurred when Escamilla shot James twice, then fired three more shots into the back of his head while trying to escape. During this escape, he exchanged gunfire with other police officers.

Before the murder of James, there was already a warrant for Escamilla's arrest for the shooting death of an 18-year-old named Santos Gauna. Gauna was shot at a party celebrating his high school graduation. After this murder, Escamilla fled to Mexico. He later confessed to his attorneys that he was responsible for Gauna's death. This confession was kept secret due to attorney-client privilege.

Escamilla did not publicly confess to killing Gauna until the day of his execution. A man named Quintin Alonzo had been wrongfully convicted of Gauna's murder in 2003. After a long investigation, Alonzo was declared "actually innocent" by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2018.

In the courtroom, Escamilla admitted to killing James during a televised interview. His defense lawyers did not argue against his guilt. They tried to appeal the death penalty by claiming that the murder of an off-duty police officer should not be classified as capital murder. Despite their efforts, Escamilla was sentenced to death.

After spending 13 years on death row, he filed a habeas corpus petition. He claimed that evidence of his abusive childhood and substance abuse issues had not been shown in court during his sentencing. The Fifth Circuit Court reviewed his claim but upheld the original ruling without considering the new evidence.

The United States Supreme Court denied Escamilla’s request to review his case. On October 14, 2015, Licho Escamilla was executed by lethal injection at the age of 33. He was the 12th prisoner executed in Texas that year.