Ex-cop Robert Fratta refused to give final statement as Texas executes him for wife's murder
AUSTIN, TEXAS: Robert Fratta, an ex-cop was executed on Tuesday, January 11, for orchestrating his wife’s murder. The man plotted the killing of Farah Fratta back in 1994 by hiring two hitmen to shoot her dead in their garage. The 65-year-old was going through an ugly divorce as the couple fought for the custody of their three sons. Being on death row for almost 27 years, Fratta spoke about the death penalty before his execution, calling it a ‘torturous’ process, “I never gave any thought to the death penalty, even though I was a police officer, and now that I’m going through it, I can understand how it’s so ridiculously tormenting for the inmates to be put through this.”
He further told the Death Penalty Action group on Sunday, January 8, “To have you know the day and time and everything that you’re gonna die, and it’s prolonged and everything that they put you through beforehand. This is torturous. I guess at my age, I’ll be 66 next month if I make it, but I’m kind of ready to go, so that’s how I’m doing it also...I’m just tired of 27 years of suffering.” The prosecutors claim that Fratta planned the murder-for-hire with the help of a middleman, Joseph Prystash, who then hired the shooter, Howard Guidry, to kill Farah.
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Fratta, who served as a public safety officer for Missouri City, pleaded not guilty, however, investigators got interested in the murder angle after finding that the couple had been fighting for the kids’ custody, and the pair opted for divorce due to his ‘sexual appetites’, as per court documents. Interestingly, Fratta tried to sue Texas State for using allegedly ‘expired and unsafe execution drugs.’ However, his lawsuit failed on Tuesday.
Andy Kahan, the director of victim services and advocacy for Crime Stoppers of Houston, told that Farah's father, Lex Baquer, raised Robert and Farah's three children with his wife, before his death in 2018. Farah’s mother Betty, said in a 1996 interview, that he ‘cannot wait for the day when I see him laying on that table, waiting to get the injection. That will be justice for me.” The witnesses of Robert Fratta’s death included his son Bradley Baquer, Farah’s brother, and Zain Baquer. The prisoner didn’t look at them nor did he acknowledge them. Fratta also refused to give any final statement, when asked by the warden, he simply replied, “No.”
He had his spiritual adviser, Barry Brown, by his side, as he prayed over him for a few minutes by holding Fratta’s right hand before the deadly chemical was injected, reports DailyMail. The adviser prayed for ‘hearts that have been broken...for people who grieved and those who will grieve in days ahead.’ He asked God to 'be merciful to Bobby.'