John Rubio

The backstory

Background

In early 2003, Rubio, 22, lived in Brownsville with his common-law wife, Angela Camacho, and her three children: Julissa Quesada, 3; John E. Rubio, 14 months; and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months.¹³⁸ Rubio was Mary Jane’s father and the stepfather of the two older children, “but he acted as a father to all three children,” the state wrote in its Supreme Court brief.³⁶ Child Protective Services had removed two of the children in 2002, and the couple later regained custody.⁶ According to his lawyers, the children were returned after Rubio took parenting classes, found work, stopped using drugs for a time and rented an apartment.⁵

By early 2003, according to the state, Rubio had lost his job and gone back to inhaling spray paint and other substances, and the family faced a food-stamp termination notice and an unpaid rent deadline.⁶

The killings

The day before the killings, according to the Fifth Circuit’s summary of the record, Rubio became convinced that people wanted to harm the family, and he came to believe that Julissa was possessed after testing her with an egg.⁴ His lawyers say that in the days before, he believed he was in a struggle between good and evil, nailed a door shut, covered a mirror and killed the family’s hamsters.⁵⁴

On March 11, 2003, Rubio killed and decapitated the three children, the federal courts found.³⁴ Camacho testified at the retrial that Rubio said the children were possessed and that she held Julissa’s legs during her killing.²⁶ The Texas Department of Criminal Justice states that Rubio and Camacho “fatally stabbed and beheaded” the children.⁸

Rubio’s brother and a friend saw one child’s body and flagged down a passing officer, according to the state’s brief.⁶ When the officer arrived, Rubio let him in, and after the officer saw a body, Rubio “held out his hands together towards the officer” and said “arrest me,” the state wrote.⁶ He told officers, “[T]he kids are in the backroom,” according to his lawyers.⁵

Statements

In a videotaped statement, Rubio admitted killing the children and described a demonic possession in which his dead grandmother’s spirit inhabited Julissa and then Mary Jane, the Court of Criminal Appeals wrote in 2007; he said he acted to protect the children and to cast the spirit out.¹ Camacho gave police three statements: on March 11 she attributed the killings to witchcraft; on March 12 she said the real reason was money problems; and on March 13 she gave both reasons and said Rubio “knew” what he did was wrong.¹ At the retrial she testified that her second statement was a lie.²⁶

The first trial and reversal

Rubio pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all four counts of capital murder; a Cameron County jury convicted him, and he was sentenced to death in 2003.¹⁸ Camacho, who faced her own capital indictment, invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify, and the state introduced her three statements to police instead.¹

On Sept. 12, 2007, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction by a 5–4 vote.¹ Under Crawford v. Washington, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court while Rubio’s appeal was pending, statements made in police interrogation are testimonial, and the state conceded the point.¹ Because Rubio admitted the killings, the court said, the real issue was his sanity, and the state’s rebuttal on that issue “came almost exclusively from one source: Camacho’s statements.”¹ It concluded that “her statements likely contributed to the jury’s verdict of guilt.”¹ Presiding Judge Keller, joined by two judges, dissented on the ground that the error was harmless because Rubio was not legally insane even on his own account; a fourth judge also dissented.¹

The retrial

The retrial was moved to Hidalgo County at the defense’s request because of local news coverage, KRGV reported.²³ Before trial, Rubio contended that he was incompetent to stand trial, and a jury found him competent.⁵ He again pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.⁵²³

Two defense psychiatrists testified at the guilt phase. Dr. William Valverde, who had examined Rubio before the first trial, testified that his symptoms were consistent with paranoid schizophrenia and that he did not know his conduct was wrong; Dr. Raphael Morris diagnosed schizophrenia, paranoid type, and substance dependence.³⁵² The state’s psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Welner, testified that Rubio “did not suffer from a severe mental disease at the time he committed the offense,” attributed earlier unusual experiences to intoxication, and testified that the killings showed Rubio knew his conduct was legally wrong.²⁵³

On July 26, 2010, the jury convicted him on four counts of capital murder, one for each child and one for the three together, according to the Associated Press.⁵¹⁴ Judgment was entered on Aug. 2, 2010.⁶

Why the jury chose death

Texas law does not list statutory aggravating circumstances. A death sentence follows from a capital-murder conviction, here under the statute covering the murder of a young child, together with the jury’s answers to special issues.²¹⁰¹² At the time of the 2003 offense, that statute applied to victims under 6; the age was raised to 10 in 2011, for later offenses only.¹¹

Rubio’s jury answered three special issues: whether he would probably commit criminal acts of violence constituting a continuing threat to society; whether he actually caused the deaths; and whether mitigating circumstances warranted a life sentence instead of death. Its answers required a death sentence.³⁵¹² The jury deliberated about four hours, and Judge Noe Gonzalez sentenced Rubio to death on July 29, 2010, the AP reported.¹⁴

The defense’s mitigation case, as the federal district court summarized it, included testimony from Rubio’s mother about her drinking during pregnancy and the violence he experienced as a child, and her testimony that she taught him to become a male prostitute. Other witnesses described his hallucinations, his belief that he was the “chosen one” and his spray-paint use.³ A defense expert described a chaotic childhood, substance abuse and a thought disorder.³ Former schoolmates testified that he had been in special education classes but behaved well; jail staff described him as respectful and calm; and religious leaders asked for leniency.³

The state emphasized what it called his lack of remorse, the danger he posed to other inmates, and the grief of the children’s family, according to the district court. It also cited his criminal history, fires set in a detention facility and marijuana possession on death row.³ Alan Brantley, a former FBI analyst called by the state, testified that there was “a high probability that a person like appellant would commit criminal acts of violence in the future” if he were housed in the general prison population.² At sentencing, Rubio told the judge, “I’m sorry it all had to come to this,” the AP reported.¹⁴

The direct appeal

On Oct. 10, 2012, the Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously affirmed in an unpublished opinion by Judge Price.² It held that Brantley’s future-dangerousness testimony was properly admitted, and it rejected challenges to Texas’s jury-instruction rules for the special issues.² On the insanity defense, it held that the jury’s implicit finding that Rubio had not proved insanity “was not so against the great weight” of the evidence as to be unjust.² The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case in 2013.⁶²³

State habeas

Rubio’s state habeas application argued that his trial lawyers were ineffective for failing to investigate fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.⁵ At a 2016 hearing, both trial lawyers testified that they had been ineffective; lead counsel said he had dropped the investigation because he believed the disorder required facial abnormalities.⁵⁴ According to Rubio’s lawyers, the judge, who had presided over the trial, said the case was close and that Rubio would likely not have been sentenced to death had life without parole been available.⁵ The judge recommended denying relief, and on May 23, 2018, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied it and dismissed a supplemental application as an abuse of the writ.⁶¹⁵ A later application was dismissed on Jan. 26, 2022, without consideration of its merits.⁶

Federal habeas

On April 5, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas denied Rubio’s federal habeas petition in a 97-page opinion.³⁶ On May 21, 2025, the Fifth Circuit refused to allow an appeal.⁴ It held that “[n]o reasonable jurist could find the district court’s assessment” of the fetal alcohol claim “debatable or wrong,” noting that trial counsel had consulted several experts.⁴ It also rejected claims that his trial lawyers mishandled the insanity defense and his prison medical records, which it called a “mixed bag” that showed he often refused medication, and a claim that Welner testified falsely.⁴ The U.S. Supreme Court denied review on Jan. 12, 2026.⁷¹⁷

The 2026 execution date

After the Supreme Court’s ruling, District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said his office would seek a new execution date.¹⁷ In February 2026, according to KRGV, court records showed the state had requested a November date, and the execution was set for Nov. 12.¹⁸ The Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists that date.⁹

On April 30, his lawyers filed a 44-page motion arguing that he is incompetent to be executed.²¹²⁰ The motion states that “Rubio suffers from a lifelong and persistent delusion that he is caught in a God-versus-Satan struggle for the world,” and that he believes his execution is Satan’s attempt to destroy him, so that he cannot connect his punishment to his crime.²¹²⁰ It cites treatment for severe mental illness, including time in a psychiatric ward, between his two trials.²¹ The state’s response was filed under seal.²⁴

On Oct. 7, 2026, after a hearing that lasted less than half an hour, Judge Noe Gonzalez found Rubio competent to be executed.²⁵²⁶ KRGV reported that two experts had evaluated Rubio and reached the same conclusion.²⁶ Rubio said nothing when asked whether he wished to speak.²⁶

Personal backstory

Early life

Rubio was born on Aug. 12, 1980, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice records 12th grade as his highest grade completed.⁸ Former schoolmates testified that he was in special education classes.³ His mother testified at his 2010 trial that she drank while pregnant with him and that he grew up amid violence, and she testified that she taught him to become a male prostitute.³ His lawyers write that she began prostituting him at about age 8.⁵ The sources reviewed say little about his father.

Mental health

According to his lawyers, Rubio was diagnosed with schizophrenia and an emotional disturbance as a child, reported hearing voices and seeing shadows, and said God had told him to save the world.⁵ Defense psychiatrists testified at his retrial that he had paranoid schizophrenia; the state’s psychiatrist testified that he did not have schizophrenia, and the jury rejected his insanity defense.⁵² His lawyers say he was later diagnosed in prison with schizoaffective disorder.⁵ According to the state’s brief, the federal district court noted evidence that he was prescribed medication and showed some symptoms, and also evidence that he refused medication and feigned symptoms.⁶ His lawyers’ claim that he has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder was raised after trial; no court has made a finding that he has it.⁵⁴

Life before the killings

Rubio and Camacho lived on the street and then in an abandoned house before the children were removed, according to his lawyers.⁵ They say he washed cars and worked as a prostitute to pay for the apartment the family later rented.⁵ He had a pattern of inhaling spray paint, the Fifth Circuit noted.⁴ The prison system lists his prior occupation as laborer and records no prior prison term.⁸

Life on death row

The prison system records that Rubio was received on death row on Nov. 24, 2003.⁸ In his first on-camera interview, broadcast by KRGV in May 2026, he said, “Everybody was seeing me as a monster that I’m not,” and, “I was more of the protector of the family.”¹⁹ He said of the children, “I miss them so much. Every day I miss them,” and maintained that Julissa had been possessed.²² “If God can spare me this, that would be great,” he said.¹⁹

The co-defendant

Angela Camacho, the children’s mother, pleaded guilty to her part in the killings and was serving a life sentence, the federal district court noted.³ KRGV reported that she pleaded guilty in 2005 to three counts of capital murder to avoid the death penalty and is serving three life sentences, and that she will be eligible for parole in 2043.¹⁹¹⁶