Texas Is Set to Execute John Rubio Today in the 2003 Murders of Three Children
TDCJ has scheduled John Allen Rubio for execution today in the 2003 Cameron County murders of three young children. Last week the Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed a last writ and denied a stay.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has scheduled John Allen Rubio, TDCJ No. 999462, for execution today, Nov. 12, 2026, for the 2003 capital murder of three young children in Cameron County. If the sentence is carried out at the Huntsville Unit, he would be the eighth man executed in Texas this year.
TDCJ's scheduled executions list, last updated Nov. 10, shows today's date for Rubio and Nov. 19 for Reinaldo Dennes, convicted in Harris County. Three more dates are posted in 2027: Carlos Trevino on April 6, Patrick Murphy on April 7 and Joe Luna on May 3. The Texas Tribune, in a report published this morning, said Rubio's execution is set for Thursday evening. The department's schedule lists the date, not the hour.
TDCJ's Victim Services page on viewing executions says victim witnesses travel to the Huntsville Unit on the day of an execution.
The crime, as the state records it
According to TDCJ's offender information page, on March 11, 2003, in Cameron County, "Rubio and co-defendant Camacho fatally stabbed and beheaded Rubio's 2 month old daughter, his 1 year old son and Camacho's 3 year old daughter." The page identifies the co-defendant as Maria Angela Camacho. Rubio, born Aug. 12, 1980, was received by TDCJ on Nov. 24, 2003, from Cameron County. The page lists no prior prison record.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in a Nov. 5, 2026, order, described Angela Camacho as Rubio's "common law wife and co-defendant" and said he was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2010 "for murdering the three young children" in 2003. The Texas Tribune reported that Camacho was given three life sentences. Dock Line is relying on the Tribune for that sentence and has not independently reviewed Camacho's judgment.
The conviction, the reversal and the retrial
The same Nov. 5 order states that the court vacated Rubio's original capital murder conviction and death sentence. It cites Rubio v. State, 241 S.W.3d 1, 11 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007), "reversing the conviction due to a Confrontation Clause violation." The court says it later affirmed the 2010 conviction and sentence on direct appeal, in an unpublished opinion issued Oct. 10, 2012. It also says it denied relief on Rubio's initial habeas application and dismissed a first subsequent application as an abuse of the writ on May 23, 2018, and dismissed a second subsequent application on Jan. 26, 2022.
The Tribune reported that at the 2010 retrial, Rubio pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and that a second jury found him guilty. That account is the newspaper's. The Court of Criminal Appeals order reviewed here confirms the 2010 conviction and death sentence; it does not describe the plea.
The stay that was denied last week
On Oct. 28, 2026, Rubio filed in the 138th District Court of Cameron County a third subsequent writ application under Article 11.071, Section 5, of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, along with a motion to stay the execution. The application raised a single claim: that prosecutors "knowingly elicited or failed to correct Dr. Welner's false testimony," invoking Napue v. Illinois. Earlier filings, the court noted, had already alleged due-process violations arising from testimony by guilt-phase witness Dr. Michael Welner.
The Court of Criminal Appeals said it reviewed the application and found that Rubio had "failed to show that his allegation satisfies the requirements of Article 11.071 § 5." "Accordingly, we dismiss the application as an abuse of the writ without reviewing the merits of his claim." The court denied the motion to stay the execution. It is dated Nov. 5, 2026, and is marked "Do not publish." The court did not decide whether the testimony was false. It held that the filing did not clear the statutory gate for a subsequent writ.
What has already happened this year
TDCJ's executed inmates list shows seven Texas executions in 2026 through Oct. 7: Charles Thompson on Jan. 28, Cedric Ricks on March 11, James Broadnax on April 30, Edward Busby on May 14, LeJames Norman on Sept. 17, Ker'sean Olajuwa Ramey on Sept. 23 and Jamaal Howard on Oct. 7. If today's sentence is carried out, Rubio would be the eighth. The Tribune wrote that Norman was executed Sept. 16; the department's list gives Sept. 17, and that is the date used here.
The murders were of a 2-month-old girl, a 1-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. The law has run its course through a reversed first trial, a second conviction, a direct appeal and multiple writs, including a stay request denied 7 days ago. A scheduled date is still a scheduled date until the sentence is carried out, or until a court or the governor stops it.
Genesis 9:6 says, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Ezekiel 33:11 says, "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." Both are true. The children are dead, the record of what was done to them is not in dispute in the official summary, and the state is prepared to carry out a lawful sentence. That is a grave thing, not a spectacle.
