Summary:

McCullum seemed poised for success in 1994, the year he graduated from Aldine High School. He was the starting quarterback, won a football scholarship to Tyler Junior College, and was generally admired by teachers and coaches for his courteous, respectful behavior. Friendly and sociable, he was voted "Mr. Aldine" by his classmates.

He had no prior exposure to the criminal justice system, but evidence was presented tying him to a series of shootings, robberies and assaults that summer.

Along with classmates Terrance Perro, 19, Decedrick Gainous, 18, and Christopher Lewis, 17, and needing money to buy clothes for school, McCullum decided to go to Montrose and wait outside one of the gay clubs for a victim, because they had been told homosexuals "had money and were easy targets."

The four spotted Michael Burzinski, 29, as he left Heaven, a nightclub in the gay section of Houston.

Burzinski was hit in the head as he unlocked his car door, then forced into the back seat of his car. The four teens beat their victim as they drove him to the West Little York area in northwest Houston, where they used Burzinski 's bank card to steal $400.

Then they drove Burzinski to a secluded area, where he was shot in the head and dumped. His car was found later, burned, near the neighborhood of the suspects.

In a statement to police, McCullum said he shot Burzinski "because that is what everybody said I should do."

Accomplice Perro pleaded no contest to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, and accomplice Gainous was convicted of capital murder. Both are serving life sentences. Accomplice Lewis pleaded no contest to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was recently paroled.

Citations:

McCullum v. Dretke, 89 Fed.Appx. 888 (5th Cir. 2004). (Habeas)

Final Meal:

A cheeseburger, french fries, apple pie, three Cokes and five mint sticks.

Final Words:

"I just wanted to say to all of those that have supported me over the years that I appreciate it and I love you. And I just want to tell my Mom that I love her and I will see her in heaven."

ClarkProsecutor.org

Texas Attorney General

Media Advisory

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Demarco Markeith Mccullum Scheduled For Execution

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about 30-year-old Demarco Markeith McCullum, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Tuesday, November 9, 2004. In1995, McCullum was convicted and sentenced to death for the capital murder of Michael Burzinski in Houston. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On July 30, 1994, then 19-year-old Demarco McCullum and three other teenaged boys decided to rob a homosexual because McCullum believed gays always carried a lot of money.

McCullum and others began driving around in search of a victim and ended up in the parking lot of a Montrose area night club.

Seeing 29-year-old Michael Burzinski walking to his car, McCullum began talking to him, then suddenly attacked Burzinski, striking him four or five times in the face with the handle of a pistol.

McCullum was joined in his attack on Burzinski by the other three teens. Afterwards, they threw Burzinski in the back seat of his own car and drove off in the car with McCullum driving.

The group robbed Burzinski of his money and his ATM card. Burzinski pleaded for his life, but McCullum insisted he had to be killed. When his companions asked McCullum why, he said that Burzinski had to die because he knew their names. McCullum then said everyone’s name aloud, including his own.

Thereafter, McCullum drove to a secluded location, forced Burzinski out of the car, and shot him in the back of the head. McCullum later bragged that he felt like a judge because he had taken someone’s life.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• August 16, 1994 — A Harris County grand jury indicted McCullum for the capital murder of Michael Burzinski.

• November 30, 1995 — A jury found McCullum guilty of capital murder and he was sentenced to death.

• March 18, 1998 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed McCullum’s conviction and sentence.

• December 22, 1998 — McCullum filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the state trial court.

• June 26, 2002 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied habeas relief.

• November 26, 2002 — McCullum filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in a Houston U.S. district court.

• June 9, 2003 — The federal district court denied habeas relief.

• February 22, 2004 — The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied McCullum permission to appeal

• May 24, 2004 — McCullum petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari review.

• May 27, 2004 — The Supreme Court dismissed McCullum’s petition as untimely.

• June 22, 2004 — The trial court entered an order setting the execution date for November 9, 2004.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

The murder for which McCullum was sentenced to death was part of a summer-long crime-spree that began because McCullum needed money for clothes for college.

On June 18, 1994, McCullum shot Ryan Lonergan while he was attempting to get cash from a drive-thru ATM machine in the Houston area. Lonergan survived but was paralyzed by the gunshot wound to his back.

On August 8, 1994, McCullum participated in the kidnaping and robbery of Ty Selcer. McCullum robbed Selcer of his car at gunpoint in front of Selcer’s Harris County home and took him to a bank where he was forced to withdraw money from his banking account. Afterwards, Selcer was returned to his home so McCullum and his cohorts could steal Selcer’s personal belongings.

There they also robbed the victim’s brother, Travis Selcer, at gunpoint and tied him up while they made their escape, taking Ty Selcer along with them. Ty Selcer was then taken to a remote location and tied to a telephone pole. McCullum wanted to kill Selcer, but his colleagues convinced him otherwise. McCullum punched Selcer in the face before leaving him tied to the telephone pole.

Finally, on August 11, 1994, McCullum and his cohorts robbed Ramona Wesling and Daniel Raymond Bowen, a Liberty County constable. Bowen was savagely beaten with golf clubs by McCullum’s companions while McCullum held Wesling at bay. Wesling had a close view of McCullum during this episode. McCullum and his colleagues stole both victims’ money and ATM cards, and Bowen’s pickup truck. McCullum threw Wesling in a trash dumpster, injuring her back, and left.

ProDeathPenalty.com

Michael J. Burzinski, who was openly homosexual, was last seen leaving a Montrose-area club on the evening of July 29, 1994.

Burzinski was found around 2:30 pm on Saturday afternoon July 30 by a 75-year-old man who was collecting aluminum cans on a north Harris County street. He had been shot once in the head. Burzinski 's car was found later on Dolly Wright in the Acres Homes area. The vehicle had been burned.

"He didn't have lots of money, didn't flash a lot of money. He didn't have any credit cards," police said, adding Burzinski was not a known drug user. "In the absence of any other known motive, we are not discounting the possibility that it was a hate crime."

Four former Aldine High School football players, one of whom was still a student, were arrested and charged with capital murder for the abduction, robbery and killing of a man they followed from a Montrose-area nightclub.

Demarco McCullum, 19, Terrance Perro, 19, Decedrick Gainous, 18, and Christopher Lewis, 17 were arrested. The four friends told Harris County Sheriff's Department homicide detectives that they decided to rob someone for money to buy new clothes for school.

McCullum, the Aldine Mustangs' quarterback for the prior year, and Gainous, a defensive back, both graduated the spring before the murder and were to have reported a couple of days later to Tyler Junior College, where each had earned a football scholarship. Lewis, projected to become one of the state's top 20 running back prospects, began his junior year at the school the Monday after the murder, and was at football practice after classes.

Perro, a wide receiver who caught 15 passes for 398 yards last season, withdrew from Aldine in January with plans to transfer to an alternative learning center, Norman said. Aldine officials, however, said that they never received a request to transfer Perro's records to another school.

Police said the four decided to go to Montrose and wait outside one of the gay clubs for a victim, because they had been told homosexuals "had money and were easy targets." The four spotted Michael Burzinski, 29, as he left Heaven, a nightclub in the gay section of Houston.

Burzinski was hit in the head as he unlocked his car door, then forced into the back seat of his car. The four teens beat their victim as they drove him to the West Little York area in northwest Houston, where they used Burzinski 's bank card to steal $400. Then they drove Burzinski to the 15800 block of Northview Park, where he was shot in the head and dumped. His car was found later, burned, on Dolly Wright, near the suspects' homes.

Burzinski moved to Houston in 1990 to initiate Fox Photo's new digital imaging process. Gainous was arrested the Monday after the murder at the Aldine High campus, where he had gone to see a friend. The other three suspects were arrested at their homes early Tuesday and brought in to talk with homicide detectives, who said that Lewis, Gainous and Perro seemed remorseful, but that McCullum, identified by his friends as the gunman, was not. They were talking after it happened, and one of them said it made him feel sick, the boys told detectives. "Another one said it made him feel bad, but they said when they asked McCullum how he felt, he said, "I feel like a judge.' "

Burzinski's parents, who saw their youngest child buried in his hometown on Aug. 6, said the arrests were a tremendous relief. "We owe the detectives a giant debt of gratitude for solving this so quickly. We're tremendously relieved they're off the streets," said Ed Burzinski, Michael Burzinski's father. Burzinski said he and his wife and their three older children plan to work for victims' rights. "We feel compelled, in Michael's memory, to do something. Our society's going downhill," he said. "If we don't all get together and try to do something about it, we'll be next."

The arrests shocked faculty and students at Aldine, where Norman described the four as responsible students who attended class regularly and earned average grades. Aldine ISD spokeswoman Judy Williams said Lewis was involved in a minor infraction last year, and that disciplinary action was taken. Williams did not provide details of the incident but said that it was not serious enough to affect student status or extracurricular activities. The boys' families were stunned by the arrests. After school on the day they were arrested, students described the four as well-known and well-liked.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson

Txexecutions.org

Demarco Markeith McCullum, 30, was executed by lethal injection on 9 November 2004 in Huntsville, Texas for the abduction and murder of a 29-year-old man.

On 30 July 1994, McCullum, then 19, and three of his high school football teammates approached Michael Burzinski, who was walking to his car in the parking lot of a Houston night club.

McCullum began talking to Burzinski, then struck him several times in the face with the handle of a pistol. The other teens joined in the assault. They forced Burzinski into the back seat of his car and drove off, with McCullum behind the wheel.

They took Burzinski's money and drove to an automatic teller machine. Using Burzinski's card, they withdrew $400 from his account. They then drove the victim to an isolated area. Burzinski pleaded for his life, but McCullum insisted that he had to be killed. When his companions asked why, McCullum said that Burzinski had to die because he knew their names.

McCullum then said everyone's name aloud, including his own. He then shot Burzinski in the back of the head. The group then drove Burzinski's car a short distance, then set it on fire.

McCullum was arrested on 16 August. He told police that the group decided to rob someone in the Montrose area of Houston - an area known as popular with homosexuals - because he believed homosexuals "always carry a lot of cash," and were easy to rob.

At 19, McCullum had no prior felony convictions, but testimony at his punishment hearing indicated that he had been involved in a string of violent robberies. On 18 June 1994, McCullum shot Ryan Lonergan while he was using an ATM. Lonergan was paralyzed.

On 8 August, a week after killing Burzinski, McCullum and his accomplices abducted and robbed Ty Selcer, taking his car, forcing him to withdraw money from the bank, and stealing items from his home. They also robbed Ty's brother, Travis Selcer, at gunpoint. They then tied Travis up and took Ty with them. They took Ty to a remote area and tied him to a telephone pole. McCullum punched him in the face, and the group left him there. Three days later, the group robbed Daniel Bowen and Ramona Wesling, stealing their money, ATM cards, and pickup truck. They beat Bowen with golf clubs and threw Wesling into a dumpster.

A jury convicted McCullum of capital murder in November 1995 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in March 1998. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Decedrick Ganius, 19, was convicted of capital murder and received a life sentence. Terrance Lavelle Perro, 19, was convicted of aggravated robbery and was also sentenced to life. Both of them remain in custody as of this writing. Christopher Lewis, 17, was convicted of aggravated robbery and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He is now out on parole.

McCullum was the quarterback at Aldine High School. He received a football scholarship and was set to leave for college the day after he was arrested. Acquaintances of McCullum, who was voted "Mr. Aldine," had a hard time believing that he had become a violent criminal. Teachers and schoolmates described him as polite, well-dressed, ambitious, and energetic. "The Demarco that we coached was a vibrant kid. He was totally different than the Demarco that walked out of Aldine High School," said Richard Whitaker, his former football coach.

Similarly, McCullum's own statements in interviews on death row in interviews suggested that he had not come to terms with his own actions. "The real Demarco McCullum was not a criminal," he said. He also said that he shot blindly into the dark, not even knowing whether he hit Burzinski. "I didn't stand over somebody and execute somebody," he said. McCullum also said that he would not be executed, but that he would be spared by a "supernatural miracle."

In his last statement, McCullum expressed love to his friends and family. He was given the lethal injection, then was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m.

Former football star put to death

Popular Aldine graduate killed man during violent rampage

By Dale Lezon - Houston Chronicle

November 10, 2004

A former football hero and celebrity at Aldine High School was executed Tuesday evening for killing a man 10 years ago. Seconds before he was executed, Demarco McCullum said he loved his mother and expected to see her in heaven. "I just want to say to all those who supported me over the years that I appreciate it and love you," McCullum said. "I just want to let my mom know that I love her and I will see her in heaven."

McCullum, 30, was convicted of capital murder for the July 29, 1994, robbery and shooting death of Michael Burzinski, 29.

Burzinski's family members, who witnessed the execution, said they were relieved the sentence was completed. "I'm sure he was nervous. I'm sure he was afraid and possibly it gave him a slight taste of what our Michael went through 10 years ago," Kay Burzinski,

Burzinski's mother, said after McCullum died. She said the execution did not bring closure, that closure and recovering from the loss of a loved one to violent crime was difficult. She said she felt her son was with her before the execution. "When I looked out at the beautiful sunset about 5:30, I had the feeling my son was with me," she said.

A doctor pronounced McCullum dead at 6:17 p.m. He was the sixth inmate who was convicted in Harris County and the 21st in the state to be executed this year. Today, another Harris County inmate, Freddie McWilliams, is scheduled to be executed for the September 1996 murder of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a 39-year-old meat-truck driver. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied McCullum's request for clemency Friday. His appeals also were denied. He asked that his body be donated to science.

McCullum seemed poised for success in 1994, the year he graduated from Aldine. He was the Mustangs' starting quarterback, won a football scholarship to Tyler Junior College and was admired by teachers and coaches for his courteous, respectful behavior. Friendly and sociable, he was voted Mr. Aldine by his classmates. But he had a dark side.

Prosecutors said he took part in a violent crime rampage in the summer of that year. In addition to killing Burzinski, they said, he attacked several people and shot a man in the spine, paralyzing him. McCullum denied that shooting.

McCullum and three Aldine teammates -- Terrance Perro, 29, Decedrick Gainous, 29, and Chris Lewis, 27 -- attacked Burzinski as he left a Montrose bar July 29. Police said they beat Burzinski and drove him in his car to a bank, where they used his ATM card to withdraw $400 from his account. Then they drove to a secluded area in north Harris County off Interstate 45 and pulled him from the car. Perro said he begged McCullum not to shoot Burzinski. He said McCullum walked with Burzinski away from the car. Then he heard one shot.

Prosecutors said Burzinski appeared to have been shot once in the back of the head. In an interview from death row a few days before he was put to death, McCullum said killing Burzinski was wrong, but he couldn't stop himself from doing it. It was "like a ball going downhill so far, it just goes," he said. He didn't consider the consequences of his actions.

Perro pleaded no contest to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, and Gainous was convicted of capital murder. Both are serving life sentences. Lewis pleaded no contest to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was recently paroled.

Former football star executed for Houston slaying

By Michael Graczyk - Denton Record-Chronicle

AP 11/10/2004

Convicted killer Demarco McCullum, who traded a promising athletic future for a cell on Texas death row, was executed Tuesday evening for the abduction, robbery, beating and fatal shooting of a Houston man 10 years ago. In a brief final statement, McCullum expressed appreciation and love "to all those who supported me over the years. And I want to let my mom know I love her and will see her in heaven."

Seven minutes later, McCullum was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. CST. His victim's mother was among four witnesses to watch McCullum die, but he did not acknowledge their presence.

McCullum, 30, was arrested the day in 1994 he was supposed to leave for Tyler Junior College, where he had an athletic scholarship after a standout football career as quarterback at Aldine High School in north Houston. That summer, however, authorities linked him and several football-player companions to a series of robberies and assaults around Houston, culminating in the slaying of 29-year-old Michael Burzinski.

"I don't want to say the word 'closure,' because a person never really experiences closure when you especially lose a child like this to violence," Kay Bruzinski, who lost her son 10 years ago, said after the execution. "Demarco McCullum viciously murdered our son. He was found guilty by the jury. He was sentenced to death. He went through all the processes of appeals... "I'm sure he was nervous, I'm sure he was afraid, and possibly it gave him a slight taste of what our Michael went through 10 years ago." McCullum was the 21st Texas inmate executed this year and the first of two on consecutive nights.

Legal appeals were exhausted. Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to commute his sentence to life or grant a reprieve. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year decided not to review his case. "He seemed to be two different people," said Tommy LeFon, the assistant Harris County district attorney who prosecuted McCullum. "When he was around people at church and at school, he was a good kid. When away from those kinds of influences, he wasn't."

"He engaged in some very bad behavior, according to the jury that convicted him, but that doesn't necessarily mean he will be dangerous the rest of his life," McCullum's lawyer, David Schulman, said, noting that McCullum had been a model inmate with no disciplinary infractions. "None of us benefit by his execution. All of us benefit by him being sentenced to prison for the rest of his life."

McCullum, who was 19 when he was arrested, blamed his actions on a lack of maturity. "I wasn't one of those that had goals," he said recently from death row. "I was one of those that whatever the wind was blowing." Prosecutors said Burzinski, who had moved to Houston from Toledo, Ohio, was approached by McCullum and three of his buddies outside a Houston gay club the night of July 30, 1994.

Authorities believed the four were looking for easy money and figured a homosexual made a good target, a contention McCullum disputed. "That wasn't the case at all," he said. "This guy approached us. The dude was drunk and high."

Burzinski was beaten and taken away in his own car, was forced to withdraw $400 from an automated bank machine, then was shot in the back of the head. His body was dumped in north Harris County, miles from where he was abducted, and the car was abandoned and torched three blocks from where one of his attackers lived. A reward posted for information in the case prompted a tip to a Crimestoppers phone line that led to McCullum's arrest.

Also arrested were Terrance Perro, Decedrick Gainous and Christopher Lewis. Gainous, who also was to have played football with McCullum at Tyler Junior College, and Perro received life prison terms. Lewis testified against McCullum and got a 15-year sentence.

In a statement defense attorneys argued was coerced by police, McCullum said he shot Burzinski "because that is what everybody said I should do." "Things just happened," McCullum said from death row.

McCullum, who grew up in Seminary, Miss., a town of 400 north of Hattiesburg, and moved to Houston in 1990, said he wasn't frightened by the prospect of death. "There's life after here," he said. Another inmate, Frederick McWilliams, convicted of fatally shooting a man in Houston while stealing a car, was set to die Wednesday evening.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

DeMarco McCullum - Texas - November 9, 2004

The state of Texas plans to execute DeMarco McCullum, Nov. 9 for the abduction and murder of Michael Burzinski in Harris County. The crime took place in 1996 when McCullum, a black man, was 19 years old. He was accompanied by three co-defendants who were his high school football teammates. Burzinski, a white man, was accosted by the four individuals outside a nightclub where he was robbed and made to withdraw $400 cash from an ATM machine.

The prosecution maintains Burzinski was targeted because McCullum and his co-defendants thought he was gay and would consequently be carrying a lot of money. According to the testimony presented at trial, McCullum shot and killed Burzinski after he said the four co-defendants names out loud and proclaimed he needed to kill the victim because he knew their names.

McCullum was sentenced to death based on the notion that he would continue to be a future threat to society in or out of prison. He has been in prison for 10 years and has been a model prisoner. McCullum accepts full responsibility for his actions and is truly remorseful for the crimes he has committed. There is every reason to believe McCullum could continue to live peacefully in a structured environment. McCullum’s attorney was quick to express his concern that the state was executing a reformed law abiding man who is very different today than he was at 19 when the crime was committed.

Jurors for capital murder trials in Texas are required to state whether there is a probability that the defendant would pose a future threat to society. Oregon is the only other state to allow this issue to weigh in to whether a death sentence should be given. Of 38 states with the death penalty, 29 do not allow any evidence surrounding posing a future threat to society to be considered.

A recent study conducted by the Texas Defender Service found that Texas’ method of determining whether an inmate poses a future threat to society has been incorrect 95 percent of the time. The study pointed to the fact that the American Psychiatric Association has affirmed the notion that the “unreliability of psychiatric predictions of long-term future dangerousness (are) by now an established fact within the profession.” The psychiatric community continues to maintain expert testimony regarding this issue should be deemed inadmissible at capital sentencing hearings.

McCullum’s case serves as an illustration of the fact that the process Texas courts use to determine a future long-term threat to society is faulty. However the issue continues to send many defendants to the death chamber. The state of Texas has already executed four people in October and is scheduled to execute a fifth. Six additional executions are scheduled in November, one in December and four in January.

Please write Gov. Perry and the Board of Pardons and Paroles asking them to halt the senseless execution of DeMarco McCullum and grant a stay.

Texas Performs 21st Execution This Year

Reuters News

Tue Nov 9, 2004

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (Reuters) - A former high school football star who helped abduct a man from the parking lot of a gay nightclub, then robbed and killed him, was executed on Tuesday in the 21st lethal injection in Texas this year.

Demarco McCullum, 30, was the first of two murderers scheduled for execution this week and the 334th to die since 1982, when the state resumed capital punishment. Texas is the most active U.S. death penalty state. McCullum was convicted for the July 30, 1994, death of Michael Burzinski, a 29-year-old who encountered McCullum and three friends outside a Houston gay club.

According to prosecutors, the four beat Burzinski, kidnapped him, and forced him to withdraw $400 from an automatic teller machine before McCullum shot him in the back of the head and dumped the body just north of Houston. Two of McCullum's accomplices received life sentences. The third cooperated with authorities and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

"I just wanted to say to all of those that have supported me over the years that I appreciate it and I love you," McCullum said in his final statement. "And I just want to tell my Mom that I love her and I will see her in heaven." McCullum requested a cheeseburger, french fries, apple pie, three Cokes and five mint sticks for his last meal.

Texas has three more executions scheduled this year. The next is set for Wednesday, when Frederick McWilliams is scheduled to die for a 1996 slaying in Houston.

Former Aldine High football star set for execution tonight

By Kelly Prew - The Huntsville Item

November 9, 2004

Demarco McCullum was once a star on the football field at Aldine High School in Houston. He was preparing to attend college on a football scholarship when he made a decision that would put him behind bars on Texas death row.

In July 1994, McCullum and three friends drove to a club frequented by homosexuals, where they abducted and ultimately killed 29-year-old Michael Burzinski. His execution is set for tonight at the Huntsville "Walls" Unit, and as he told The Huntsville Item in a recent interview, he has accepted his fate and "the legal stuff is all over."

Also arrested were Terrance Perro, Decedrick Gainous and Christopher Lewis. Gainous, who also was to have played football with McCullum at Tyler Junior College, and Perro received life prison terms. Lewis testified against McCullum and got a 15-year sentence.

Court testimony from his co-defendants stated that McCullum needed money to buy clothes for college, and because he believed gay men to carry lots of cash, decided to rob a random victim in the Montrose area of Houston. "I didn't say that," McCullum said in an interview from death row at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Polunsky Unit near Livingston. "That came from one of my other co-defendants. That dude came up to us and started talking, and he was drunk. He got in the car on his own, and I began to drive."

The three men brutalized the victim and drove him to an ATM machine on Little York, where they forced Burzinski to withdraw $400 from his account. The group, directed by McCullum, then drove to a secluded area where the victim was shot once in the back of the head.

His co-defendants told a jury that McCullum told them Burzinski had to die because he knew their names. McCullum then reportedly shouted the name of each member of the group, including his own. The victim pleaded for his life, and McCullum shot him. "I'm not denying I was the shooter, but they said I shot him at close range," McCullum said. "I shot at Mike, but I was about six feet away. "When you look at the trial, I know I'm (on death row) because I'm a continued threat. I never made any excuses for robbery or that man losing his life. I mean, get me for what I've done, but don't pile up other stories."

McCullum didn't have convictions but authorities tied him to a series of shootings, robberies and assaults that summer.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency plea. McCullum's lawyer, David Schulman, said appeals were exhausted. Schulman, however, disagreed with the trial jury's finding that McCullum presented a future danger, one of the elements that determined he should receive a death sentence. "He doesn't even have a disciplinary record, never broke any of the rules," Schulman said of McCullum's conduct since arriving on death row.

Burzinski's body was dumped in north Harris County, miles from where he was abducted, and the car was abandoned and torched three blocks from where one of his attackers lived. A reward posted for information in the case prompted a tip to a Crimestoppers phone line. McCullum was arrested the day he was supposed to leave for Tyler Junior College, where he had been given a free ride on a football scholarship.

McCullum said his mother has continued to visit him every two weeks on death row. Because he committed his crime less than two months after graduation, McCullum, now 30, has become an adult behind bars. "I've had my growth to adulthood behind these walls," he said. "Many people here get older, but few people grow up. Only a miracle can change this situation for me, and I still believe in miracles."

As for the victim's family, McCullum said he offers them a prayer and remembers a passage from the Bible, Isaiah 61:3. "... and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. ..." "I've always said, if they want to come here, I'll talk to them," McCullum said.

McCullum would be the 21st Texas inmate put to death this year and the first of two this week. He is to be followed to the death chamber 24 hours later by Frederick McWilliams, convicted of fatally shooting a man in Houston while stealing a car.

Former football star executed for Houston slaying

By Michael Graczyk - Biloxi Sun Herald

Nov. 09, 2004

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Convicted killer Demarco McCullum, who traded a promising athletic future for a cell on Texas death row, was executed Tuesday evening for the abduction, robbery, beating and fatal shooting of a Houston man 10 years ago. In a brief final statement, McCullum expressed appreciation and love "to all those who supported me over the years. And I want to let my mom know I love her and will see her in heaven." Seven minutes later, McCullum was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. CST. His victim's mother was among four witnesses to watch McCullum die, but he did not acknowledge their presence.

McCullum, 30, was arrested the day in 1994 he was supposed to leave for Tyler Junior College, where he had an athletic scholarship after a standout football career as quarterback at Aldine High School in north Houston. That summer, however, authorities linked him and several football-player companions to a series of robberies and assaults around Houston, culminating in the slaying of 29-year-old Michael Burzinski.

"I don't want to say the word 'closure,' because a person never really experiences closure when you especially lose a child like this to violence," Kay Burzinski, who lost her son 10 years ago, said after the execution. "Demarco McCullum viciously murdered our son. He was found guilty by the jury. He was sentenced to death. He went through all the processes of appeals... "I'm sure he was nervous, I'm sure he was afraid, and possibly it gave him a slight taste of what our Michael went through 10 years ago." McCullum was the 21st Texas inmate executed this year and the first of two on consecutive nights.

Legal appeals were exhausted. Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to commute his sentence to life or grant a reprieve. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year decided not to review his case. "He seemed to be two different people," said Tommy LeFon, the assistant Harris County district attorney who prosecuted McCullum. "When he was around people at church and at school, he was a good kid. When away from those kinds of influences, he wasn't."

"He engaged in some very bad behavior, according to the jury that convicted him, but that doesn't necessarily mean he will be dangerous the rest of his life," McCullum's lawyer, David Schulman, said, noting that McCullum had been a model inmate with no disciplinary infractions. "None of us benefit by his execution. All of us benefit by him being sentenced to prison for the rest of his life."

McCullum, who was 19 when he was arrested, blamed his actions on a lack of maturity. "I wasn't one of those that had goals," he said recently from death row. "I was one of those that whatever the wind was blowing."

Prosecutors said Burzinski, who had moved to Houston from Toledo, Ohio, was approached by McCullum and three of his buddies outside a Houston gay club the night of July 30, 1994. Authorities believed the four were looking for easy money and figured a homosexual made a good target, a contention McCullum disputed. "That wasn't the case at all," he said. "This guy approached us. The dude was drunk and high."

Burzinski was beaten and taken away in his own car, was forced to withdraw $400 from an automated bank machine, then was shot in the back of the head. His body was dumped in north Harris County, miles from where he was abducted, and the car was abandoned and torched three blocks from where one of his attackers lived. A reward posted for information in the case prompted a tip to a Crimestoppers phone line that led to McCullum's arrest.

Also arrested were Terrance Perro, Decedrick Gainous and Christopher Lewis. Gainous, who also was to have played football with McCullum at Tyler Junior College, and Perro received life prison terms. Lewis testified against McCullum and got a 15-year sentence.

In a statement defense attorneys argued was coerced by police, McCullum said he shot Burzinski "because that is what everybody said I should do." "Things just happened," McCullum said from death row.

McCullum, who grew up in Seminary, Miss., a town of 400 north of Hattiesburg, and moved to Houston in 1990, said he wasn't frightened by the prospect of death. "There's life after here," he said.

Lethal Injection For Gay Killing

365Gay.com

November 9, 2004

(Huntsville, Texas) A man convicted of the adduction and murder of a gay Houston man a decade ago will die tonight in the Texas death chamber. Demarco McCullum had been found guilty of killing Michael Burzinski in 1994. He was arrested the day he was supposed to leave for Tyler Junior College to take up a football scholarship.

At his trial it was shown that McCullum and three high school buddies on July 30, 1994 went looking for a gay man to rob. They found Burzinski outside a Houston gay club. Burzinski was beaten and taken away in his own car. He then was forced to withdraw $400 from an automated bank machine. After the four teens got the money they shot Burzinski in the back of the head.

McCullum has never denied being involved in the crime, but says he was not the trigger man. He also claimed that the gang had not specifically targeted Burzinski because he was gay.

A bid to commute his sentence to life or grant a reprieve was denied by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review his case. All legal appeals are exhausted, according to his lawyer. Tonight he will be led into the death chamber at the prison in Huntsville where he will be given a lethal injection. McCullum will become the 21st Texas inmate executed this year and the first of two on consecutive nights.

Former area high school football star executed

KHOU-TV

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

HUNTSVILLE -- Convicted killer Demarco McCullum, who traded a promising athletic future for a cell on Texas death row, was executed Tuesday evening for the abduction, robbery, beating and fatal shooting of a Houston man 10 years ago. In a brief final statement, McCullum expressed appreciation and love "to all those who supported me over the years. And I want to let my mom know I love her and will see her in heaven." Seven minutes later, McCullum was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. CST. His victim's mother was among four witnesses to watch McCullum die, but he did not acknowledge their presence.

McCullum, 30, was arrested the day in 1994 he was supposed to leave for Tyler Junior College, where he had an athletic scholarship after a standout football career as quarterback at Aldine High School in north Houston. That summer, however, authorities linked him and several football-player companions to a series of robberies and assaults around Houston, culminating in the slaying of 29-year-old Michael Burzinski. McCullum was the 21st Texas inmate executed this year and the first of two on consecutive nights.

Legal appeals were exhausted. Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to commute his sentence to life or grant a reprieve. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year decided not to review his case. "He seemed to be two different people," said Tommy LeFon, the assistant Harris County district attorney who prosecuted McCullum. "When he was around people at church and at school, he was a good kid. When away from those kinds of influences, he wasn't."

"He engaged in some very bad behavior, according to the jury that convicted him, but that doesn't necessarily mean he will be dangerous the rest of his life," McCullum's lawyer, David Schulman, said, noting that McCullum had been a model inmate with no disciplinary infractions. "None of us benefit by his execution. All of us benefit by him being sentenced to prison for the rest of his life."

McCullum, who was 19 when he was arrested, blamed his actions on a lack of maturity. "I wasn't one of those that had goals," he said recently from death row. "I was one of those that whatever the wind was blowing."

Prosecutors said Burzinski, who had moved to Houston from Toledo, Ohio, was approached by McCullum and three of his buddies outside a Houston gay club the night of July 30, 1994. Authorities believed the four were looking for easy money and figured a homosexual made a good target, a contention McCullum disputed. "That wasn't the case at all," he said. "This guy approached us. The dude was drunk and high."

Burzinski was beaten and taken away in his own car, was forced to withdraw $400 from an automated bank machine, then was shot in the back of the head. His body was dumped in north Harris County, miles from where he was abducted, and the car was abandoned and torched three blocks from where one of his attackers lived. A reward posted for information in the case prompted a tip to a Crime Stoppers phone line that led to McCullum's arrest.

Also arrested were Terrance Perro, Decedrick Gainous and Christopher Lewis. Gainous, who also was to have played football with McCullum at Tyler Junior College, and Perro received life prison terms. Lewis testified against McCullum and got a 15-year sentence.

In a statement defense attorneys argued was coerced by police, McCullum said he shot Burzinski "because that is what everybody said I should do." "Things just happened," McCullum said from death row. McCullum, who grew up in Seminary, Miss., a town of 400 north of Hattiesburg, and moved to Houston in 1990, said he wasn't frightened by the prospect of death. "There's life after here," he said.

Ex-Aldine grid star set to be executed

By Michael Graczyk - Amarillo.com

AP November 9, 2004

LIVINGSTON - As the star quarterback for his Houston Aldine High School football team, Demarco McCullum was accustomed to getting his name in the newspaper. Where he got in trouble was when reports of his exploits moved from the sports section to the news section. As a result, he traded a college athletic scholarship for a cell on Texas' death row. McCullum, 30, was set to die this evening for the abduction, robbery, beating and fatal shooting of a gay man in Houston 10 years ago.

"I realize when I look back, you're young, you go out, you're not mature - which I wasn't, you fail to look beyond the moment," he said from a small cage in the visiting area of death row at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Polunsky Unit near Livingston. "I did not have my eyes on the future." Instead, prosecutors said, it was quick and easy money that McCullum and three of his football-playing buddies were seeking when they approached Michael Burzinski, 29, outside a Houston gay club the night of July 30, 1994.

Burzinski, who had moved to Houston from Toledo, Ohio, was beaten and taken away in his own car, was forced to withdraw $400 from an automated bank machine, then was shot in the back of the head. His body was dumped in north Harris County, miles from where he was abducted, and the car was abandoned and torched three blocks from where one of his attackers lived. A reward posted for information in the case prompted a tip to a Crimestoppers phone line. McCullum was arrested the day he was supposed to leave for Tyler Junior College, where he had been given a football scholarship.

"It was the first time I'd ever been in a courtroom," he said of his court appearance. "When they said: 'The State of Texas vs. Demarco McCullum,' I kind of froze."

Also arrested were Terrance Perro, Decedrick Gainous and Christopher Lewis. Gainous, who also was to have played football with McCullum at Tyler Junior College, and Perro received life prison terms. Lewis testified against McCullum and got a 15-year sentence.

In a statement defense attorneys argued was coerced by police, McCullum said he shot Burzinski "because that is what everybody said I should do." "I wish my mother had made me stay home that night," he added. "I feel terrible about what happened."

From death row, he wouldn't say he was innocent, but said when prosecutors at his trial accused him of executing Burzinski, "I did not do that, execute that victim." He also disputed accusations he and his companions were hunting for homosexuals because they believed gays had money and targeted Houston's Montrose neighborhood, known as an area of town frequented by homosexuals. "That wasn't the case at all," he said. "This guy approached us. The dude was drunk and high."

The sobriety of the victim is one point McCullum and the prosecutor at his trial agree on. "I always thought it so unnecessary for him to be killed because chances of him actually being able to identify somebody because of his intoxicated state were pretty negligible," Tommy LeFon, an assistant Harris County district attorney, said Monday. "Things just happened," McCullum said.

McCollum grew up in Seminary, Miss., a town of 400 north of Hattiesburg, and moved to Houston in 1990 where he went to Aldine High School. By the time he graduated in 1994, his football prowess earned him "Mr. Aldine" honors from his school. He didn't have convictions but authorities tied him to a series of shootings, robberies and assaults that summer. "He doesn't even have a disciplinary record, never broke any of the rules," Schulman said of McCullum's conduct since arriving on death row. McCullum would be the 21st Texas inmate put to death this year and the first of two this week. He was to be followed to the death chamber 24 hours later by Frederick McWilliams, convicted of fatally shooting a man in Houston while stealing a car.