George Rivas faces either a lethal injection or life in prison. Jurors will begin hearing evidence in the punishment phase of the trial Wednesday.

Rivas and six other inmates broke out of prison Dec. 13 and led authorities on a six-week manhunt that ended in Colorado, where the escapees were posing as missionaries.

He and the others were blamed for killing Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins during the robbery of a sporting goods store. Hawkins was shot 11 times and run over with a car before Rivas and the gang escaped with $70,000 and a cache of weapons.

"By his own words, he shot this officer five times, not once, but shot after shot after shot," prosecutor Howard Blackmon said in closing arguments Tuesday. "He guns him down and runs him over. He meant to kill him."

Defense attorney Karo Johnson said prosecutors "failed to bring you proof beyond all reasonable doubt that there was any intent by any of these people to kill Officer Hawkins."

Rivas is the first escapee to be tried for capital murder in the death of Hawkins, who never pulled his weapon.

Rivas told police he shot Hawkins because he thought the officer was reaching for his service revolver. When the other escapees joined in the shooting, Rivas was shot twice.

Rivas was serving a life sentence for robbery and kidnapping when he escaped. Psychiatrists familiar with Rivas have portrayed him as cold-blooded and fearless. "He has no conscience and does not speak the truth," wrote one in a 1994 report.

The gang broke out of the maximum-security Connally Unit in Kenedy after allegedly overpowering 11 employees and three inmates and making off with a prison pickup truck with 14 pistols, an automatic rifle, a shotgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Jurors did not hear about the gang's meticulously planned escape or the note they left behind that read: "You haven't heard the last of us yet."

The gang vanished for nearly a month after the robbery until a tip led a task force of officers to a Colorado RV park, where the fugitives had told neighbors they were missionaries.

Police captured Rivas and three others. One committed suicide and the remaining two surrendered a few days later at a motel in nearby Colorado Springs.