Texas Prepares for Execution of Cedric Ricks Following 2013 Double Murder of Wife and Child

Cedric Ricks faces execution Wednesday for the 2013 murder of his wife and child, despite a pending Supreme Court appeal regarding jury selection bias.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 11, 2026, 7:02 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from The Texas Tribune

Scheduled Lethal Injection for North Texas Double Homicide

The State of Texas is moving forward with the execution of Cedric Ricks, who was condemned for the 2013 capital murder of his common-law wife and her young son. According to court records, the lethal injection is scheduled to take place Wednesday evening at the Huntsville Unit. Ricks’ conviction stems from a violent domestic dispute in a Bedford apartment, during which he attacked Roxann Sanchez and her two sons from a previous marriage. While Sanchez and her eight year old son succumbed to their injuries, a 12 year old child survived the assault by feigning death until police arrived.

Legal Challenges and Claims of Constitutional Violations

Ricks currently has an active application for a stay of execution pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. This legal maneuver follows a March 4 decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which dismissed his request for a stay on procedural grounds. According to the Texas Tribune, Ricks has previously argued that his sentencing was unfairly influenced because the jury was permitted to see him in shackles. Furthermore, a 2024 appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals alleged that the prosecution intentionally excluded two potential Black jurors based on their race, though that appeal was ultimately denied.

Details of the 2013 Bedford Apartment Attack

The prosecution’s case established that Ricks fled to Oklahoma immediately after the stabbings, where he allegedly confessed the killings to a family member. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Ricks left a nine month old infant unharmed in a crib before vacating the crime scene. The survival of the 12 year old victim provided critical testimony during the 2014 trial, leading to Ricks’ death sentence. Law enforcement recovered the survivor shortly after the attack, while the family member in Oklahoma contacted authorities to report Ricks' location.