The Ranger Online

Express-News editor shares memories,
grief of friend on death row

By Joyce Flores

Media Credit: Altug Sami Icilensu Tricia Schwennesen, San Antonio Express-News deputy metro editor, speaks about her personal account of covering a prisoner on death row at a Society of Professional Journalists' meeting Feb. 13.

What if your friend was set to die in a week and all you could do is say goodbye? Knowing someone on death row is pretty much like that. You know that person is going to die, but you can't do anything about it.

Tricia Schwennesen found something she could do for her friend, Jonathan Moore, before he was executed. Schwennesen, the deputy metro editor for the San Antonio Express-News, wrote an article for the newspaper from a first-person point of view. She wanted readers to see the Jonathan that was not brought out in the court hearings. It was something that had not been done before, Schwennesen said.

For the first time since Moore's execution, Schwennesen spoke to a group about Moore and the article she wrote. At the Society of Professional Journalists' meeting Feb. 13, Schwennesen went into detail about her friend whom she had met while at this college.

Schwennesen and Moore attended this college in 1994. They were normal college students, they ate lunch at Main Street Pizza and hung out at Hog Wild between classes. Schwennesen even mentioned their experimental drug use and their love for live music in the article published Jan. 14.

Moore was convicted of killing Officer Fabian Dominguez on the morning of Jan. 15, 1995. His Texas Department of Corrections offender information card states: "Moore and two co-defendants had earlier burglarized the home of William Braden ... and returned to steal more items when Officer Dominguez spotted the three in the driveway and tried to stop them by pulling his weapon and ordering them out of the car. As Dominguez approached the car, Moore brushed his gun away and shot him in the face with a pistol he had pulled as the officer approached. Moore then grabbed the officer's pistol … and shot Dominguez three more times at a close range as he lay on the ground." The card also states Moore gave a full confession upon arrest.

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