A Lufkin fugitive shot by U.S. Marshals Monday as he reportedly rammed their vehicles sent a video threatening the governor to The Lufkin Daily News days before the shooting.
A 15-minute video recording of Rayford Leach, 58, shows him sitting in what appears to be a hotel room as he looks into the camera and tells Texas Gov. Rick Perry he has "three days" after receiving the video to respond to his demands. Leach doesn't make any specific threat, but predicts he will be dead or in prison if he doesn't get the response he wants. His issue is with the parole board, which he says is using psychological practices to evaluate inmates up for parole, something he said they are not qualified to do.
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This screen shot is from a video sent to The Lufkin Daily News by Rayford Leach, 59, of Lufkin. In the recording, Leach tells Texas Gov. Rick Perry he has three days after receiving the video to respond to his demands.
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Leach sent two videos to the newspaper, including one appearing to have been recorded in a private home in which he reads his letter included with the videos. The package was not labeled with the newspaper's correct postal address, and took several extra days to arrive.
Leach was paroled Sept. 22 after serving 23 years of a life sentence for aggravated robbery.
The video is the second of two Leach says he sent to the Texas governor's office. He got no response to the first, he said.
"Three days, Governor. That's all you have after you get this. Goodbye," Leach said at the end of the video.
Throughout the recording Leach talks about what he believes is the corruption of government officials and the state parole board. Criticizing the board, Leach said he believes past criminal behavior doesn't predict what someone will do in the future. He said a person's mentality determines how one will act.
State officials are not the only people who seem to upset Leach in the video. He blames the Angelina County Attorney's Office for starting a rumor about him.
"They put out a rumor that I was a dangerous man and wrote a letter to an official threatening to kidnap and kill him," Leach said, without naming the official.
Representatives with the offices of the governor and the Angelina County Attorney's Office could not immediately be reached for comment early Tuesday.
He said authorities started the rumor because they don't want what he knows to get out, and that he expected authorities to have him executed on the streets.
Leach later tells the governor he wants a class A misdemeanor charge dismissed, $250,000 paid back to him for the money his mother lost to local attorneys and $900,000 from the state for what he called his unlawful confinement due to a parole board decision before his eventual release.
At the end of the video, Leach appears to become more agitated, using profanity and shifting in his seated position.
"I'm not going to survive long enough to get this out," he said. "It doesn't matter what happens to me, it's coming out. And then your appeals court, district judges can all answer your questions. Someone has to answer for it. I'm not paying the price for it.
"As long as I can breathe, as long as I can side step you, police, then I'm going to fight it," he said.
City Editor Ashley Cook contributed to this report.
