Martin Gurule

In 1998, Martin Gurule did something that seemed almost impossible: he escaped from Texas death row. But Gurule wasn’t supposed to be able to get anywhere near the outside world. He was being held on Texas’s death row after being convicted of capital murder for the 1992 killing of restaurant owner Minas “Mike” Piperis and Anthony Staton during a robbery at the U&I Restaurant in Corpus Christi, Texas.

So how did a man sentenced to death manage to escape one of the most heavily secured prison units in Texas?

In this episode of How to Get on Death Row, we follow Martin Gurule’s story from his early life and relationship with Malisa Smith, through the events leading up to the U&I Restaurant murders, the investigation, his arrest, trial, and death sentence. We examine the evidence that connected Martin to the crime, the prosecution’s case, his decision to testify in his own defense, and the circumstances surrounding his conviction and placement on Texas’s death row.

Then, nearly six years after his conviction, everything changed. On November 25, 1998, Martin Gurule escaped from the Ellis Unit in Huntsville, Texas, launching one of the largest manhunts in Texas history.

We follow the desperate search that unfolded after his disappearance, the investigation into how he managed to get out of the prison, the evidence that eventually led authorities to him, and the shocking events that brought the manhunt to an end.