HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) – Convicted killer Donald Aldrich became the second man put to death for the abduction and gay-bashing murder of an East Texas man.

Aldrich, 39, was executed Oct. 12, a year and a half after Henry Earl Dunn. Aldrich and Dunn were members of what Tyler-area authorities labeled the “CB Gang.” They were executed for the 1993 fatal shooting of Nicholas West, 23.

“To the West family, I would just like to apologize for your loss,” Aldrich said in a brief final statement. “I hope that you can forgive me.”

No one from West’s family was present.

“To my family and loved ones and friends, I thank all of you for your support and I am sorry for the pain and hurt I have caused you,” he told five friends he selected as witnesses. “I love you all and I will see you on the other side.”

He was pronounced dead six minutes later.

Aldrich’s execution was the 16th this year in Texas and the third in eight days. Two more remain on the schedule this month and five are set for November.

Aldrich and Dunn, along with David McMillan, first became acquainted over CB radios. For months the loose-knit group, with Aldrich considered the leader, preyed on gay men in the Tyler area.

In a videotaped confession to police, Aldrich said he didn’t like homosexuals because at age 9 he had been raped by a gay cousin.

Court records showed West, a Tyler medical clerk, was robbed Nov. 30, 1993, at a Tyler park known to be meeting place for gay men and then was taken to a remote area of Smith County.

“They kidnapped him, stripped him down, walked him into a field and basically played with him a little and killed him,” said David Dobbs, the former Smith County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Aldrich.

Dunn had blamed Aldrich for the shooting. Aldrich blamed Dunn. Authorities said both were involved. McMillan, who was 17 at the time, was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery and received a life prison term for his participation.

In late appeals to the courts, Aldrich’s attorneys didn’t dispute his guilt but raised questions about the execution procedure and trial testimony.

About an hour before the punishment was carried out, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Aldrich’s lawyers that sought an injunction to block the combination of drugs Texas prison officials use to put inmates to death. In their petition, defense attorneys called the chemicals “an unnecessarily cruel and outmoded means of lethal injection” that increases “the risk of torture in the execution process.”

A second unsuccessful appeal in the state courts had focused on the reliability of trial testimony from psychologists who said Aldrich would continue to be a violent threat if he was allowed to live although neither psychologist ever met or examined him. The question of future danger is one Texas juries must consider when deciding whether a capital murder convict should be condemned.

At the time of his arrest for the slaying, Aldrich was on parole for a pair of convictions. One was for burglary in Smith County and the second for robbery in Dallas County.