Execution of man convicted of Gregg County slaying scheduled for Thursday

Longview, TX — Mario Swain, convicted of the 2002 beating death of a Gregg County woman, was scheduled for execution on Thursday.

Swain, 33, was sentenced to death by lethal injection by a Gregg County jury in 2003, for killing Lola Elizabeth Nixon.

Nixon was beaten to death Dec. 27, 2002 in her home on Iris Circle, off Judson Road. Prosecutors say Swain broke into Nixon's home to steal money but Nixon, 44, came home during the crime. After a struggle, Swain hit Nixon in the head with a tire tool, put her body in the trunk of her car; drove her to an abandoned car and dumped her there before returning to her home to steal money, jewelry and credit cards.

Former Gregg County District Attorney Bill Jennings prosecuted Swain's case with the assistance of Carl Dorrough.

Swain will be the 13th inmate to be put to death in Texas so far this year in the nation’s most active capital punishment state.

Donnie Lee Roberts, convicted in his girlfriend's 2003 slaying, was executed on Oct. 31. He was given a lethal injection for the killing of Vicki Bowen at her East Texas home.

To read more stories from KETK newspaper partner the Longview News-Journal go here [1].