SAN ANTONIO — Otis McKane walked onto death row in August, joining about 200 men accused of the most heinous crimes in Texas. But the convicted killer has not found alignment with his death sentence.
"I think about my family. I read the Bible. Try to study the law as much as I can understand it," he said. "I look at the walls. I look at the faucet. I look at the door and I say, 'Man, I'm on death row.'"
The 36-year-old was convicted of capital murder on July 26. By August 6, the same jury sentenced him to the death penalty for killing San Antonio Police Detective Benjamin Marconi.
Bexar County prosecutors proved Marconi became the target of McKane's irrational rage for not seeing his son in an ongoing custody rift. Police said Marconi was shot twice during an unrelated traffic stop near Public Safety Headquarters on Nov. 20, 2016.
A day later, McKane was caught and arrested on the same day he was married.
The convicted killer granted KENS 5 Eyewitness News his first interview on death row. Per the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the in-person interviews happen with inmates behind a glass barrier and over a phone. The duration of the conversations is one hour and gets timed.
Hurst: When you hear the name Benjamin Marconi what do you think?
McKane: I think all this is messed up. I think that it hurts to know that somebody lost...somebody lost a family member.
Even with a mountain of evidence, which a jury believed, McKane disputes he's the killer. He flatly discounts a recanted video confession to police, video surveillance of a man who looks like McKane running to Marconi's police vehicle with a gun and video of him at police headquarters the morning of the murder.
Hurst: So let me get this right. You say you're innocent?
McKane: Right.
Hurst: Did you or did you not shoot and kill Benjamin Marconi?
McKane: No, I did not.
Hurst: You did not?
Mckane: No sir.
Hurst: So who killed Benjamin Marconi if you did not?
McKane: I do not know.
Hurst: So Otis, you sat in the same courtroom (as everyone else)? You saw the same video that I did?
McKane: Right.
Hurst: Do you remember the video of the person running from the car up to Benjamin Marconi in his car? They said that was you.
Mckane: That's what they say.
Hurst: So you are saying that there is someone who on this earth is roaming around who's killed Benjamin Marconi. And you ended up taking the rap for it?
McKane is appealing his death sentence. More on this story and on McKane as he reflects on his time on death row airs on Monday, Dec. 13, during Eyewitness News at 5 and 6 pm.