AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A man convicted of using an assault rifle to kill an Austin police officer during a traffic stop more than 30 years ago is for the first time apologizing as his likely execution nears.

David Lee Powell has written a letter accepting responsibility about gunning down Officer Ralph Ablanedo in 1978.

The four-page letter in his Travis County court file, examined by the Austin American-Statesman, ends decades of silence and comes as prosecutors consider setting a date for his execution.

In the handwritten letter, the 59-year-old Powell apologizes for “the evil I have done.”

Only five others on Texas death row have been there longer than Powell, who arrived in 1978.