Kye R. Lee / DMN

Hoyle says he endured more skins grafts than he can remember.

Kye R. Lee / DMN

Darrell Hoyle was shot, set ablaze and left to die.

FORT WORTH – Darrell Wayne Hoyle was shot, doused with gasoline and set afire.

He was lucky.

Hoyle is the sole survivor of a 1995 murderous rampage by Curtis Moore, who was convicted of capital murder for killing Roderick Moore, 24, (not related); Latasha Boone, 21; and Henry Truevillian, 20. Moore, 40, is scheduled to die Wednesday – the nation's first execution of the year.

Hoyle says he's ready.

"I want justice," said Hoyle, 34, of Fort Worth. "I was a victim of this crime. I was hogtied, shot twice. Nobody should go through what I went through. He has to pay for what he did."

Hoyle, a rap artist and producer, still carries the scars from the fire that engulfed most of his body. He was hospitalized for weeks and endured so many skin grafts, he's lost count. He says he is still healing, physically and mentally.

"This is God. That's all it is. The fire left a lot of pain."

So did the slayings of his companions on Nov. 30, 1995.

"I lost three friends," said Hoyle, who worked construction until two years ago, when his doctors said the work had become too strenuous because of his injuries. "But I had a second chance."

According to police records, Hoyle, Truevillian and Roderick Moore were kidnapped by Curtis Moore and his nephew, Anthony Moore, who was 17 at the time. The victims and the perpetrators, who were acquaintances, agreed to meet at a stable where Roderick Moore boarded and trained horses. Authorities say Curtis and Anthony Moore planned to rob the victims.

After abducting the three men, the killers drove Hoyle's car to Roderick Moore's apartment, where they also kidnapped Boone, who was Roderick Moore's girlfriend.

Police say Roderick Moore and Boone were shot and killed first and their bodies dumped on a Fort Worth street. Hoyle and Truevillian were driven to another part of town, where both were shot, set on fire and left in a car to die.

Anthony Moore, now 30, pleaded guilty to murder in 1997 and was sentenced to life in prison.

Curtis Moore has been on death row since 1996. Wednesday would be his third execution date. In 2002, Moore won a reprieve from the U. S. Supreme Court three hours before he was to receive a lethal injection when his attorneys raised the possibility that he was mentally retarded.. If so, he would be ineligible for death.

The Supreme Court denied the appeal in October.

Moore's attorney, William S. Harris of Fort Worth, could not be reached for comment.

Moore's execution date signals the beginning of numerous scheduled lethal injections in Texas this year, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. The state has 14 scheduled through April, six in January.

"We will look at this one especially because it's first for this year," said Dieter, whose organization studies how the death penalty is applied.

"You may see a spike in executions in Texas, particularly with older cases like this one that have gone through the appeals and are maybe running out of time."

Hoyle hopes that's true of Moore's case. He plans to witness the execution.

"There's not any hard feelings," Hoyle said. "I forgave the man for his actions, but I can't forget what happened. I gotta see it through."