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Rudy Esquivel Texas Execution

Rudy Esquivel was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of an undercover police officer. According to court documents Rudy Esquivel would fatally shoot an undercover police officer who was attempting to arrest him for heroin possession. Rudy Esquivel would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Rudy Esquivel would be executed by lethal injection on June 9 1986

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Without a display of remorse or fear, Rudy Ramos Esquivel was executed by injection today for the murder of an undercover narcotics officer, calmly telling his friends to ‘be cool’ and ‘stay close.’

Esquivel, 50, died at 12:21 a.m. CST, becoming the third man executed in Texas in as many months. He was the 14th person put to death in Texas since it resumed capital punishment in 1982 and the 59th in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen an individual as calm and cheerful and peaceful when he was about to meet his maker,’ said Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox, who spoke with Esquivel before watching him put to death.

Esquivel was convicted of killing Houston police officer Timothy Hearn, 28, on June 8, 1978, during a shoot-out. He claimed police officers had tried to plant heroin on him and said he felt no remorse for the shootings.

Esquivel invited four friends to his execution. ‘Be cool,’ he told them. ‘Thank you for being my friends. Give my love to everybody.’

The witnesses told Esquivel they loved him, and he replied, ‘I love you all. Stay close. Everything’s going to be all right.’

Witness Barbara Longoria read a biblical passage from 2 Timothy, and Esquivel smiled. As a hidden executioner pumped a mixture of three poisons through an intravenous tube, the four witnesses whispered prayers. Esquivel breathed deeply six times, his chest heaving, then made a snoring sound and died.

Longoria fell into the arms of her husband, Pilo, weeping.

‘It’s OK,’ he told her, ‘He’s with the Lord. He’s at peace.’

Esquivel was convicted of shooting Hearn during a drug raid in a Houston parking lot. Hearn’s partner and Esquivel were wounded in the shoot-out.

Esquivel claimed the shooting occurred after the officers tried to plant heroin in his pocket because he had refused to become an informant. He also said he had been convicted unfairly because Hispanics were excluded from his trial jury.

‘I was set up and I have no remorse in me,’ he told reporters recently. ‘I accept what is happening. My great strength is that I know I was right.’

At the time of the killing, Esquivel was on parole from a 99-year sentence he received in 1953. He had been convicted at age 17 in the gang rape of a woman on her way to church, and served 11 years. Esquivel also had been jailed in California for assaulting a police officer and forgery.

Rudy Esquivel lost an appeal before the Supreme Court less than 10 hours before his execution. He took the news calmly and without comment, prison officials said.

Esquivel, who spent Sunday morning watching television, met with relatives, friends, his attorney and a prison minister in the afternoon.

Rudy Esquivel had won a stay of execution Friday from a federal judge, who gave attorneys 20 days to present more evidence of their claim that Hispanics were improperly excluded from Esquivel’s trial jury.

The state appealed, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reinstated the death date Saturday.

Esquivel had been on death row since 1978, and had won stays of three previous execution dates.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/06/09/Esquivel-executed-in-Texas/4434518673600/

Jay Pinkerton Texas Execution

Jay Pinkerton was executed by the State of Texas for two sexual assaults and murders. According to court documents Jay Pinkerton, who was 17 years old, would sexually assault and murder two women in two separate crimes. Jay Pinkerton would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Jay Pinkerton at 24 years old would become one of the youngest people to be executed in Texas since the return of capital punishment in the 1970’s. Jay Pinkerton would be executed by way of lethal injection on May 15 1986

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Jay Kelly Pinkerton, convicted of the mutilation-slaying of one woman and the murder of another, said goodbye to his father and was executed today by injection, nine months after escaping the same fate by just 26 minutes.

Pinkerton, 24, was pronounced dead at 12:25 a.m., said Assistant Attorney General Monroe Clayton, just hours after federal judges rejected an appeal hand-delivered by Pinkerton’s mother.

His father, Gene, the only relative to witness the execution, gripped an aluminum rail in the death chamber a few feet from his son

″Be strong for me,″ Pinkerton told his father. ″I want you to know that I’m at peace with myself and with my God. I talked to everybody on the phone. I got to talk to Mom. Say goodbye to Mom. Keep your spirits up for me.″

Then he chanted: ″I bear witness to Allah. I ask for your forgiveness.″

″Bye, Jay,″ his father said.

″I love you, Dad,″ replied Pinkerton, who then said, ″I feel dizziness. I feel dizziness.″ He yawned, his eyes closed, and he died.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday twice refused to block the execution.

After the first rejection, Pinkerton’s mother, Margie, carried a personal appeal from her son to U.S. District Judge Hayden Head of Corpus Christi. Head, who was in Houston for a meeting, denied the appeal about 25 minutes later. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and the Supreme Court then also refused to stop the execution.

Pinkerton, an apprentice meat cutter, was executed for raping and mutilating Sarah Donn Lawrence in 1979 during a burglary of her Amarillo home when he was 17 years old. Mrs. Lawrence, 30, was stabbed more than 50 times and her throat was slashed.

Pinkerton also was convicted of the 1980 murder of Sherry Welch, 25, of Amarillo, who was stabbed while working in an furniture store.

Even before the final appeals were rejected Gov. Mark White announced he would not halt the execution, calling the slayings ″two of the most brutal and heinous crimes imaginable.″

″After years of litigation, Mr. Pinkerton’s case has been scrutinized in detail and no errors have been found,″ White said. ″It is time that the state be allowed to carry out its lawful punishment.″

Pinkerton averted death in August just 26 minutes before he was to be taken into the death chamber. Another stay was granted in November just 10 hours before his scheduled execution.

Pinkerton’s attorney, Dean Roper, said the appeal delivered by Pinkerton’s mother was unusual but legitimate. It contended that the jury was not asked the proper questions during the sentencing phase of the trial, particularly whether Pinkerton was provoked by Mrs. Lawrence into killing her.

Randy Sherrod, the Randall County district attorney who prosecuted Pinkerton, said the appeals were merely attempts to gain time for the condemned man, and that there was no question of provocation.

The execution was the seventh in the nation this year and the third in Texas. Pinkerton was among the youngest people executed since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted its ban on the death penalty in 1976. The youngest was Jesse de la Rosa, executed in Texas in 1985 for murdering a convenience store clerk in 1979. His age initially was reported as 24, but state prison officials said today he had been 23.

The slayings terrorized the Amarillo area, prompting people to buy extra locks for doors and guns to protect themselves.

Fewer than a dozen spectators stood in a thunderstorm outside the prison while the execution was taking place. Among them was June Morgan, of New Waverly, an aunt of Mrs. Lawrence.

″I can’t believe I’m here hoping somebody dies,″ she said. ″But he’s not a people. He’s an animal.″

https://apnews.com/article/88ee539aeb84853a2f65d0927fb90348

Jeffrey Barney Texas Execution

Jeffrey Barney was executed by the State of Texas for the sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Jeffrey Barney would get into an argument with the victim who he would then sexually assault and then strangle with a phone cord. Jeffrey Barney would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Jeffrey Barney would be executed by lethal injection on April 16, 1986

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Jeffrey Barney, who said he deserved to die for the rape and murder of a minister’s wife, was executed by injection early Wednesday.

Barney, 28, who dismissed his attorney and rejected appeals of his conviction, was pronounced dead at 1:22 a.m. EST, authorities said.

‘I’m sorry for what I done, and I deserve it, and I hope Jesus forgives me,’ Barney said as he lay on the gurney just before he was executed.

One tear rolled down his cheek, but he smiled and said to the Rev. Freddie Wier, his only witness, ‘May God bless you, Freddie.’

‘May God bless you, son,’ the Harris County Jail chaplain responded.

‘I’m tingling all over,’ Barney said after the deadly solution had begun to seep into his veins. He jerked, let out what sounded like a snore, then lay still.

‘He was very calm, cheerful, nearly joking with the chaplain and other people as he was prepared,’ said Attorney General Jim Mattox, who witnessed the execution. ‘He seemed resolved to what was taking place and even very glad it was taking place.’

He was the 12th inmate in Texas and the 55th in the nation to be executed since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. A Florida inmate, Daniel Morris Thomas, was executed at 12:19 p.m. EST Tuesday

Barney, described as ‘calm and in a good mood,’ had awaited his execution in a cell near the execution chamber, eating a final meal of frosted flakes, visiting with Wier and playing dominoes with a prison officer. Wier was Barney’s only witness.

Barney, a native of Dayton, Ohio, requested sausage pizza and milk for lunch and asked for two boxes of breakfast cereal and a pint of milk for his final meal.

Barney, who admitted the brutality of his crime, fired his lawyer and refused to authorize any appeals. His conviction and death sentence were upheld during a state appeal guaranteed by law.

He was convicted of killing Ruby Mae Longsworth, 54, in her Pasadena, Texas, home Nov. 24, 1981, while her husband was attending a ministers’ convention.

‘I don’t want to live the rest of my life in prison,’ Barney told reporters earlier this year, adding he deserved to die and was willing to administer the lethal injection himself.

‘If someone had done that to my mother, (execution) wouldn’t have been enough punishment,’ Barney said. ‘It’s been too easy for me. I just sit there in my cell every day. I’m a loner. That’s the way I prefer it.’

Houston lawyer Mary Moore offered to appeal on Barney’s behalf, but he refused her efforts and a Houston judge granted Barney’s request to have her removed from the case.

About 30 students from nearby Sam Houston State University who favor the death penalty gathered, drinking and giggling, at an outdoor death watch party about a block from the death chamber.

‘We’re for it until they come up withsomething better,’ one said of capital punishment.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/04/16/Jeffrey-Allen-Barney-who-said-he-deserved-to-die/6421514011600/

Charlie Bass Texas Execution

Charlie Bass was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a city Marshall. According to court documents Charlie Bass was stopped by Houston City Marshall Charles Baker when a fight ensued and Bass would fatally shoot Baker. Charlie Bass would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Charlie Bass would be executed by lethal injection on March 12 1986

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A man convicted of murdering a city marshal in a Houston shootout was put to death by injection early today after telling his weeping mother, ″Don’t feel bad, Mama. I deserve this.″

″Tell everybody goodbye,″ Charles Bass, 29, told his mother, Rose England, who was among witnesses to the execution.

″God’s going to take care of you,″ she replied. ″I love you, sweetheart.″

Bass took two deep breaths, looked at her, then stared at the ceiling. He was pronounced dead at 12:21 a.m., said Attorney General Jim Mattox.

The execution at the Texas Department of Corrections’ Wall Unit was the second in the United States this year and the 52nd since the Supreme Court allowed states to resume capital punishment in 1976.

Another condemned killer, Roger ″Animal″ DeGarmo, had also been scheduled for execution early today, but won a stay from a federal judge in Houston Tuesday.

Bass appealed to the Supreme Court for a stay, but the court turned the request down in a 7-2 vote late Tuesday, rejecting arguments that he didn’t get a fair trial because his attorney allegedly had a conflict of interest.

He was convicted in 1980 in the August 1979 slaying of Houston City Marshal Charles Henry Baker, who along with another officer investigating a $300 holdup stopped Bass as he was walking down a street. In a scuffle that ensued, Bass and Baker traded gunfire.

Both were wounded, and Bass again shot Baker while fleeing. He was arrested four days later in Kentucky after police were tipped off by his relatives.

Bass had insisted Baker was shot in self-defense.

Bert Graham, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted Bass, said the execution was ″a matter of self-defense for society.″

″You never wish some ill on anyone, but he has demonstrated that if society doesn’t put an end to his life, he is going to put an end to some innocent’s life,″ Graham said.

Bass’ criminal record included lengthy juvenile detention. He also served a prison term for burglary. A counselor testified at his trial that Bass once told of stabbing his mother in the back.

Mattox said he was surprised by the execution because many inmates have obtained stays. ″But as he said, he felt like he was getting something he deserved.″

DeGarmo’s attorneys argued successfully Tuesday that people opposed to the death penalty were excluded from the jury in his trial.

″I am unhappy for myself but am happy for my people,″ said DeGarmo, who had demanded to be put to death, but requested a stay because of his family.

Had Bass and DeGarmo both been put to death, it would have been the first double execution in a state since 1976 and the first in Texas since 1951.

Friends visited both inmates Tuesday. Bass ate a plain cheese sandwich as his final meal late in the evening, and a chaplain gave him Holy Communion.

DeGarmo gained notoriety when he auctioned off three of the five witness seats a convict is allowed in the death chamber, and promised to give a play- by-play account of his last minutes of life. Seven people bid for the seats, and two offered $1,500 apiece. DeGarmo, who refused to identify the bidders, said the money would be divided between his family and the victim’s.

He was sentenced to death for the 1979 slaying of Kimberly Ann Strickler, a 20-year-old Houston hematologist who was shot to death as she lay in the trunk of her car after being kidnapped from a shopping center parking lot.

The first execution this year was that of James Terry Roach, 25, who was electrocuted in South Carolina Jan. 10 for murdering two teen-agers when he was 17 years old

https://apnews.com/article/194067a1e2f12d79087bc35f1d9d0bbf

Charles Milton Texas Execution

Charles Milton was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a store clerk during a robbery. According to court documents Charles Milton was robbing a liquor store when he shot and killed the owner. Charles Milton would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Charles Milton was executed by lethal injection on May 25 1985

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Charles Milton, convicted of murdering a liquor store owner during a robbery, was executed by injection today after last-minute appeals to Gov. Mark White and the U.S. Supreme Court failed.

Milton, 34, of Fort Worth, who converted to Islam while in prison, used his final statement while strapped to a Texas Department of Corrections gurney to pray to Allah and to urge his ″brothers and sisters to be strong.″

He was sentenced to death for the slaying eight years and one day ago of Fort Worth liquor store owner Menaree Denton, who was shot in the heart while she and her husband, Leonard, struggled with Milton during an aborted robbery

Defense attorneys contended the shooting was an accident.

The legal scramble through the state and federal courts climaxed at 1 a.m. with word that the Supreme Court had refused to act. White, as has been his custom, then rejected the petition for a reprieve.

Milton, with needles inserted into his arms to carry the lethal drugs, had little reaction and died peacefully. His only deliberate movement as the drugs entered his system was to nod to his brother-in-law, Joseph Smith, one of five personal witnesses he selected.

He was pronounced dead at 1:33 a.m., becoming the fourth Texas prison inmate this year and eighth overall to be executed since the state resumed the death penalty in 1982.

In a two-page typewritten statement released late Monday, Milton said he suffered many sleepless nights for the crime.

″I am sorry Mrs. Denton was killed in the struggle over the gun, but I didn’t even know Mrs. Denton was dead until several days later,″ he wrote. He said her husband was as much to blame because of the struggle for the weapon.

Milton’s written statement asked Allah for forgiveness. But he also criticized his attorneys for the handling of his case, saying he learned more about it through newspapers or the radio than from them.

″My final words are to my mother,″ the statement said. ″I have lived my last years as a Muslim. I die as a Muslim and I would like to be buried as a Muslim. I have no hard feeling to anyone in this world.″

He signed his statement as ″Hakeem Saboor Rahim a.k.a. Charles Milton.″

Earlier Monday he met with two sisters, his ex-wife and four children

″He would have been all right if he hadn’t got involved with dope,″ said Helen Milton, his former wife, who said he had a $600-a-day drug addiction. ″He did the best he could, and two weeks before the incident he was talking about how he was clean and going to move back in.″

Today’s death date was Milton’s third. Two earlier dates had been stayed. He had been on Death Row more than six years.

https://apnews.com/article/baeb3eca846c5d53d8d904724f7092c8