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Michael Yowell Texas Execution

Michael Yowell was executed by the State of Texas for the murders of his parents and grandmother. According to court documents Michael Yowell would shoot and kill his father, strangle his mother and then cut the gas line to the home. When his grandmother opened the door the house exploded killing her. Apparently Michael Yowell committed the murders after stealing from his parents for drug money. Michael Yowell would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Michael Yowell would be executed by lethal injection on October 9 2013

Michael Yowell More News

Authorities became suspicious about the deaths of a Lubbock couple in an explosion and fire that leveled their home, when the remains of the woman retrieved from the rubble showed a lamp cord was wrapped around her neck.

Medical examiners determined 53-year-old Carol Yowell had been strangled before the blast on Mother’s Day weekend in 1998. An autopsy on the remains of her 55-year-old husband, John, disclosed he’d been shot in the head.

Their ex-convict son appeared at his parents’ home later that day, was arrested on federal firearms charges and days later was charged with capital murder for their slayings.

Michael Yowell, 43, is set for execution Wednesday evening.

He would be the 14th inmate this year executed in Texas, which carries out the death penalty more than any other state.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review Yowell’s appeals that he received shoddy legal help at his 1999 trial and in the early stages of appeals.

Yowell tried to head off the punishment by joining with two other Texas death row inmates in a lawsuit against Texas prison officials, contending that the use of a new supply of pentobarbital in executions could be unconstitutionally cruel because the drug comes from a compounding pharmacy not subjected to federal scrutiny.

Texas, like other death penalty states, has turned to compounding pharmacies, which custom-make drugs for customers, after traditional manufacturers declined to sell to prison agencies or bowed to pressure from execution opponents. Texas’ previous supply of pentobarbital expired last month.

In the lawsuit, Yowell sought an injunction to delay the execution and gain more time to ensure “the integrity and legality” of the drugs and be certain its use complies with constitutional protections.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Tuesday rejected the lawsuit, saying Yowell was demanding permission “to supervise every step of the execution process” and had “no such entitlement.” They also agreed with a federal district judge in Houston who ruled similarly that Texas prison officials had done nothing wrong.

Evidence at Yowell’s 1999 trial showed he had a $200-a-day drug habit that he stole to support. At the time of the slayings, he was on probation for burglary and drug possession.

Evidence also showed that he used a credit card he stole from his mother to buy firearms from three stores and that he falsified documents to buy and pawn weapons. He signed a statement acknowledging he’d forged checks he stole from his mother.

Yowell told authorities he shot his father, who caught Yowell trying to steal his wallet, beat and strangled his mother and then opened a gas valve in their home before fleeing. His grandmother, Viola Davis, 89, who was at the home in Lubbock, died days later of burns suffered in the blast.

“A lot of what was going on with me was hallucinations,” Michael Yowell, who declined interview requests with The Associated Press as his execution date neared, said in a 2005 interview with Lubbock television station KCBD. “I had been up for the past two months on speed and cocaine.

“Sorry couldn’t even begin to tell how I feel about what happened.”

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/man-who-killed-parents-blew-up-house-set-for-execution/1959260/

Arturo Diaz Texas Execution

Arturo Diaz was executed by the State of Texas for a murder that took place in a robbery. According to court documents Arturo Diaz forced his way into a home where he tied up two people. Both victims would be shot with one dying from their injuries. Arturo Diaz would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Arturo Diaz would be executed by lethal injection on September 27 2013

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A South Texas man was put to death Thursday for a slaying 14 years ago in which the victim was bound with shoelaces and strips of bedding, stabbed 94 times and robbed of $50.

The execution of Arturo Diaz, 37, was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court refused a last-ditch appeal to block his death by lethal injection. It was the 13th execution this year in Texas, the nation’s most active capital punishment state.

Diaz smiled and blew a kiss to several witnesses watching through a window, including his mother and grandmother.

He then turned to the father of his victim, watching through an adjacent window to the death chamber. “I hope this can bring some relief for you and your family,” he told him.

He spoke in Spanish to his own friends and relatives, telling them: “I am with God.”

He also added that he hoped his fate “serves as an example for some youngsters. … Think about it before you do drugs.”

He was pronounced dead 17 minutes later, at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

“It was way too easy,” Forrest Nichols, whose son was murdered in 1999, said as he stood watching Diaz.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials have used pentobarbital as the single execution drug for more than a year, but Diaz became the first in the state given the sedative procured from a vendor or manufacturer the prison agency has declined to identify.

Diaz’s reaction to the drug was similar to other Texas inmates who have been executed with pentobarbital. He took several deep breaths, began snoring and ceased movement in less than a minute.

The expiration date of the department’s existing inventory passed this month, possibly diluting its potency. Like other death penalty states, Texas officials needed to go to nontraditional sources because the usual suppliers bowed to pressure from capital punishment opponents and refused to make their product available.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Diaz’s attorney, James Terry Jr., argued recent high court rulings allowed another look at previously unsuccessful appeals where inmates had shoddy legal help. Diaz had deficient counsel at his 2000 trial in Hidalgo County and early in the appeals process, his attorney said.

Diaz, from Las Milpas, a small town between McAllen and the Mexican border, was convicted of the April 1999 slaying of Michael Nichols, 25, at Nichols’ apartment in McAllen. Diaz also was given two life terms for attempted capital murder and aggravated robbery of another man who survived.

Cregg Thompson, the lead prosecutor at Diaz’s murder trial, said evidence showed Diaz tried to steal Nichols’ pickup truck but couldn’t open a locked gate at the apartment complex. His shoe print was found on the keypad box at the gate, and his DNA was found on a beer bottle at Nichols’ apartment.

Diaz said he was high on drugs and alcohol during the attack on Nichols. He also confessed to a slaying that took place a month earlier. In that case, the victim’s head was stomped and face beaten with a hammer. Diaz also received a 94-year prison term for aggravated sexual assault for raping a jail inmate.

“You know it’s going to take some time for all the appeals and everything to go through,” Thompson said this week of Diaz’s execution. “But when you say 14 years, that sounds like an awful long time.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arturo-diaz-south-texas-man-executed-for-1999-slaying/

Robert Garza Texas Execution

Robert Garza was executed by the State of Texas for four murders. According to court documents Robert Garza was a gang member with the Tri-City Bombers when he took part in an ambush that would leave four women dead. Robert Garza was also suspected but not charged in another gang ambush that left six people dead. Robert Garza would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Robert Garza was executed by lethal injection on September 18, 2013

Robert Garza More News

A former South Texas street gang member was executed Thursday evening for his involvement in the killing of four women in a gang ambush 11 years ago.

Robert Gene Garza, 30, became the 12th condemned inmate executed this year in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state.

Garza smiled and blew a kiss to friends and relatives as they entered the death chamber. In a brief final statement, he thanked them for coming and told them he loved them.

“I know it’s hard for you,” he said. “It’s not easy. This is a release. Y’all finally get to move on with your lives.”

He took several deep breaths as a lethal dose of pentobarbital began flowing into his arms, then began snoring. All movement stopped within less than a minute. He was pronounced dead 26 minutes later, at 8:41 p.m. CDT.

A member of a Rio Grande Valley gang known as the Tri-City Bombers even before he was a teenager, Garza insisted a statement to police acknowledging his participation in the September 2002 shootings in Hidalgo County was made under duress and improperly obtained.

But prosecutors said Garza orchestrated the gang’s plan to silence the women, who Garza thought had witnessed another gang crime, and was present when several gang members opened fire on the women when they arrived at their trailer park home after work at a bar.

“I really didn’t have anything to do with the scenario the state was providing,” Garza told The Associated Press recently from death row. “I guess since we are gang members, they got me involved through the gang.

“I think they were just trying to close his case … and they needed somebody.”

Evidence later would show the women were killed by mistake. The gang member in the other crime never went to trial because he accepted a plea deal and prison term.

Garza, who was arrested in late January 2003, was convicted under Texas’ law of parties, which makes a non-triggerman equally culpable. Evidence showed Garza was a gang leader, told his companions how to do the killings, was present when the shootings took place and “in all likelihood was a shooter but is downplaying his part,” Joseph Orendain, the Hidalgo County assistant district attorney who prosecuted him, said this week.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case. His lawyer, Don Vernay, said appeals were exhausted.

Garza filed his own last-day appeals Thursday to the high court, delaying his punishment by some two hours until the justices ruled.

In his appeals, he argued his trial attorneys failed to obtain from his mother testimony jurors should have been allowed to hear that he stayed in the gang because he feared retaliation if he quit. He also contended his trial court judge earlier this week improperly refused his request to withdraw his execution date.

Garza argued the state should assure him the lethal dose of pentobarbital to be used in his punishment was chemically effective and obtained legally. Texas prison officials have said their inventory of pentobarbital is expiring this month.

Texas prison officials said earlier Thursday they will continue to use the same drug but wouldn’t say how the state will replace its supply.

“We have not changed our current execution protocol and have no immediate plans to do so,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Garza also was charged but never tried for participating in what became known in the Rio Grande Valley as the Edinburg massacre, the January 2003 slayings of six people at a home in the city.

In the case that sent him to death row, Garza was convicted of two counts of capital murder for the slayings of the four women. Evidence showed they were living in the U.S. without legal permission just outside Donna, about 15 miles southeast of McAllen.

In his statement to investigators, which Garza insisted was coerced, he said he carried out the “hit” with three other gunmen in two vehicles who opened fire on six women in their parked car.

Killed were Maria De La Luz Bazaldua Cobbarubias, Dantizene Lizeth Vasquez Beltran, Celina Linares Sanchez and Lourdes Yesenia Araujo Torres. Two others survived.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-gene-garza-texas-man-executed-for-gang-ambush-that-killed-4-women/

Douglas Feldman Texas Execution

Douglas Feldman was executed by the State of Texas for the murders of two truck drivers in 1998. According to court documents Douglas Feldman would shoot and kill two truck drivers during a 45 minute time frame while he drove around on his motorcycle. Douglas Feldman would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Douglas Feldman would be executed on July 31, 2013 by lethal injection

Douglas Feldman More News

A former financial analyst with a history of disruptive behavior was executed Wednesday for the shooting deaths of two truckers in the Dallas area 15 years ago.

Douglas Feldman, 55, received a lethal injection for gunning down Robert Everett, 36, of Missouri and Nicholas Valesquez, 62, of Texas.

Feldman mimicked the announcement a judge or jury makes when announcing a verdict, using the names of his victims and declaring he had found them guilty of crimes against him.

“I have sentenced them both to death. I personally carried out their executions,” he said in a loud voice, adding that he carried out their executions in August 1998.

“As of that time, the state of Texas has been holding me illegally in confinement and by force for 15 years,” Feldman said. “I hereby protest my pending execution and demand immediate relief.”

He appeared very nervous, breathing quickly and his feet twitching under a sheet. As the drug began taking effect, he grimaced twice, took a few deep breaths and began snoring. Then all movement stopped.

Feldman was pronounced dead 13 minutes after the lethal drug was injected at 6:28 p.m. local time.

Feldman’s attorney, Robin Norris, filed a clemency petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that was turned down Monday. Multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, earlier rejected appeals on Feldman’s behalf.

Feldman, from Richardson, was riding his motorcycle the night of Aug. 24, 1998, and said Everett, driving an 18-wheeler, cut him off on a Dallas County freeway so he took out his 9 mm pistol, pulled up alongside the truck cab and shot him. Feldman testified at his capital murder trial that he was still angry about 45 minutes later when he spotted Valesquez, a gasoline tanker driver filling a Dallas service station, and shot him.

“A security camera catches him shooting the man in cold blood,” Jason January, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted him, said. “Several counties were frightened as this unidentified motorcyclist was out acting like ‘The Terminator.'”

Feldman was arrested more than a week later, after shooting and wounding a man at a fast-food restaurant and driving off. A bystander saw the shooting and reported his license plate number to police, who tracked him down and found Feldman with two pistols and nearly 300 rounds of ammunition. Ballistics tests confirmed one of the guns was used in all three shootings.

“It feels wonderful to cause their death and to watch their pain,” he said in one of 81 letters he wrote to a former girlfriend while awaiting his trial. The writings from the magna cum laude Southern Methodist University graduate were introduced into evidence.

“God forbid I ever had my finger on the button to launch a nuclear explosive device because I guarantee that I would wipe as many of these bastards off the face of the planet as I am able!” he said in another letter.

Without remorse, he also acknowledged the killings while testifying at his capital murder trial.Feldman became the 11th prisoner executed this year in Texas and third this month. At least seven other inmates are scheduled to die in the coming months in the nation’s busiest capital punishment state

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/douglas-feldman-former-financial-analyst-executed-in-texas-for-1998-road-rage-killings/

Vaughn Ross Texas Execution

Vaughn Ross was executed by the State of Texas for a double murder. According to court documents Vaughn Ross would shoot and kill Texas Tech dean Douglas Birdsall and 18-year-old Viola Ross McVade. The victims bodies were found in Birdsall vehicle. DNA found at the scene would tie Vaughn Ross to the double murder. Viola Ross McVade was Vaughn’s girlfriend sister and the two had a stormy relationship. Vaughn Ross would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Vaughn Ross would be executed by lethal injection on July 17, 2013

Vaughn Ross More News

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering an appeal to block the execution of a former Texas Tech graduate student convicted of a 2001 double slaying in Lubbock.Vaughn Ross is to die Thursday evening in Huntsville for the fatal shooting of a university dean and an 18-year-old woman who was with him in a car. Prosecutors say Viola McVade was the sister of Ross’ girlfriend and had been feuding with Ross. They say Tech’s associate dean of libraries, 53-year-old Douglas Birdsall, was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Vaughn Ross is to die Thursday evening in Huntsville for the fatal shooting of a university dean and an 18-year-old woman who was with him in a car. Prosecutors say Viola McVade was the sister of Ross’ girlfriend and had been feuding with Ross. They say Tech’s associate dean of libraries, 53-year-old Douglas Birdsall, was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ross’ attorneys say lawyers at his trial and in earlier stages of his appeals were deficient and his case should be reviewed.

The execution would be the second this week and 10th this year in Texas

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vaughn-ross-execution-ex-grad-student-set-to-die-for-killing-2-in-texas/

Vaughn Ross Other News

A former Texas Tech graduate student said he was lied on before becoming the 10th inmate executed in the state this year, and the second in three days.

Vaughn Ross, 41, was killed by lethal injection for a double murder committed in Lubbock in January 2001. Ross was convicted of killing 53-year-old Douglas Birdsall and 18-year-old Viola Ross McVade, whose bodies were found in Birdsall’s car near a gully.

In his final statement, Ross was both calm and defiant.

”This is what it is,” he said to his friends and loved ones. “I know this is hard for ya’ll but we are going to have to go through it. We know the lies that were told against me in that court. We know it’s not true. I want y’all to be strong and keep going.”

Except, there were no witnesses at the execution on Ross’s behalf, though his mother Johnnie Ross had been outspoken following the 2002 conviction. Ross did not address either of the victim’s family or admit to guilt in his final statement.

“You know I don’t fear death,” Ross said, both his chest and right arm strapped to the death chamber gurney. “I know we weren’t expecting this, but this is what it is.”

Birdsall’s brother Roger stood silently witnessing the execution through a barred death chamber window. After the drugs were administered and Ross was visibly sedated, the victim’s brother wiped a single tear from his left eye.

Roger Birdsall declined to speak with reporters to hasten the process, one Texas Department of Criminal Justice official said.

Birdsall’s son, Nathaniel, told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, his father raised him to believe the death penalty was unjust.

“I am saddened that the loss of two lives will be needlessly compounded by the taking of a third,” he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a final appeal by Ross roughly half an hour before he was taken from his holding cell at 6:03 p.m. Ross was pronounced dead exactly 35 minutes later.

While he was in jail, tape-recordings showed Ross admitting to his mother that he “might have” been involved in the murders.

Matt Powell, the Lubbock County district attorney who prosecuted the case, told The Associated Press last week that it was the closest thing they had to a confession, and that “a guy could never lie to his mama.”

The AP cited court documents that show Birdsall was introduced to McVade through a friend in pursuit of a prostitute.

Rather than claiming innocence, Ross has contended his previous appeals attorneys neglected to note that his trial lawyers didn’t present evidence that may have persuaded jurors to sentence him to life in prison. Assistant Texas Attorney General Tomee Heining argued that that Ross’ trial lawyers called witnesses on Ross’ behalf and managed an “admirable mitigation defense” even though Ross had instructed his family and friends not to cooperate.

Ross was linked to the murders after detectives found his and Birdsall’s DNA on part of a latex glove in the car. Blood from both victims was traced through DNA tests on Ross’ sweatshirt.

Birdsall was an associate dean of libraries at Texas Tech and McVade was the sister of Ross’ girlfriend, with whom there was a feud. Prosecutors contended that McVade was the intended target and Birdsall was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The victims suffered 11 wounds, and McVade was shot three times in the head at close range.

There are 279 death row inmates in Texas and like Ross, 108 of them are black. The remaining six executions on the schedule are white and Hispanic males, three apiece.

Huntsville holds the nation’s most active death chamber. This was the 502nd state execution since 1982.

Douglas Alan Feldman is set to die on July 31.

https://www.itemonline.com/news/state-executes-former-texas-tech-grad-student-in-slayings/article_d608b180-e1a7-5517-9821-cda6f60191ab.html