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John Quintanilla Texas Execution

John Quintanilla was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a retired Sheriff Deputy. According to court documents John Quintanilla was released from prison a few months before he decided to rob and amusement park. During the armed robbery John Quintanilla would shoot and kill Victor Billings as he attempted to stop the robbery. John Quintanilla would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. John Quintanilla would be executed by lethal injection on July 17, 2013

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A Texas man convicted of fatally shooting a retired sheriff’s deputy during the robbery of an amusement center more than a decade ago was put to death Tuesday.

John Manuel Quintanilla received lethal injection for gunning down 60-year-old Victor Billings at a game room in Victoria, about 125 miles southwest of Houston. The 2002 slaying came just a few months after Quintanilla had been released from prison after serving a sentence for several burglary convictions.

Asked to make a final statement before his execution, Quintanilla told his wife he loved her.

“Thank you for all the years of happiness,” he said. He never acknowledged his victim’s friends or relatives, including two daughters, who watched through a window.

As the lethal drug began taking effect, he snored about a half dozen times, then stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead 15 minutes after being given the drug.

Quintanilla’s wife, a German national who married him by proxy while he was in prison, watched through an adjacent window and sobbed.

Quintanilla, 36, became the ninth Texas inmate to receive lethal injection this year and the 501st since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982. His was the first of two executions set for this week; the other is planned for Thursday.

Quintanilla’s punishment was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court refused two last-day appeals.

His lawyers contended his confession was coerced by authorities threatening to also charge one of his sisters and that the statement improperly was allowed into evidence at his trial in 2004. The lawyers obtained affidavits from two jurors who said the confession was key to their decision to convict him.

“It is clear that Quintanilla would not have been convicted of capital murder if his confession had not been admitted – a fact confirmed by two of his jurors,” appeals lawyer David Dow told the high court.

“There wasn’t any coercion whatsoever,” Dexter Eaves, the former Victoria County district attorney who was lead prosecutor at the trial, recalled last week. He also said that while the robbers, who fled with about $2,000, were masked, witnesses were able to “describe very clearly who the triggerman was.”

Court records show Billings, a retired chief deputy from nearby Edna in adjacent Jackson County, was at the game center with his wife on the Sunday before Thanksgiving in 2002 when the gunmen came in through a back door. Billings approached one of them and grabbed the barrel of the gunman’s rifle “so no one else was going to be hurt, and paid for it dearly,” Eaves said.

He said Billings was shot three times, the last one fired while he was on his knees.

During questioning by detectives for an unrelated robbery some two months later, Quintanilla made references to the still unsolved Billings case, then led authorities to a canal where divers recovered items used in the holdup.

Prosecutors bolstered their case for Quintanilla’s future dangerousness by presenting evidence he attacked a jailer with a homemade weapon while awaiting trial.

Quintanilla’s accomplice, Jeffrey Bibb, 33, is serving 60 years for murder and 50 years for aggravated robbery.

On Thursday, another Texas inmate is set for lethal injection. Vaughn Ross, 41, is to be executed for a double slaying in Lubbock in 2001.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-manuel-quintanilla-texas-inmate-executed-by-lethal-injection-for-killing-of-retired-sheriffs-deputy/

Elroy Chester Texas Execution

Elroy Chester was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a man. According to court documents Elroy Chester was molesting the victim’s teenage nieces when he was interrupted by the victim. Elroy Chester would fatally shoot Willie Ryman III. Elroy Chester would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Elroy Chester would later confess to five othe murders. Elroy Chester would be executed by lethal injection on June 13, 2013.

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Elroy Chester, a man who confessed to killing five people during a six-month crime spree in southeastern Texas 15 years ago, was put to death Wednesday for the fatal shooting of a firefighter.

Chester, 44, said that he didn’t want relatives of his victims to have “hate in your heart for me.”

Chester said he confessed to killing firefighter Willie Ryman III because “you should know who killed your loved one.”

“Don’t hate me. I’m sorry for taking your loved one,” Chester said. “Elroy Chester wasn’t a bad man, I don’t care what anybody says. A lot of people say I didn’t commit those murders. I really did it.”

Moments later, Chester told the warden to proceed with the execution and began humming what sounded like a church hymn. He then took several deep breaths, yawned and began snoring as the lethal drug took effect.

Chester was pronounced dead Wednesday at 7:04 p.m. CDT, 27 minutes after the lethal drug was administered.

Ryman, a decorated Port Arthur firefighter, was killed in February 1998 when he interrupted Chester as he sexually assaulted Ryman’s two teenage nieces during a break-in at their home. Chester, who was on probation at the time, was arrested soon after and subsequently pleaded guilty to killing the 38-year-old firefighter.

DNA evidence tied Chester to the rapes. Ballistics tests matched his gun to the slayings of Ryman and four others. The gun was stolen in one of 25 burglaries in Port Arthur attributed to Chester.

A jury deliberated 12 minutes before deciding Chester should be put to death.

“In my 37 years as a policeman, I’ve never met a man so evil in my life,” said Port Arthur Police Chief Mark Blanton, who was outside the Huntsville prison with several dozen police and firefighters from the city about 75 miles east of Houston.

He said with Chester’s death, “I will know he won’t be able to prey on anybody … or take somebody else’s life.”

Chester also confessed to killing 78-year-old John Henry Sepeda and Etta Mae Stallings, 87, during burglaries. He told police he stalked Cheryl DeLeon, 40, then fatally beat her with his gun as she arrived home from work. And he admitted to shooting his 35-year-old brother-in-law, Albert Bolden Jr.,in the head.

The execution was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch appeal from Chester’s attorneys that focused on the conduct of a judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who ruled earlier in Chester’s case.

Judge Edith Jones was in a 2-1 majority two years ago that determined Chester was not mentally impaired and was therefore eligible for execution. Chester’s attorneys argued Jones subsequently displayed bias against Chester when she discussed his case during a February lecture on the death penalty at the University of Pennsylvania law school.

Jones’ remarks in February were not recorded, but attorneys for Chester obtained affidavits from several people who attended and backed an account from a lawyer who described Jones’ “outrage and incredulity” that Chester and others would raise mental impairment claims in their appeals. Attorney Susan Orlansky said the comments “infected” Jones’ judgment and called her impartiality into question.

Chester’s attorneys requested a reprieve to give new judges on the case time to study it and the allegations against Jones. They did not contest his guilt.

When a new 5th Circuit panel reviewing the arguments Wednesday said it perceived “no injustice, nor any incorrectness,” Chester’s lawyers took their case to the Supreme Court.

Chester became the seventh convicted killer executed this year in Texas and the 499th since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982 following a nearly two-decade-long hiatus.

A Dallas woman, Kimberly McCarthy, is scheduled June 26 to become the 500th Texas inmate executed in modern times.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elroy-chester-texas-man-who-confessed-to-5-killings-executed-by-lethal-injection/

Jeffrey Williams Texas Execution

Jeffrey Williams was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents Jeffrey Williams was driving a stolen vehicle and when Houston Police Officer Troy Blando attempted to arrest him a struggle ensued and the Officer was fatally shot in the chest. Jeffrey Williams would be convicted and sentenced to death. Jeffrey Williams was executed by lethal injection on May 15, 2013

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A Houston man condemned for the slaying of a police officer shot while trying to handcuff him during a car theft arrest 14 years ago was put to death Wednesday evening.Jeffrey Demond Williams, 37, received lethal injection just over an hour after his last-day appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court failed. Asked to make a final statement, Williams spoke quickly and angrily, beginning with “You clown police,” and accused them of “killing innocent kids, murdering young kids.”

“Y’all are getting away with murder all the time,” he continued. “When I kill one or pop one, y’all want to kill me.” He ended his brief tirade by saying: “God has a plan for everything. … I love everyone that loves me, I ain’t got no love for anyone that don’t love me.” He briefly picked up his head as the lethal drug took effect, then took several deep breaths and began gently snoring. Williams was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m. CDT, 26 minutes after lethal drug began, making him the sixth Texas inmate executed this year.

Williams’ lawyers had appealed to the nation’s highest court to block the punishment after lower courts rejected their arguments that Jeffrey Williams was failed by his previous attorneys. Williams was convicted of fatally shooting 39-year-old Houston officer Troy Blando while Blando was handcuffing him on May 19, 1999. Williams shot Blando with a gun he had tucked under his shirt. Blando was watching a motel where car thefts were suspected when he saw Williams drive up in a Lexus that was reported stolen in a carjacking nine days earlier. Prosecutors say that after shooting Blando, Williams fled the scene but only made it about a block before he was captured. Blando’s cuffs were hanging from one of his wrists. “I have no sympathy for him,” Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, said after standing outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit with a couple dozen officers and supporters, several on roaring motorcycles, while the execution was carried out inside. “Continuing to the very end ridiculing the police just shows what kind of thug he is.”

In their appeal, Williams’ attorneys contended his execution should be postponed so that the courts can further review their claims that he received substandard legal help at his trial that influenced the jury’s decision to sentence him to death. They also said he received “grossly deficient” counsel early on in the appeals process because his attorneys then didn’t address the poor job his trial attorneys had done. Attorneys for the state opposed any delay, contending Williams’ arguments were rejected by the courts, including the Supreme Court, in earlier appeals.

Jeffrey Williams’ fingerprints were found on the Lexus and also on Blando’s vehicle, evidence showed. When arrested, Williams was carrying the 9 mm pistol determined to be the murder weapon. At his trial, his lawyers tried to show Williams was unintelligent, had emotional problems and didn’t deserve to die. Evidence showed Williams gave investigators five taped confessions the day he was arrested. Williams said he fired in self-defense, feared Blando could have been a carjacker and didn’t know Blando was an officer. In another confession, he acknowledged knowing he was shooting a policeman.

Court records show Blando, although in plain clothes, was carrying his badge around his neck. “Troy was a great investigator,” said Jim Woods, who worked with Blando in the police auto theft division. “He had a great wealth of knowledge, was very dedicated. He’d take on the hard cases as well as the easy ones. “He loved to go out and chase car thieves. Unfortunately, that was probably his demise.” Testimony and confessions also linked Jeffrey Williams to four robberies, another shooting and an attempted robbery. Williams became the 498th Texas prisoner put to death since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982. At least eight others have executions scheduled in the coming months.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/houston-man-executed-for-fatal-officer-shooting/2075434/

Carroll Parr Texas Execution

Carroll Parr was executed by the State of Texas for a murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents Carroll Parr would shoot and kill eighteen year old Joel Domingurz during a robbery outside of a store. Carroll Parr would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Carroll Parr would insist that someone else killed the victim. Carroll Parr would be executed by lethal injection on May 1, 2013

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A Texas death row inmate convicted of killing a fellow drug dealer while robbing him outside of a Waco convenience store 10 years ago was executed Tuesday evening.

In the seconds before being injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital, Carroll Joe Parr told his victim’s wife she should talk to her brother to learn “the truth about what happened to your husband”.

Then, in what he called a “statement to the world”, Parr said he was “in the midst of the truth.”

“I am good. I am straight,” he said.

He added that he wanted his “partners” or friends to know that he would “be back” like the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator film character.

“I’m on my way back. … These eyes will close, but they will be opened again,” Parr said before telling his family he loved them and thanking his spiritual adviser.

As the lethal drug began flowing into his arms, he took a breath, yawned, then began snoring. He was pronounced dead 19 minutes later, at 6:32 p.m. CDT.

Parr’s attorneys didn’t file any last-minute court appeals but Parr himself filed a petition with the US supreme court to stop his punishment, arguing his legal help at his trial was deficient. Earlier Tuesday, the same appeal was denied by a judge in his trial court in Waco.

State and federal courts had rejected all of Parr’s earlier appeals, most recently last week.

Parr, 35, became the fifth inmate executed this year in Texas, which has 10 others scheduled for the coming months including one next week.

Known as “Outlaw” on the streets, he had told The Associated Press during a recent interview that he was resigned to his fate – and even welcomed it – although he insisted someone else killed 18-year-old Joel Dominguez.

“Death to me is the prize,” Parr said. “My eyes are clear.”

Prosecutors said Parr bought 7 pounds of marijuana from Dominguez for $2,500 on January 11, 2003, and he and a friend, Earl Whiteside, went to rob Dominguez of the money later that evening. They said Parr and Whiteside herded Dominguez and another man, Mario Chavez, to a fenced area next to the store, where Parr pistol-whipped Dominguez and demanded the money, which Dominguez gave him.

Parr ordered Whiteside to “smoke ’em,” according to court documents. Whiteside shot Chavez in the hand. Parr shot Dominguez in the head.

Parr said he was nowhere near the convenience store at the time of the killing and contended a surveillance video that showed him there was doctored by prosecutors.

“They chopped the tape,” he said.

Parr declined to say who did the shooting, saying he “gave the dudes my word” that he wouldn’t snitch on them.

Whiteside, who is serving a 15-year sentence for aggravated robbery, testified that Parr was the one who shot and killed Dominguez. Several other witnesses, including Parr’s girlfriend at the time, said Parr had told them he killed Dominguez.

“It probably was somebody who borrowed his body that’s on that video,” Russ Hunt Sr, one of Parr’s trial lawyers, said facetiously.

Hunt said the prosecution’s case against Parr was strong. The defense team focused on trying to save Parr’s life by showing jurors he had an abusive childhood and grew up in a “hellacious environment”, the lawyer said.

“We did our best for him,” Hunt said. “He really did have a terrible life. … The state had all the evidence. That makes our job a little harder.”

Parr, from prison, described himself as a third-grade dropout who “grew up on the streets since I was 9”. He said he had fathered five children.

Prior to the killing, Parr had several drug convictions, including one for three counts of delivering cocaine, for which he was placed on probation. He was also linked to, but not charged in, a fatal drive-by shooting, another shooting and an assault.

Parr recently told McLennan County authorities he had killed 16 people and offered to lead them to the remains of at least two of his victims if they would dismiss a robbery case against his nephew. But the Waco Tribune-Herald last week reported that investigators didn’t find Parr’s claims credible.

Next week, Jeffrey Williams, 37, is set to die for the 1999 slaying of a Houston police officer who had pulled him over for driving a stolen car.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/08/texas-inmate-carroll-joe-parr-executed

Richard Cobb Texas Execution

Richard Cobb was executed by the State of Texas for a murder committed during a kidnapping. According to court documents Richard Cobb and Buenka Adams would take three people from a convenience store that they just robbed.

The two women and one man were brought to a remote location where one of the woman was sexually assaulted and all three were shot with Kenneth Vandever dying from his injury. Both Richard Cobb and Buenka Adams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Beunka Adams was executed in 2021. Richard Cobb would be executed on April 25, 2013

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Texas inmate Richard Cobb was executed Thursday evening for fatally shooting one of three people he and a partner abducted during a convenience store robbery nearly 11 years ago.

Cobb, 29, didn’t deny using a 20-gauge shotgun to kill 37-year-old Kenneth Vandever in an East Texas field in 2002 where two women also were shot and one was raped. Cobb was convicted of capital murder.

“Life is death, death is life. I hope that someday this absurdity that humanity has come to will come to an end,” Cobb said when asked if he had any last words. “Life is too short. I hope anyone that has negative energy towards me will resolve that.

“Life is too short to harbor feelings of hatred and anger. That’s it, warden.”

But that wasn’t it.

Just before the lethal drug took effect and at the conclusion of his statement, Cobb twisted his head back, raised it off a pillow placed on the gurney and then toward the warden standing behind him.

“Wow!” the inmate exclaimed in a loud voice. “That is great. That is awesome! Thank you, warden! Thank you (expletive) warden!”

His head fell back on the pillow, and his neck twisted at an odd angle, with his mouth and eyes open.

He remained that way for some 15 minutes before a physician entered the death chamber to examine him and pronounce him dead at 6:27 p.m. CDT. Sixteen minutes had passed since the drug had been injected.

The father, stepmother and stepbrother of the man Cobb killed were among the witnesses at the execution. Also in the viewing area was Nikki Daniels, one of the women who was shot during the 2002 attack but survived to testify against Cobb.

Daniels, 29, said, “I thought he was going to be remorseful, I thought he was going to be apologetic, was hoping that he was going to address me.

“I saw the same evil person I saw 11 years ago… He definitely showed his true colors.”

The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual assault but Daniels agreed to be identified.

Daniels said Cobb’s punishment in the end “was far too easy.”

About two hours before the lethal injection, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Cobb to be executed, rejecting a last-day appeal. It was Texas’ fourth execution this year.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-cobb-executed-for-2002-texas-store-abduction-slaying/