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Jonathan Green Texas Execution

Jonathan Green was executed by the State of Texas for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of a twelve year old girl. According to court documents Jonathan Green would kidnap Christina Neal, who would later be sexually assaulted and murdered. The body of the 12 year old girl would be found at Jonathan Green home a month later. Jonathan Green would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Jonathan Green would be executed by lethal injection on October 11 2012

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A Texas man whose lawyers argued was mentally ill and incompetent for execution was put to death Wednesday evening for killing a 12-year-old girl more than a decade ago.

Jonathan Green, 44, received lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected last-day appeals to spare him. A judge earlier this week stopped the punishment, but an appeals court overturned the reprieve.

Asked by the warden if he had a statement from the death chamber gurney, Green shook his head and replied, “No.”

But seconds later he changed his mind, saying: “I’m an innocent man. I never killed anyone. Y’all are killing an innocent man.”

He then looked down and said his left arm, where one of the needles carrying the lethal drug was inserted, and said, “It’s hurting me bad.” But almost immediately he began snoring loudly. The sounds stopped after about six breaths.

Green was pronounced dead 18 minutes later at 10:45 p.m.

Green was condemned for the abduction, rape and strangling of Christina Neal, whose body was found at his home in 2000 about a month after she was reported missing. Her family lived across a highway from Green in Dobbin, about 45 miles northwest of Houston.

Green’s lethal injection is the 10th this year in Texas and the first of four scheduled for this month in the nation’s most active death penalty state.

Green’s attorneys argued his hallucinations made him ineligible for the death penalty and said a state competency hearing for him two years ago was unfair.

That led to a reprieve from a federal district judge in Houston. But the Texas attorney general’s office persuaded the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn that ruling and lift the stay of execution late Tuesday

Green’s lawyer, James Rytting, said his client hallucinated about the “ongoing spiritual warfare between two sets of voices representing good and evil.”

The appeals court found the procedures at Green’s competency hearing were not improper, that no Supreme Court precedents were violated and that it was reasonable to find Green competent for the death penalty.

Green told a psychiatrist who examined him before the competency hearing that he didn’t and couldn’t have killed Christina, that false evidence was used against him and that he understood a murder conviction could result in him receiving an injection that would kill him

Supreme Court guidance says mental illness can’t disqualify someone from execution if they understand the sentence and reasons for the punishment, the state lawyers argued.

Green had declined to speak with reporters as his execution date neared.

Investigators questioned Green at least twice in the days following Christina’s disappearance 12 years ago. His wallet was found in some woods near clothing and jewelry that belonged to Christina, but authorities found nothing else of significance at the time. A few weeks later, a tip from a neighbor about an unusually large burn pile behind his ramshackle home brought them back again.

While Green had been cooperative in the past, he grew testy and ordered them off his property when an FBI agent looking at the fire site detected the smell of a decaying body and inserted a metal probe into a patch of disturbed earth. They returned hours later with a search warrant and a dog trained to detect human remains.

The dog led officers to the girl’s body, stuffed inside a laundry bag in the home and wedged into a corner behind a piece of furniture. Green contended someone else had placed the body there and that he was being set up.

Evidence at his trial indicated he had tried to burn the body, buried it in a shallow grave, then removed it when detectives left to obtain the search warrant. DNA from her remains tied him to the slaying. A carpet fiber from her panties found in the woods was traced to a carpet in his home

Two years ago, Green came within about four hours of execution before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped the punishment amid similar arguments he was too delusional and too mentally ill to be put to death.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/11/texas-execution/1626179/

Cleve Foster Texas Execution

Cleve Foster was executed by the State of Texas for the sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Cleve Foster and Sheldon Ward would kidnap, sexually assault and murder the woman. Both Cleve Foster and Sheldon Ward would be convicted and sentenced to death. Sheldon Ward would die from a brain tumor in 2010. Sheldon Ward would be executed by lethal injection on September 25 2012

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A former Army recruiter failed to win a fourth reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court and was executed Tuesday evening in Texas for participating in the shooting death of a woman he and a buddy met 10 years ago at a bar.

Cleve Foster was pronounced dead at 6:43 p.m. CDT, 25 minutes after his lethal injection began and two hours after the high court refused to postpone his punishment. Three times last year the justices stopped his scheduled punishment, once when he was moments from being led to the death chamber.

His attorneys argued he was innocent of the 2002 slaying of Nyaneur Pal, a 30-year-old immigrant from Sudan. They also said he had deficient legal help at his trial and in early stages of his appeals and argued his case deserved a closer look.

Foster, 48, also was charged but never tried for the rape-slaying a few months earlier of another woman in Fort Worth, Rachel Urnosky

In the seconds before the single lethal dose of pentobarbital began, Foster expressed love to his family and to God.

“When I close my eyes, I’ll be with the father,” he said. “God is everything. He’s my life. Tonight I’ll be with him.”

He did not proclaim innocence or admit guilt. He did turn to relatives of his two victims, saying, “I don’t know what you’re going to be feeling tonight. I pray we’ll all meet in heaven.”

As the drugs began taking effect and while he was repeatedly saying he loved his family, he began snoring, then he stopped breathing.

Three of the nine Supreme Court justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor — would have stopped the punishment, the court indicated in its brief ruling.

Last year — in January, April and September — the justices did intervene and halted his execution, once only moments before he could have been led to the death chamber.

“It’s offensive to us the frivolous appeals that were thrown up at the Supreme Court last minute,” said Terry Urnosky, whose 22-year-old daughter’s death was blamed on Foster and a partner, Sheldon Ward. “One stay after another, just delaying the closure our families sought.”

Urnosky, his wife, and Pal’s uncle and aunt stood a few feet away from Foster and watched the execution through a window.

“It’s like ripping off a deep scab each time, preventing the wound from being able to start healing,” Urnosky said. “Now the wound can start closing.”

Maurie Levin, a University of Texas law professor representing Foster, argued the Supreme Court needed to block it again in light of their ruling earlier this year in an Arizona case that said an inmate who received poor legal assistance should have his case reviewed.

Foster and Ward were sentenced to die for killing Pal, who was known as Mary Pal and was seen talking with the men at a Fort Worth bar hours before her body was found in a ditch off a Tarrant County road.

“I am as certain of Foster’s guilt as I can be without having seen him do it,” Ben Leonard, who prosecuted Foster in 2004, said last week.

A gun in the motel room where Foster and Ward lived was identified as the murder weapon and was matched to Rachel Urnosky’s fatal shooting at her apartment.

“It wasn’t the violent death that both Mary and my daughter experienced,” Urnosky’s father said. “I feel it was way too easy, but it is what it is.”

Foster blamed Pal’s slaying on Ward, one of his recruits who became a close friend. Prosecutors said evidence showed Foster actively participated in her death, offered no credible explanations, lied and gave contradictory stories about his sexual activities with her.

The two were convicted separately, Ward as the triggerman and Foster under Texas’ law of parties, which makes participants equally culpable. Pal’s blood and tissue were found on the weapon and DNA evidence showed both men had sex with her.

At his trial, prosecutors presented evidence Pal wasn’t shot where she was found; that Ward alone couldn’t have carried her body to where it was dumped; and that since he and Foster were nearly inseparable and DNA showed both had sex with her, it was clear Foster was involved. A Tarrant County jury agreed, and both received the death sentence. Ward died in 2010 of cancer while on death row.

Foster grew up in Henderson, Ky., and spent nearly two decades in the Army. Records showed court martial proceedings were started against the sergeant first class and he was denied re-enlistment after allegations he gave alcohol to underage students as a recruiter in Fort Worth and had sex with an underage potential recruit. He’d been a civilian only a short time when the slayings occurred.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cleve-foster-executed-by-texas-after-failing-to-win-4th-reprieve-from-us-supreme-court/

Robert Harris Texas Execution

Robert Harris was executed by the State of Texas for five murders. According to court documents Robert Harris was fired from his job and would return later and opened fire killing five people. Robert Harris would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Robert Harris would be executed by lethal injection on September 20 2012

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Robert Wayne Harris, who confessed to killing five people at a Dallas-area car wash a week after he was fired from his job there in 2000, was executed Thursday evening.

Harris, 40, received a lethal injection less than two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused appeals to halt his punishment.

Harris expressed love to his brother and three friends who were watching through a window.

“I’m going home. I’m going home,” Harris said. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be alright. God bless, and the Texas Rangers, Texas Rangers.”

He snored briefly as the lethal dose of pentobarbital began, then all breathing stopped. He was pronounced dead at 6:43 p.m.

Harris was convicted of two of the five slayings in March 2000 at the Mi-T-Fine Car Wash in Irving. He also was charged with abducting and killing a woman months before the killing spree and led police to her remains.

Harris didn’t deny the slayings, but his lawyer unsuccessfully contended in appeals he was mentally impaired and should be spared because of a Supreme Court ban on execution of mentally impaired people. Attorney Lydia Brandt also argued prosecutors improperly removed black prospective jurors from serving on his trial jury. Harris is black.

Harris died “without ever having had a fair trial” on the issues, Brandt said.

Harris’ brother asked to leave the death chamber before the procedure was complete. A half-dozen friends and relatives of the victims also were present, watching in another room. Harris never looked at them. Two of them hugged after it was apparent Harris was dead. They declined to speak with reporters afterward.

State attorneys opposed Harris’ appeals, saying IQ tests disputed the mental impairment claims and that no racial component was involved in jury selection.

Harris had served an eight-year sentence for burglary and other offenses and had been working at the car wash for about 10 months when he was fired and arrested after exposing himself to a female customer. The following Monday, he showed up before the business opened, demanded the safe be opened and then shot the manager, the assistant who had fired Harris and a cashier.

Three more employees reporting to work also were shot, two of them fatally. Harris was arrested the next day.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-executes-robert-harris-confessed-killer-of-five-after-failed-supreme-court-appeals/

Marvin Wilson Texas Execution

Marvin Wilson was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a man who informed police about his activity. According to court documents Marvin Wilson blamed the victim for getting him arrested on a drug charge. Once released from jail Marvin Wilson would find the victim and fatally shoot him. Marvin Wilson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Marvin Wilson would be executed by lethal injection on August 8 2012

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The state of Texas executed convicted killer Marvin Wilson Tuesday, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his lawyers argument that he shouldn’t have been eligible for the death penalty due to his low IQ.

Wilson, 54, was pronounced dead Tuesday evening after receiving a lethal injection at the state prison in Huntsville.

In their appeal to the Supreme Court, Wilson’s attorneys argued he was too mentally impaired for capital punishment, pointing to a 2004 psychological test that pegged his IQ at 61, below the generally accepted minimum competency standard of 70.

But lower courts agreed with state attorneys, who argued that Wilson’s claim was based on a single, and possibly faulty, test. His mental impairment claim wasn’t supported by other tests and assessments over the years.

Lead defense attorney Lee Kovarsky said he was “gravely disappointed and saddened” by the ruling, calling it “outrageous that the state of Texas continues to utilize unscientific guidelines … to determine which citizens with intellectual disability are exempt from execution.”

Wilson was convicted of murdering 21-year-old police informant Jerry Williams in November 1992. The murder happened several days after police seized 24 grams of cocaine from Wilson’s apartment and arrested him.

Witnesses testified that Wilson, who was free on bond, and another man, beat Williams outside of a convenience store, accusing Williams of snitching on him about the drugs. They said the men abducted Williams, and neighborhood residents said they heard a gunshot a short time later. Williams was found dead on the side of a road the next day

In Wilson’s Supreme Court appeal, Kovarsky said Wilson’s language and math skills “never progressed beyond an elementary school level,” that he reads and writes below a second-grade level and that he was unable to manage his finances, pay bills or hold down a job.

The Supreme Court issued a 2002 ruling outlawing the execution of the mentally impaired, but left it to states to determine what constitutes mental impairment. Kovarsky argued that Texas was trying to skirt the ban by altering the generally accepted definitions of mental impairment to the point where gaining relief for an inmate is “virtually unobtainable.”Edward Marshall, a Texas assistant attorney general, said records showed that Wilson habitually gave less than full effort (on the testing) and “was manipulative and deceitful when it suited his interest,” and that the state considered his ability to show personal independence and social responsibility in making its determinations.

“Considering Wilson’s drug-dealing, street-gambler, criminal lifestyle since an early age, he was obviously competent at managing money, and not having a 9-to-5 job is no critical failure,” Marshall said. “Wilson created schemes using a decoy to screen his thefts, hustled for jobs in the community, and orchestrated the execution of the snitch, demonstrating inventiveness, drive and leadership.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marvin-wilson-convicted-killer-executed-by-texas-despite-claims-of-having-too-low-iq/

Yokamon Hearn Texas Execution

Yokamon Hearn was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a man during a robbery. According to court documents Yokamon Hearn and accomplices forced the victim into a car, drove him to a remote location where he was fatally shot. Yokamon Hearn would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Yokamon Hearn would be executed by lethal injection on July 18 2012

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America’s most prolific death penalty state has executed its first inmate using one drug instead of three. Yokamon Hearn, 33, was killed with a single dose of pentobarbital, which had been part of a three-drug mixture used for executions before shortages of the other drugs arose. Ohio, Arizona, Idaho, and Washington have already switched to using a single dose of the drug, which is more commonly used to put down dogs and cats, and Georgia announced this week that it also plans to make the switch, reports AP.

Hearn received the death penalty for the 1998 murder of a Dallas stockbroker who was carjacked and shot in the head 10 times. He was within an hour of being executed in 2004 when a federal court agreed that his claims of mental impairment due to fetal alcohol syndrome should be reviewed, an avenue of appeal that the assistant district attorney who prosecuted him claimed “would be a free pass for anyone whose parents drank.” Hearn “had a tough background, but a lot of people have tough backgrounds, and work their way out and don’t fill someone’s head with 10 bullets,” he said