Texas executed condemned inmate Larry Donnell Davis on Thursday for orchestrating and taking part in the robbery and fatal stabbing and beating of a man in Amarillo 13 years ago.
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," he said in his final statement, quoting from the Bible. "It is finished."
The parents of Davis' victim watched through a window a few feet from him but he never looked at them. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. CDT, 8 minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.
Davis, 40, had been out of prison less than four months when authorities said he and several friends were involved in robbing an acquaintance, Michael Barrow, 26, and killing him at Barrow's home.
"I'm happy and thankful we do have the death penalty," said Robert Mares, the victim's father. "It's something we definitely need in our society.
"When you lose a family member the way we lost one, it's the first thing on your mind in the morning and the last thing at night. It doesn't ever escape your mind."
He said he didn't expect any kind of apology from Davis because "he had 12 years, almost 13, to do that...
"I didn't come here to see a man die. I came for my own personal satisfaction, to try to get closure to this."
Davis' execution was the 4th in Texas this year and the 2nd in as many weeks. Executions were on hold in Texas and around the country for more than 7 months until the U.S. Supreme Court in April rejected an appeal from 2 Kentucky prisoners who argued lethal injection was unconstitutionally cruel.
Texas resumed carrying out executions in June and Davis was among at least 15 condemned prisoners with death dates in the coming months, including 6 in August.
Davis acknowledged he was at Barrow's home the day of the killing and kicked the victim who had broken free of restraints on his hands and feet, but he insisted in a recent interview with The Associated Press he was not responsible for the fatal wounds.
"They finished him," he said of his friends, who accepted plea deals for lesser sentences. "I don't mind being punished for something I did not for something I didn't do."
In a detailed confession to police that ran 14 pages, Davis said he tied Barrow's hands, held him down while an accomplice stabbed him and handed his accomplice the weapons, including an ice pick, a knife and a lead pipe.
"This is a bad dude," said Pat Murphy, a Potter County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case. "Basically, Larry Donnell Davis helped him stab the guy, helped him choke the guy, he even coached him.
"The confession is the thing. He talks about how he got the knife, told him how to do it, stuck his foot across the guy's throat to show how to asphyxiate him. It's pretty chilling."
Davis was no stranger to prison or trouble at the time of the Barrow slaying in August 1995.
He'd been released from prison on mandatory supervision less than 4 months earlier, freed after serving 10 months for a parole violation and a 4-year term for theft. Even before that, Davis was locked up in 1992 with a 2-year term for a weapons and theft conviction. He was released after 5 months, then was returned about a year later as a parole violator. In May 1994, he was released again, but was back in prison 6 weeks later.
He also was accused but never tried for another murder in Dallas in 1993, where authorities said the victim was fatally beaten with the top of a toilet tank.
"I used to drink a lot," Davis said from death row.
He said he was offered a plea bargain for Barrow's death but rejected it.
"I didn't murder the dude and wouldn't accept it," he said.
Davis told police Barrow's death was a plot by 2 friends, brothers Raydon and Donald Drew, who needed money so at least one of them could get a teardrop tattoo, a gang symbol that can represent involvement in a killing or loss of a loved one in a slaying. 2 others serving as lookouts, one of them a juvenile, also were involved.
Davis supplied the knife and an ice pick used by Raydon Drew to kill Barrow, according to his confession.
At his trial, Davis' lawyers tried to show he was only a passive participant, may have been guilty of aggravated robbery or murder but not capital murder.
Barrow was found dead by his parents. Police recovered items stolen from the home, mostly electronics and some jewelry, at pawn shops.
Davis spent part of his youth growing up at a church-run children's home. He dropped out of school in the 9th grade. The father of 2 boys and 2 girls is divorced. His ex-wife testified against him at his capital murder trial and told jurors of how he abused her.
2 executions are set for next week, beginning with Jose Medellin, set to die Tuesday for his participation in the gang rape and beating deaths of 2 Houston girls.
Davis becomes the 4th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 409th overall since Texas resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Davis becomes the 170th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor of the state in 2001.
Davis becomes the 16th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1115th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin
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