2nd execution in 2 days carried out in Texas
Convicted killer Kenneth Wayne Morris avoided execution more than five years ago when he received a reprieve about two hours before he could have been put to death.
On Wednesday, his 38th birthday, he got no similar gift. It wasn’t much of a birthday celebration, but Morris ordered white cake with lemon icing for his last meal Wednesday. Then he was escorted to the death chamber.
Morris received lethal injection about a half hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-day appeal that argued his conviction and death sentence for killing a Houston man in a botched home burglary in 1991 was racially motivated because he was black.
The punishment was the second in as many nights and the 10th of the year in the nation's busiest death penalty state.
"I'm sorry for all the pain I might have caused you and your family," he told three sons and a grandson of his victim who watched him die. "I pray one day y'all can one day forgive me."
His voice broke as he told two women, including one from the United Kingdom who was his proxy wife, that he loved them.
"I've never been a widow so quick in my life," Donna Lounton said.
Eight minutes later, Morris was pronounced dead.
Morris was condemned for gunning down James Adams, 63, who was awakened when Morris and two companions broke into his home thinking it contained numerous expensive weapons. The burglars, however, had become disoriented as they drove around the neighborhood and picked the wrong house.
Adams gave them more than $1,000 in cash but no guns and was shot. The fatally wounded man fell into a closet where his wife was hiding from the intruders. She had to step over his body to summon help as the burglars fled.
In their appeal, Morris' lawyers contended the Harris County district attorney's office unconstitutionally discriminated against Morris in seeking the death penalty against him. They cited a University of Houston Law Review study published last year that alleged a "pervasive, documented pattern of racial discrimination against black defendants tried in Harris County during the period 1992-1999 — defendants like Mr. Morris."
Prosecutors dismissed the claims as erroneous, not supported by facts and failing to take into account the gruesome details of Morris' crime.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with state lawyers Wednesday, although two judges on the nine-member Texas appeals court said the issue was worth considering and thought the execution should have been stopped. No disagreements were noted from the Supreme Court in its ruling.
Morris' scheduled execution in 2003 was stopped after he won a court reprieve to investigate claims he may be mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty. Those issues were resolved last year and the new execution date was set for Wednesday. Prosecutors said they were unaware it was Morris' birthday.
Morris declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his scheduled punishment but told The Associated Press as his 2003 date neared that he and his friends got confused as they were looking for a house they believed contained guns.
After they broke through the front door, Adams came out in the hallway. Morris, who said he'd been drinking wine and earlier had passed out in the car, said one of his buddies gave him a .32-caliber pistol.
When one of his companions running down the hall bumped into him, Morris said the gun fired.
"It just went off," he said.
As Adams fell, he fired two more times into the closet.
"I didn't aim at him or anything," Morris said. "It all happened so quick."
Morris said he recalled Adams had handed him a wallet and told him to take it and leave. He said he used the money to buy some clothes and get high.
The three burglars left behind garbage bags they intended to use to carry off loot. Police found a fingerprint on one of the bags and arrested Christopher Montez, then 18. He led them to Morris.
Morris was arrested in Brenham, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, 12 days after the shooting. Montez's cousin, Orlena Ayers, then 20, turned himself in. Ayers got life in prison. Montez got 85 years. Morris received death.
Adams founded a successful Houston paint company, eventually sold it and used some of his wealth to help establish a Christian school. His wife died two years ago at age 80.
On Tuesday night, convicted killer Willie Pondexter was executed for fatally shooting Martha Lennox during a burglary at her home in Clarksville. Pondexter, 34, from Idabel, Okla., went to his death acknowledging he was involved in the burglary but insisting he was innocent of killing the 85-year-old woman more than 14 years ago.
Two more executions are set for next week in Texas.
Source : Houston Chronicle, March 5, 2009
Convicted killer Kenneth Wayne Morris avoided execution more than five years ago when he received a reprieve about two hours before he could have been put to death.
On Wednesday, his 38th birthday, he got no similar gift. It wasn’t much of a birthday celebration, but Morris ordered white cake with lemon icing for his last meal Wednesday. Then he was escorted to the death chamber.
Morris received lethal injection about a half hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-day appeal that argued his conviction and death sentence for killing a Houston man in a botched home burglary in 1991 was racially motivated because he was black.
The punishment was the second in as many nights and the 10th of the year in the nation's busiest death penalty state.
"I'm sorry for all the pain I might have caused you and your family," he told three sons and a grandson of his victim who watched him die. "I pray one day y'all can one day forgive me."
His voice broke as he told two women, including one from the United Kingdom who was his proxy wife, that he loved them.
"I've never been a widow so quick in my life," Donna Lounton said.
Eight minutes later, Morris was pronounced dead.
Morris was condemned for gunning down James Adams, 63, who was awakened when Morris and two companions broke into his home thinking it contained numerous expensive weapons. The burglars, however, had become disoriented as they drove around the neighborhood and picked the wrong house.
Adams gave them more than $1,000 in cash but no guns and was shot. The fatally wounded man fell into a closet where his wife was hiding from the intruders. She had to step over his body to summon help as the burglars fled.
In their appeal, Morris' lawyers contended the Harris County district attorney's office unconstitutionally discriminated against Morris in seeking the death penalty against him. They cited a University of Houston Law Review study published last year that alleged a "pervasive, documented pattern of racial discrimination against black defendants tried in Harris County during the period 1992-1999 — defendants like Mr. Morris."
Prosecutors dismissed the claims as erroneous, not supported by facts and failing to take into account the gruesome details of Morris' crime.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with state lawyers Wednesday, although two judges on the nine-member Texas appeals court said the issue was worth considering and thought the execution should have been stopped. No disagreements were noted from the Supreme Court in its ruling.
Morris' scheduled execution in 2003 was stopped after he won a court reprieve to investigate claims he may be mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty. Those issues were resolved last year and the new execution date was set for Wednesday. Prosecutors said they were unaware it was Morris' birthday.
Morris declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his scheduled punishment but told The Associated Press as his 2003 date neared that he and his friends got confused as they were looking for a house they believed contained guns.
After they broke through the front door, Adams came out in the hallway. Morris, who said he'd been drinking wine and earlier had passed out in the car, said one of his buddies gave him a .32-caliber pistol.
When one of his companions running down the hall bumped into him, Morris said the gun fired.
"It just went off," he said.
As Adams fell, he fired two more times into the closet.
"I didn't aim at him or anything," Morris said. "It all happened so quick."
Morris said he recalled Adams had handed him a wallet and told him to take it and leave. He said he used the money to buy some clothes and get high.
The three burglars left behind garbage bags they intended to use to carry off loot. Police found a fingerprint on one of the bags and arrested Christopher Montez, then 18. He led them to Morris.
Morris was arrested in Brenham, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, 12 days after the shooting. Montez's cousin, Orlena Ayers, then 20, turned himself in. Ayers got life in prison. Montez got 85 years. Morris received death.
Adams founded a successful Houston paint company, eventually sold it and used some of his wealth to help establish a Christian school. His wife died two years ago at age 80.
On Tuesday night, convicted killer Willie Pondexter was executed for fatally shooting Martha Lennox during a burglary at her home in Clarksville. Pondexter, 34, from Idabel, Okla., went to his death acknowledging he was involved in the burglary but insisting he was innocent of killing the 85-year-old woman more than 14 years ago.
Two more executions are set for next week in Texas.
Source : Houston Chronicle, March 5, 2009
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