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| Jamie McCoskey |
HUNTSVILLE — An abusive childhood led Jamie McCoskey to a juvenile offense record that kept escalating as he reached adulthood.
He had a kidnapping conviction in Austin, assaults while serving time in prison, marijuana possession and a jail term where records show he used a chisel to crack the skull of a fellow Harris County inmate. Then he reached death row for abducting a Houston couple 22 years ago this week, killing a 21-year-old art student and raping the man's pregnant fiance.
On Tuesday evening, McCoskey, 49, became the 15th convicted killer executed this year in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year refused to review McCoskey's case.
At 6-feet-7 inches tall and square features, McCoskey was known to his acquaintances as "Lurch," the hulking Frankenstein-like butler to the fictional "Addams Family" of 1960s comedy TV fame.
Besides his imposing physical appearance, McCoskey achieved notoriety during his 1992 trial in Houston for walking into the courtroom the day after his capital murder conviction, grabbing a heavy oak chair and heaving it about 10 feet where it hit one prosecutor in the arm and grazed another before crashing into the jury box rail.
"That's for lying in court!" McCoskey shouted at the prosecutors.
Jurors had not yet entered the courtroom and didn't see the outburst. Days later, they decided he should receive the death penalty.
Jim Peacock, his lead trial attorney, recalled last week McCoskey "clearly was mentally ill, not normal."
McCoskey's height, square jaw and the result of being hit in the head with an iron when he was a child contributed in the "Lurch" resemblance, Peacock said.
He called McCoskey's trial "a classic insanity defense" and the case "a tragedy in so many ways, it was a tragedy for the victims, a very, very horrible brutal horrific crime. It was also a horrific terrible life that he lived leading up to that time."
His mother testified he'd been abused as a child and had been in a number of juvenile facilities to deal with behavioral problems. Prosecutors presented psychologist testimony that McCoskey had an antisocial personality disorder but did know right from wrong.
Asked if he had any final statement, McCoskey replied: "The best time in my life is during this period. ... I have been touched by an angel's wings."
He said that if he could, he would "change Dwyer's parents' suffering, because I know they are."
During his brief comments, and as a tear ran down the side of his face just above a tattoo teardrop and below his right eye, McCoskey said he wanted "to say some things so bad."
He said he appreciated people who had helped him, then turned his gaze toward Dwyer's mother and stepfather, saying, "And if this takes the pain away, so be it."
After telling the warden he was "ready to go," McCoskey turned his head back toward the warden in the seconds before the lethal dose of pentobarbital began taking effect and said loudly: "Better not be no mix-up here. I don't want no stay."
McCoskey let out a loud laugh, then began taking deep breaths that became several snores.
He was pronounced dead at 6:44 p.m. CST, 19 minutes after the lethal drug began to be administered.
Asked if he had any final statement, McCoskey replied: "The best time in my life is during this period. ... I have been touched by an angel's wings."
He said that if he could, he would "change Dwyer's parents' suffering, because I know they are."
During his brief comments, and as a tear ran down the side of his face just above a tattoo teardrop and below his right eye, McCoskey said he wanted "to say some things so bad."
He said he appreciated people who had helped him, then turned his gaze toward Dwyer's mother and stepfather, saying, "And if this takes the pain away, so be it."
After telling the warden he was "ready to go," McCoskey turned his head back toward the warden in the seconds before the lethal dose of pentobarbital began taking effect and said loudly: "Better not be no mix-up here. I don't want no stay."
McCoskey let out a loud laugh, then began taking deep breaths that became several snores.
He was pronounced dead at 6:44 p.m. CST, 19 minutes after the lethal drug began to be administered.
At least seven other Texas prisoners are set to die in the coming months, including one next month.
McCoskey becomes the 15th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 507th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. McCoskey becomes the 268th condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick Perry became governor of texas in 2001.
McCoskey becomes the 34th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1354th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
McCoskey becomes the 15th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 507th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. McCoskey becomes the 268th condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick Perry became governor of texas in 2001.
McCoskey becomes the 34th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1354th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
Source: Associated Press, Rick Halperin, November 12, 2013
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