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Scroll through the gallery to see the most controversial executions in Texas
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Photo: TDCJ
Photo: Texas Department Of Criminal Justice
Texas’ most controversial executions
Name: Linda Carty
Crime: On May 16, 2001, Carty and three co-defendants invaded the home of a 25-year-old female. The victim and her 3-day-old baby were kidnapped and two other victims were beaten, duct taped, and left in the residence. The 25-year-old female was hog-tied with duct tape, a bag was taped over her head, and she was placed in the trunk of a car. This victim died from suffocation.
Execution: Currently on Death Row
Controversy: Her latest appeal for a new hearing includes an affidavit from a former DEA agent who alleges misconduct from the prosecutor and police. Among other things, this agent says the prosecutor threatened to ruin his career by falsely accusing him of an affair with Carty – his one-time confidential informant – if he didn’t testify in the case against her.
Texas’ most controversial executions
Name: Linda Carty
Crime: On May 16, 2001, Carty and three co-defendants invaded the home of a 25-year-old female. The victim and her 3-day-old baby were kidnapped and two
Photo: Melissa Phillip, Chronicle
Crime: Convicted of shooting his in-laws to death in 1992 in Fredericksburg
Execution: Execution stayed. Currently on Death Row
Controversy: It was argued he has suffered from schizophrenia since 1978 and is unable to rationally comprehend his impending execution.
Panetti’s execution was stayed.
Crime: Convicted of shooting his in-laws to death in 1992 in Fredericksburg
Execution: Execution stayed. Currently on Death Row
Controversy: It was argued he has suffered from schizophrenia
Photo: BRETT COOMER, MILWAUKEE JOURNALSENTINEL FILE
Crime: The stabbing death of clerk at gas station in 1983
Execution Date: December 7, 1989
Controversy: A Corpus Christi detective admitted the investigation surrounding the death was sloppy and detectives failed to follow up on tips that another man confessed to the crime
Crime: The stabbing death of clerk at gas station in 1983
Execution Date: December 7, 1989
Controversy: A Corpus Christi detective admitted the investigation surrounding the death was
Photo: Caller-Times File
Crime: Shot three people to death
Execution Date: June 21, 2011
Controversy: Defense attorneys argued that intelligence tests proved Mathis had significant mental disability
Crime: Shot three people to death
Execution Date: June 21, 2011
Controversy: Defense attorneys argued that intelligence tests proved Mathis had significant mental disability
Photo: Texas Department Of Criminal Justice
Crime: Robbery and murder of a Houston deli owner
Execution Date: Williams: January 31, 1995, Nichols: March 07, 2007
Controversy: The case drew sharp criticism due to the fact that two men were convicted and executed for a murder only one man committed.
Crime: Robbery and murder of a Houston deli owner
Execution Date: Williams: January 31, 1995, Nichols: March 07, 2007
Controversy: The case drew sharp
Photo: Houston Chronicle
Crime: Setting a fire that killed his three daughters.
Execution Date: February 17, 2004
Controversy: Eight years after Willingham’s execution, scientific evidence presented in the trial resurfaced as flawed arson science.
Crime: Setting a fire that killed his three daughters.
Execution Date: February 17, 2004
Controversy: Eight years after Willingham’s execution, scientific evidence presented in
Photo: Anonymous, HO
Crime: In 1994 at age 17 he fatally shot the father of a federal judge
Execution Date: May 28, 2002
Controversy: His youth and lack of a criminal record was cited by hundreds of supporters from around the world who pleaded to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to stop the execution.
Crime: In 1994 at age 17 he fatally shot the father of a federal judge
Execution Date: May 28, 2002
Controversy: His youth and lack of a criminal record was cited by hundreds of
Photo: JOEL ANDREWS, AP
Crime: Killed a Houston police officer
Execution Date: January 22, 2014
Controversy: Appeals were filed based on mental retardation and the violation of Arias’ United Nations treaty rights to contact his consulate upon his arrest
Crime: Killed a Houston police officer
Execution Date: January 22, 2014
Controversy: Appeals were filed based on mental retardation and the violation of Arias’ United Nations treaty
Photo: -, AFP/Getty Images
Crime: the 1983 pick-ax slaying of a Houston man
Execution date: February 3, 1998
Controversy: Faye was the first woman to be executed in Texas since 1863
Crime: the 1983 pick-ax slaying of a Houston man
Execution date: February 3, 1998
Controversy: Faye was the first woman to be executed in Texas since 1863
Photo: AP
Crime: The shooting death of two people in 1992
Execution Date: May 18, 2004
Controversy: His lawyer argued Patterson was schizophrenic and should not have been executed due to his diminished mental capacity.
Crime: The shooting death of two people in 1992
Execution Date: May 18, 2004
Controversy: His lawyer argued Patterson was schizophrenic and should not have been executed due to his
Photo: AP
Crime: Shooting and killing her husband and two children in 1987.
Execution Date: September 14, 2005
Controversy: Newton’s case garnered attention due to the lack of evidence and questionable ballistic tests presented during her trial.
Crime: Shooting and killing her husband and two children in 1987.
Execution Date: September 14, 2005
Controversy: Newton’s case garnered attention due to the lack of evidence and
Photo: MATT SLOCUM, AP
Crime: 1981 robbery and shooting of a man outside a Houston supermarket
Execution Date: June 22, 2000
Controversy: He was convicted on questionable witness testimony that, even after his death, remains debatable
Crime: 1981 robbery and shooting of a man outside a Houston supermarket
Execution Date: June 22, 2000
Controversy: He was convicted on questionable witness testimony that, even after his death,
Photo: AP
Crime: the 1994 murder of a 16 year-old girl
Execution Date: July 7, 2011
Controversy: His case gained international attention because arresting authorities did not advise him of his right to contact his nation’s (Mexico) consulate.
Crime: the 1994 murder of a 16 year-old girl
Execution Date: July 7, 2011
Controversy: His case gained international attention because arresting authorities did not advise him of his
Photo: Ho, AFP/Getty Images
Crime: One deadly robbery and the murder of a man he claims was revenge for the events September 11, 2001.
Execution Date: July 20, 2011
Controversy: The lone survivor, of Stroman’s rampage unsuccessfully sued to stop the execution, saying his religious beliefs as a Muslim told him to forgive Stroman.
Crime: One deadly robbery and the murder of a man he claims was revenge for the events September 11, 2001.
Execution Date: July 20, 2011
Controversy: The lone survivor, of Stroman’s
Photo: HOPD
Name: Jeffery Lee Wood. Wood and Daniel E. Reneau robbed a service station on Jan. 2, 1996, in Kerrville and killed the attendant, a man, in the process. Wood did not fire the fatal shot. An appeals court stopped Wood’s execution, which was scheduled for Wednesday.
Name: Jeffery Lee Wood. Wood and Daniel E. Reneau robbed a service station on Jan. 2, 1996, in Kerrville and killed the attendant, a man, in the process. Wood did not fire the fatal shot. An appeals court
Photo: The Associated Press
A North Carolina man who spent years on Texas’ death row awaiting execution was sentenced Monday to four consecutive life sentences, a plea bargain that Harris County prosecutors hope will keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Randolph Mansoor Greer, 43, was on death row until 2011, when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling that meant he and dozens of condemned inmates would get new sentencing hearings because of insufficient jury instructions.
Those cases, called Penry retrials because of the Supreme Court case, have been winding their way through Houston’s courts for years. Some have successfully been retried as death penalty cases, others have gotten plea bargains with elaborately structured pleas to ensure the former death row inmates are never free.
AWAITING HEARING: U.S. Supreme Court takes Texas death row inmate’s case
Since Texas did not have a punishment of life in prison without parole when those crimes were committed, prosecutors and families of victims have worried that even a capital murder conviction in these cases might one day lead to parole. The decision to grant parole is made by prison officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice under the law at the time of the crime.
On Monday, Greer was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in a Texas prison after pleading guilty to capital murder and other crimes he committed during a 1991 spree in the Houston area, according to the Harris County District Attorneys Office.
“Twenty-six years after committing a murderous crime spree, Mr. Greer has been resentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole,” First Assistant Tom Berg said Tuesday. “Greer, now 43, has been incapacitated and will never again pose a threat to public safety.”
NO APPEAL: Death Row inmate convicted of killing family loses federal appeal
Prosecutors said his crime spree spanned six months. In separate incidents, he abducted and sexually assaulted two Houston area women who survived the attacks.
He also robbed from a business, stole a car, and shot and killed Walter Chmiel, owner of the Alamo gun shop in Bellaire.
Greer also committed a capital murder in North Carolina as well as sexual assaults, robberies and a home invasion.
Prior to new sentencing, prosecutors consulted with survivors and the families of victims, Berg said.
brian.rogers@chron.com
twitter.com/brianjrogers
Scroll through the gallery above to see the most controversial executions in Texas
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