Jan. 25
TEXASexecution
1st Texas inmate put to death this year
An Alabama man who was part of a ring that shuttled drugs from Texas to
his home state was executed today for the slayings of four people in
Houston nearly 14 years ago.
When asked by a warden if he had any final statement, Marion Dudley did
not respond, kept his eyes closed and never turned his head toward
witnesses in the chamber, which included one of his survivors and
relatives of one of the people killed.
8 minutes later at 6:16 p.m. CST, he was pronounced dead.
Dudley, 33, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., had said he wasn't at the house the night
of June 20, 1992, where 6 people were shot, 4 of them fatally, in what
authorities said was a drug dealer ripoff.
Dudley, who had record in his home state for burglary, assault, receiving
stolen property and violating probation, was the 1st Texas inmate put to
death this year.
19 convicted killers were executed in 2005 as Texas maintained its
notoriety as the nation's most active capital punishment state. Another
inmate is set for lethal injection next week and three more next month.
They are among more than a dozen Texas prisoners with execution dates in
the 1st 5 months of this year.
Dudley's lawyer had hoped the U.S. Supreme Court would stop his
punishment, arguing prosecutors improperly withheld from defense attorneys
at his capital murder trial a letter to Alabama parole officials regarding
an inmate from that state who testified against Dudley.
Attorney Ken McLean, however, said he wasn't optimistic.
"Absolutely, it's a reach," he said. "But if it's the only thing you've
got ..."
A few hours before his scheduled execution time, the high court rejected
the appeal.
The 2 survivors identified the then 20-year-old Dudley as 1 of the 3
gunmen who barged into the home of Jose Tovar, 32, and his wife, Rachel,
then 33.
In a recent interview on death row, Dudley said they were wrong.
"I was not," he said.
Jose Tovar was fatally shot in the head, as were his wife's son, Frank
Farias, 17; Farias' girlfriend, Jessica Quinones, 19, who was 7 months
pregnant; and a neighbor Audrey Brown, 21, who had just stopped by to
visit. Rachel Tovar and another friend, Nicholas Cortez, 22 at the time,
survived.
All the victims were bound with towels or strips of sheets, hands tied
behind their backs and nooses around their necks. Rachel Tovar managed to
crawl to a neighbor's house for help.
Besides Dudley, Arthur "Squirt" Brown, of Tuscaloosa, was convicted of
capital murder and sentenced to death. Now 35, he remains on death row. A
3rd man, Tony Dunson, also from Alabama and 19 at the time of the
shootings, received a life sentence.
Police said the 3 previously had been at the Tovar house to buy drugs and
knew drugs and money were there. Brown ran the ring that for nine months
had been moving marijuana and cocaine from Houston to Tuscaloosa,
authorities said.
A mini-van used as the getaway vehicle was recovered in the Alabama city,
where evidence showed they bought a new Jeep SUV with cash, eventually
traveling to Louisville, Ky., and Columbus, Ohio. About 2 1/2 weeks after
the shootings, Dudley and Dunson were arrested in Fayetteville, N.C.
"My number one problem was women," Dudley said from death row. "I was
running around. Everything went downhill from there... I just wanted to
get money, easy money. And once you start getting easy money, it's so hard
to slow down."
Dudley becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Texas and the356th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on
December 7, 1972.
Dudley becomes the 117th condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick
Perry became governor in 2001. Dudley becomes the 86th condemned inmate to
be put to death from Harris County. That represents the 2nd highest total
of executions from any single jurisdiction in the country, as only the
entire state of Virginia has more (94.)
Dudley becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1007th overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
CONNECTICUT:
State death penalty opponents watching Florida case
Serial killer Michael Ross worried he might feel pain while being executed
last year, reading numerous studies about lethal injection and haggling
with state officials about the amount of sedative he would receive.
In the end, his attorney said Wednesday, Ross was convinced that the
sedative would be strong enough and he went willingly to his execution -
even as Connecticut death penalty opponents raised similar concerns in an
attempt to save his life.
Now, concerns about potential pain caused by lethal injection are part of
a Florida death row inmate's case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court agreed Wednesday to hear the case of 48-year-old convicted
murderer Clarence Hill, who argues that an appeals court improperly denied
him the chance to fight the lethal inj
