A Texas man convicted of stabbing 16-year-old twin girls to death more than 30 years ago was executed Tuesday night.
Garcia Glenn White received a chemical injection at the state prison in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m.
He was convicted of murdering Annette Edwards and Barnett Edwards in December 1989.
The bodies of twin girls and their mother, Bonita Edwards, were discovered in a Houston apartment.
White, 61, became the sixth inmate put to death in the United States in the past 11 days.
His execution came shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected three final appeals without comment.
Asked by the director if he had anything to say, White apologized repeatedly in his final words to the witnesses watching.
“I want to apologize for all the mistakes I've made and the pain I've caused,” he said from the death chamber, just before a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing into his arm.
He said he took responsibility for the killing, regretted his actions and was praying for prison staff, police officers and “our brothers and sisters behind the walls.”
He began singing the hymn “I trust in God” in a loud, strong voice, and then sang several verses with the refrain “I trust in God, the Savior of the world, who never failed.” I sang.
He then urged family and friends to “just keep moving forward and keep loving each other,” before ending by thanking prison staff and police officers for “treating us like people.”
As the drug began to take effect, he took a few quiet exhales, then started hearing sounds like snoring, some of them getting louder. He burped, snored softly once, and gulped.
He was pronounced dead 17 minutes later.
According to testimony, White went to the girls' home in Houston and smoked cigarettes with their mother, Bonita, who was also fatally stabbed.
When the girls came out of the room to see what had happened, White attacked them.
Evidence showed White broke down the locked door of the girls' bedroom.
Authorities later said he was involved in the deaths of a grocery store owner and another woman.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who witnessed White's death, lamented that it took nearly 30 years for a jury to return a death verdict in White's case as multiple appeals worked through the courts. .
“Words cannot describe the suffering of (the victim's) surviving family,” she said. “At least it's over now.”
White's lawyers had previously unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution of the case after a lower court denied the motion.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole on Friday denied White's request to have his death sentence commuted or given a 30-day reprieve.
White's lawyers argued that the Texas Supreme Court of Criminal Appeals rejected “medical evidence and strong factual support” that showed White was mentally retarded.
The Supreme Court banned the death penalty for people with intellectual disabilities in 2002. However, states were given some discretion in determining how to determine such disability.
Judges have struggled with how much discretion to grant.
Mr. White's lawyers also argued that the Texas Court of Appeals had submitted evidence that the death penalty was not justified, including DNA evidence showing that another man was also at the crime scene and scientific evidence showing that Mr. White was “probably suffering the death penalty.” He did not allow the submission of evidence that could have exonerated him.” Cocaine caused psychosis during his actions. ”
White's lawyers also argued that the Texas Court of Appeals had created a new system for sentencing in death penalty cases, following a recent Supreme Court decision in another Texas death row case. argued that he had the right to have his death sentence reviewed anew.
Patrick McCann, one of White's attorneys, said Tuesday that his client has been “working hard to become a better person” throughout his time in prison.
The deaths of the twin girls and their mother followed White's arrest in July 1995 in connection with the fatal robbery of grocery store owner Hai Van Pham at his store. The case remained unsolved for about six years until he confessed to the murder. .
Police said White also confessed to fatally beating another woman, Greta Williams, in 1989.
