Jan. 11
TEXAS:
4 Tarrant inmates are scheduled to die by April
A Fort Worth man who murdered 3 people in a 1995 robbery is scheduled for
execution Wednesday, the 1st of 4 Tarrant County men set to die in the
next 3 months.
Curtis Moore would be the 1st man executed in the United States this year.
Overall, 14 men are scheduled to die in Texas by April 7, a pace that 1
death penalty opposition group attributes moratorium on executions from
October 2007 to April 2008 while the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether
lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel. The court found that it is
not.
"It does seem like an unusually high number," said Kristin Houle,
executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
"It is most likely the result of the backlog of cases during the
moratorium."
Texas has scheduled the most executions in the country this year by far,
she said. In the 35 other states with the death penalty, a total of nine
people are scheduled to die by April 7.
Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
said that execution dates are set by the state district courts and that he
did not know what, if any, effect the moratorium had.
In 2008, 18 of the 37 executions in the U.S. occurred in Texas, according
to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Drug deal turned robbery
Curtis Moore, 40, was condemned for a crime spree that was the result of a
drug deal turned robbery. Killed were Henry Truevillian Jr., 20; Roderick
Moore, 24; and LaTonya Deshae Boone, 21.
In November 1995, Curtis Moore and his 17-year-old nephew, Anthony "Kojak"
Moore, met Truevillian, Roderick Moore and another man, Darrell Hoyle, at
an east Fort Worth house, according to news accounts of the crime. Curtis
Moore pulled a handgun while his nephew took money from the men.
The victims were bound, and Hoyle and Truevillian were forced into the
trunk of a car.
Curtis Moore drove to Boone's house, and Hoyle later said he heard a
gunshot while the car was stopped there.
The car was then driven to a secluded area on the Fort Worth side of Lake
Arlington, where Curtis Moore opened the trunk, shot both men, soaked them
in gasoline and set them on fire.
Hoyle kicked open the trunk and was able to run, clothes still on fire,
into some trees. Curtis Moore chased him but Hoyle testified at the trial
that he fooled Curtis by playing dead.
Truevillian died from gunshot wounds, burns and smoke inhalation. The
bodies of Roderick Moore and Boone were found dumped near the road in the
4900 block of David Strickland Road.
Anthony Moore is serving a life sentence for his role.
Execution dates were scheduled for Curtis Moore in May 2002 and August
2003 but stays were granted after his attorneys argued that he was
mentally retarded, said Helena Faulkner, a Tarrant County assistant
district attorney in the appellate division.
His 2002 execution was stopped only a few hours before it was to occur.
Prosecutors have argued that test scores from Curtis Moores youth showed
him to have an IQ ranging from 68 to 76, and that many experts say the
cutoff for mental retardation ranges from 65 to 70.
His appeal was denied in October.
—-
Scheduled executions of Tarrant County inmates Jan. 22: Reginald Perkins,
53, for the December 2000 strangulation death of his stepmother, Gertie
Perkins, 64, in Fort Worth. Her body was found stuffed in the trunk of her
car in a parking garage. Her purse and checks were missing, and her
wedding rings were pawned. Last year, police said that DNA had linked
Perkins to 2 other Fort Worth slayings: the 1991 double strangulation of
Hattie Wilson and Shirley Douglas, Wilson's 44-year-old niece. Wilson, 79,
was the grandmother of Perkins' girlfriend.
Feb. 10: Dale Devon Scheanette, 35, for the December 1996 sexual assault
and strangulation death of Wendie Prescott, a 22-year-old Mansfield
teacher's aide, in Arlington. Prescott's body was found in a partly filled
bathtub at her apartment. Her neck, hands and feet were bound with duct
tape. DNA experts linked Scheanette to Prescott's slaying, another killing
and 5 sexual assaults in Arlington, Grand Prairie and Lancaster.
March 10: James Edward Martinez, 34, for the September 2000 shooting
deaths of 20-year-old Michael Humphreys and 29-year-old Sandra Walton in
Fort Worth. Prosecutors said Martinez, who had previously dated Walton,
ambushed them outside Walton's apartment complex in the 5000 block of
Ridglea Lane. Walton's body was found in the drivers seat of her car;
Humphreys' was in the grass nearby. Police found 27 shell casings.
Prosecutors said Martinez was angry that Walton had not repaid money that
he gave her when they were dating.
[sources: Star-Telegram archives and the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice]
(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)