Texas executes 40th inmate this year

Claude Jones was executed in Texas on Thursday

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (Reuters) -- Texas, the nation's leader in capital punishment, performed a record 40th and final execution of the year Thursday, putting to death a 60-year-old man who murdered a liquor store owner in a 1989 holdup.

The 40 executions in 2000 were the most by any state in a year at least since U.S. authorities began keeping death penalty records in 1930.

Texas set the previous yearly record of 37 in 1997, but topped that with three this week, including the execution on Thursday of Claude Jones, 60.

Since resuming capital punishment in 1982, six years after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a national death penalty ban, Texas has put 239 people to death, far more than any other state.

Of those, 152 have been executed since Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, took office in January 1995.

Texas, which has 443 people on death row, has no more executions set this year, but seven already are scheduled in 2001, including three in January.

Jones was condemned to die for the November 14, 1989, murder of Allen Hilzendager, 44, who Jones shot while robbing his liquor store in Point Blank, Texas, 70 miles north of Houston.

Jones was captured two weeks later in Florida where he was charged with robbing several banks. He had a long criminal history and served several previous stints in prison for crimes ranging from robbery to murder.

Clint Hilzendager leaves after witnessing the execution of his father's killer

While strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber, Jones apologized to his victim's family, several of whom witnessed the execution.

"I hope this can bring some closure to y'all. I am sorry for your loss and, hey, I love you all -- let's go," he said.

Most lethal injections are given in the arm, but Jones received his in the leg because prison officials could not find a suitable vein elsewhere, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said.

Elouise Lotts protests against the death penalty outside the Walls Unit prison

Earlier in the day, Jones ended all legal appeals to stop his execution when he chose to withdraw a plea in state district court for DNA testing of evidence.

"He called his lawyers and said to drop it all," said Fitzgerald, who described Jones as "reserved and pretty matter-of-fact" as the execution approached.

For his last meal Jones requested eight fried eggs, bacon and sausage, a t-bone steak cooked well done and six slices of buttered toast with strawberry jelly.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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