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Texas executes Tucker for '83 pickax murders
In this story:
Jerry Lynn Dean and Deborah Thornton, murdered by Tucker in 1983
VXtreme Video
Gov. George W. Bush's statement
Witnesses describe Tucker's execution
The Thornton family speaks after Tucker's execution
Brown talks about his wife's execution
February 3, 1998
- Governor, high court deny reprieves
- Tucker admitted role in double murder
- Relatives of Tucker, victim react
- Related stories and sites
Web posted at: 11:05 p.m. EST (0405 GMT)HUNTSVILLE, Texas (CNN) -- Karla Faye Tucker became the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War on Tuesday. Before she died, the born-again Christian -- whose case sparked a debate over retribution and redemption -- apologized for hacking a man and woman to death during a 1983 break-in.
Tucker, 38, was declared dead by injection at 6:45 p.m. She died eight minutes after a fatal mix of chemicals was injected into her arm.
Witnesses said Tucker -- whose transformation from drug-crazed teen prostitute to soft-spoken born-again Christian has been the focus of worldwide publicity -- moved her lips as if in prayer and gave a soft moan as she died.
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A L S O :
Karla Faye Tucker's final statement
Texas Gov. Bush's statement on Karla Faye Tucker
International appeals to spare Tucker fail
"I am going face to face with Jesus," she told her family in a final statement. "I love all of you very much. I will see you all when you get there. I will wait for you."
Tucker apologized to the relatives of her victims, saying: "I hope God will give you peace with this."
Governor, high court deny reprieves
Tucker Profile:
Facing death with memories of murderTranscripts:
Larry King interviews Tucker
Larry King debate on Tucker caseStatistics:
Women on Death RowPoll:
Should gender be an issue?Message Board:
Debating the death penaltyExcerpts:
Tucker's letter seeking reprieveMinutes before her execution, Texas Gov. George W. Bush denied Tucker a one-time, 30-day reprieve, saying her cause had been thoroughly reviewed by appellate courts. The U.S. Supreme Court also rejected without comment two 11th-hour appeals to halt the execution.
"Like many touched by this case, I have sought guidance through prayer. I have concluded judgment about the heart and soul of an individual on death row are best left to a higher authority," Bush said.
The governor said it's his job to make sure the laws in Texas are enforced fairly and evenly, and that no preference or special treatment is given to anyone. He ended his statement by saying, "May God bless Karla Faye Tucker and may God bless her victims' families."
Outside the prison, there were cheers from some people as Tucker's death was announced. Some singing also could be heard.
About 300 people gathered outside the looming prison walls and stood milling about. Some carried signs urging that Tucker not be killed, while others supported her execution. The two sides shouted at each other, but police kept them separated.
Tucker admitted role in double murder
Tucker Tucker and an accomplice killed Jerry Lynn Dean and Deborah Thornton in 1983. Tucker admitted accompanying Daniel Garrett to Dean's Houston apartment to see if they could top off three days of almost nonstop drug-taking by stealing Dean's motorcycle.
Once inside the apartment, Garrett, then 37, started beating Dean with a hammer. When the battered man began to gurgle, Tucker, who was then 23, grabbed a 3-foot-long pickax and repeatedly plunged it into him.
Thornton was hiding under sheets in a corner until Tucker and Garrett discovered her. Tucker turned the pickax on Thornton to eliminate her as a witness.
In a tape recording played in court, she bragged to friends that she got sexual thrills out of the attack.
Garrett, who also was sentenced to death, died in prison of liver disease in 1993.
Relatives of Tucker, victim react
"...the death penalty is the thread and needle to sew it back together again..."
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"...you're all not here because my wife was killed. You're all here to celebrate a murderer..."
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As Tucker was put to death Tuesday, Thornton's husband, Richard, reportedly said, "The world is a better place."
"The life of a killer should never be glorified," he told a news conference after the execution, "I want to say to every victim in the world, 'Demand this. ... This is your right.'"
Tucker's husband, Dana Brown, a prison minister, also spoke after her death, saying she was a Christian who loved God. "Her gain today was our loss," he said.
"We feel like the system and the process has got to be changed," Brown said. "It doesn't make any difference if they are a man or a woman. They are just a human being. And who are we to say when a person is past redemption? That's what we are saying when we kill people."
People on both sides of the case, and Tucker herself, said her sex should have no bearing on her punishment. But the novelty of a woman being executed prompted hundreds of reporters and photographers to descend on Huntsville, where executions in recent years have become almost routine.
Since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in the United States in 1976, 431 men and one woman have been executed -- 144 of them in Texas, by far the most active death penalty state.
The last execution of a woman in Texas was in 1863, when Chipita Rodriguez was hanged from a mesquite tree for the ax murder of a horse trader during a robbery.
Nationwide, the last woman executed was Velma Barfield, a born-again Christian who was put to death in North Carolina in 1984 for lacing her boyfriend's food with rat poison.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Tucker dies by lethal injection
- Karla Faye Tucker's final statement
- Text of Texas Gov. Bush's statement on Karla Faye Tucker
- International appeals to spare Tucker fail
- Tucker will die unless Texas governor steps in
- Karla Faye Tucker's last hours?
- Tucker loses clemency bid; Bush reprieve still possible - February 2, 1998
- Woman's Texas execution to proceed - February 2, 1998
- Larry King Live Weekend: Replay of Karla Faye Tucker interview - January 14, 1998
- Clemency decision due Monday for woman on Texas death row - February 1, 1998
- Attorney for woman on death row challenges Texas procedures - January 20, 1998
- Texas prepares to execute woman - January 15, 1998
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Prisons
- Christian Broadcasting Network: Interviews from Death Row
- Death Penalty Links
- The Death Penalty Page
- ACLU - The Case Against The Death Penalty
- Pro Death Penalty Page
- Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
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