|
|
| 66-Year-Old Killer Executed in Texas |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/26/2002 |
|
A 66-year-old convicted killer was executed by injection last week - becoming the oldest inmate Texas has put to death - as he bitterly professed his innocence on the gurney before the drugs stopped him mid-sentence. William Wesley Chappell angrily insisted he should have had additional DNA tests on evidence and suggested others were responsible for the fatal shootings of three people in a revenge spree. 'My request to you is to get yourself in church and pray to God he forgives you because you are murdering me,' Chappell said. He also denied molesting a 3-year-old child that authorities said led him to commit the slayings. Jane Sitton, the mother of the girl and the woman who authorities believe was Chappell's intended target in the shootings, watched the execution through a window. 'You know damn well I didn't molest that child,' Chappell said to her as the drugs flowed into his body. 'You all are murdering me and I feel sorry for you. I don't know what else to say. Please go to church and say ...,' he said, unable to complete his sentence. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m., 45 minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeals. Chappell was the oldest convict executed in Texas since the state took over capital punishment duties from counties in 1924. Authorities say Chappell broke into a home in Fort Worth in May 1988 and began shooting people with a silencer-equipped gun as they slept. Killed were Alexandra Heath, 27; her stepfather, Elbert Sitton, 71; and her mother, Martha Lindsey, 50. But police believe he missed his intended target, ex-girlfriend Jane Sitton, who had moved out of her parents' home because she feared for her safety, and Heath, her half-sister, took her room. A year before the killings, Chappell was convicted of indecency with a child for molesting Sitton's 3-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to five years in prison but was free on bond, pending appeal. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think