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| Convicted murderer gets lethal injection in Texas |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/21/2003 |
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The convicted killer of an 83-year-old woman and her daughter at their Corpus Christi-area home was executed Thursday night, the first in the nation's busiest capital punishment state in nearly 2 1/2 months. Robert Henry, 41, replied, "No sir," when asked by the warden if he had a final statement. In the seconds before the drugs began taking effect, he smiled and nodded toward some friends and relatives watching nearby through a window, then mouthed, "Bye-bye. I love you. Here I go." Then he blew them a kiss. Eight minutes later, at 6:19 p.m. he was pronounced dead. He never looked at relatives of his two victims, who were watching through another window. Henry was condemned for the fatal beating and stabbing of Hazel Rumohr and her daughter, Carol Arnold, 57, on Labor Day weekend in 1993 at their home in Portland, across the bay from Corpus Christi. The U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to review his case, and no 11th-hour appeals were filed to try to stop the lethal injection. Henry, a family acquaintance, confessed the slaying to a police officer about two months after the killings but subsequently denied involvement in the deaths. The victims were stabbed and slashed. Arnold's face was beaten so badly that a neighbor could not identify her except by jewelry and clothing. San Patricio County District Attorney Patrick Flanigan, who prosecuted Henry, said physical evidence tying him to the slayings was overwhelming and included his blood, his boot print at the murder scene and a victim's blood in his car. Henry was the 22nd convicted killer to receive lethal injection in Texas this year and the first since early September. The 2 1/2-month hiatus has been the most lengthy pause in capital punishment in Texas in about seven years, although officials say the lull is probably a coincidence. Five more Texas inmates are scheduled to die next month, and at least six more are on the execution calendar for early 2004. During the same 2 1/2 months, at least five new capital murder convicts have been sent to Texas' Death Row, which houses about 450 inmates. |
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