25 August 2019 :

Larry Ray Swearingen, 48, White, was executed at 6:47 p.m. for the death of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter. "Lord forgive them. They don't know what they are doing," he said in his last words. Swearingen continued to maintain his innocence up until he was executed. Swearingen was sentenced to death in July 2000 for Trotter's abduction, rape and murder. The Montgomery College student was last seen alive on December 8, 1998. Her body was found in the Sam Houston National Forest on January 2, 1999. Swearingen repeatedly challenged his conviction and sentence over the years, and his execution was postponed 5 times. Over the years, he argued that the case against him was built on circumstantial evidence and questionable forensics. In a prepared statement his lawyer released after his death, Swearingen said he had proved his "innocence beyond any shadow of doubt," although it was not enough to stop his execution. Swearingen becomes the 4th person executed in Texas this year, the 562nd since Texas resumed executions in 1982, the 12th execution in the U.S. in 2019 and the 1,502nd person executed in the United States since 1977.