09 March 2023 :
(March 7, 2023) - Gary Green, 51, Black, was executed.
Already 4 executions in Texas since the beginning of the year.
Gary Green received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned (see HoC November 5, 2010) for the September 21, 2009 deaths of his estranged wife Lovetta Armstead, 32, and her daughter, Jazzmen Montgomery, 6. Green's attorneys did not file any appeals seeking to stop the execution.
A Buddhist spiritual adviser chosen by Green stood beside the death chamber gurney at the inmate's feet and said a brief prayer. Green then apologized profusely when asked by the warden if he had a final statement.
Instead of inserting the IV needles in each arm, prison technicians had to use a vein in Green's right arm and a vein on the top of his left hand, delaying the injection briefly.
As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began, Green took several quick breaths, which evolved into snores. After nine snores, all movement ceased. He was pronounced dead 33 minutes later, at 7:07 p.m.
In prior appeals, Green's attorneys had claimed he was intellectually disabled and had a lifelong history of psychiatric disorders. Those appeals were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court and lower appeals courts.
The high court has prohibited the death penalty for the intellectually disabled, but not for people with serious mental illness.
Authorities said Green committed the killings after Armstead sought to annul their marriage.
He was 1 of 6 Texas death row inmates participating in a lawsuit seeking to stop the state's prison system from using what they allege are expired and unsafe execution drugs. Despite a civil court judge in Austin preliminarily agreeing with the claims, 4 of the Texas inmates, including Green, have been executed this year.
Green becomes the 4th inmate to be put death this year in Texas, the 582nd overall since Texas resumed capital punishment in 1982, the 8th inmate in the U.S. put to death this year, and the 1,566th overall since the nation resumed executions in 1977.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gary-green-execution-texas-death-estranged-wife-her-daughter/
