A Texas death row inmate was offered a final chance to speak Wednesday evening before the state executed him for killing three people during a botched robbery in 2005.
LeJames Norman, 40, declined to say anything.
When the warden asked if he had a final statement, Norman shook his head. He was then put to death by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows LeJames Norman on Feb. 28, 2024. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
Norman was sentenced to death for fatally shooting Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, inside the Edna home they shared, roughly 100 miles southwest of Houston.
Court records say Norman and Ker’Sean Ramey went to the house intending to steal cocaine because they believed drugs were stored there. They did not find any.
Ramey was also convicted in the killings and received a death sentence. His execution is scheduled for next week.
Authorities arrested Norman about five months after the murders as he attempted to reenter the United States from Mexico.
He later pleaded guilty to capital murder, leaving jurors to determine whether he should be sentenced to death. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his attorneys’ request to halt the execution.
During his final moments, Norman lay on a thin mattress placed on a steel table and looked toward a window. His sister, two of his children and a friend watched from the execution chamber.
A table fitted with restraints holds down death row prisoners while they are given a lethal injection at Huntsville Unit (Walls Unit) in Huntsville, Texas. (Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
After receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital, a sedative, Norman took several deep breaths, appeared to yawn and made a series of snoring sounds before becoming still.
A physician examined him approximately 30 minutes later and pronounced him dead at 6:44 p.m.
No relatives or friends of Roberts, Peacock or Lopez attended the execution.
Norman was the fifth person executed in Texas this year.
Stacey Humphreys. (Georgia Department of Corrections)
A separate execution scheduled for Wednesday in Georgia was halted. Stacey Humphreys, who was convicted of killing two real estate agents, had been set to die until a judge issued a late-night ruling Tuesday. The decision followed a request from Humphreys’ lawyers for a delay based on a new state law allowing victims of childhood abuse to seek reduced sentences.
