Jan. 25, 2005, 8:33PMKiller who spent half of life on death row to die tonight
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press
Texas Department of Criminal JusticeA condemned killer who twice avoided execution last year when courts halted his punishment on the day he was to die was executed today for a slaying in Corpus Christi more than 20 years ago.
The execution came after the U.S. Supreme Court refused on a narrow 5-4 vote to block Troy Kunkle's execution.
Kunkle was contrite as he looked toward the daughter and son-in-law of his victim, Stephen Horton, and sought their forgiveness.
"I would like to ask you to forgive me," he said. "I made a mistake and I am sorry for what I did. All I can do is ask you to forgive me."
Kunkle then turned his head toward an adjacent window in the death house and expressed love to witnesses he selected to watch him die, including his mother and his wife.
"I love you and I will see all of you in heaven," he said. "I love you very much. Praise Jesus."
Kunkle recited the Lord's Prayer and then indicated to the warden he had finished. In the seconds before the lethal drugs began taking effect, he repeatedly mouthed "I love you" to his friends and relatives. He exhaled slightly and gasped before he slipped into unconsciousness. Eight minutes later, at 8:12 p.m. CST, he was pronounced dead.
"Shame to Texas," his wife, Christa Heber, said as she watched him die.
Kunkle, 38, spent more than half of his life on death row for the death of Horton, 31, who was fatally shot and robbed of $13.
The 1984 shooting gained notoriety with disclosures Kunkle, from San Antonio and then just over 18, quoted lyrics of a song by the heavy metal rock group Metallica after Horton was gunned down.
The lethal injection was the second of the year in Texas, the nation's busiest execution state.
