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Some background on the case and Mississippi's death penalty history:

• State Death Row Inmate John B. Nixon, Sr., MDOC #41484 • White Male• DOB – 04/01/1928 Factual Background of the Case: • Shortly before 8:00 a.m. on January 22, 1985, John Nixon, one of his sons, Henry Leon Nixon, and Gilbert Jimenez burst into the home of Thomas and Virginia Tucker in Rankin County, Mis-sissippi. Once inside, John Nixon pulled a .22 caliber pistol from his coat. Thomas Tucker told Nixon that he knew that Joe Ponthieux (Virginia Tucker’s ex-husband) had hired Nixon to killhim and his wife. Mr. Tucker offered Nixon money to abandon the plan. Nixon replied, “That’snot what I’m after. The deal has already been made.” • Nixon aimed the gun at Mr. Tucker, pulled the trigger, and the gun misfired. Mr. Tucker broke for the door. He got the door open and was hit and knocked to the ground by a second shot. Tucker struggled to his feet and continued his escape. Nixon gave the pistol to Henry Leon Nixon, and he took up the chase firing a third shot that grazed Mr. Tucker’s head. • Tucker made good his escape by flagging down a small truck and having the driver drive him to his place of employment. • In the meantime, Mrs. Tucker had been wrestled to the floor by Jimenez. When Henry Leon Nixon returned to the house with the pistol, he gave it back to John Nixon. Nixon placed the pis-tol about one inch from Mrs. Tucker’s head, behind an ear, and fired a shot into Mrs. Tucker’s brain. The three drove away in a Ford van.

• In the meantime, when Thomas Tucker arrived at his office, he had help sent to the house. Help arrived at the Tucker home to find Mrs. Tucker lying on the floor, gasping for breath, with blood running from her mouth and nose. She was taken to the hospital where she died the next day. •

The search for Mrs. Tucker’s killers was on-going for most of 1985. On November 4, 1985, John Nixon, Sr. was arrested after being identified in a personal lineup by Thomas Tucker. Shortly af-terward, John Nixon, Jr. was arrested in Louisiana and Henry Leon Nixon was arrested in Los An-geles, California.

• Also, the Ford van in which the killers made their getaway was eventually discovered in Houston, Texas. That discovery led to the arrest of Gilbert Jimenez on January 7, 1986 in Houston.

While in the custody of the Houston police, Jimenez executed a written statement implicating the three Nixons in the murder-for-hire scheme. Subsequently, Joe Ponthieux, former husband of Virginia Tucker, was arrested and indicted along with the three Nixons for capital murder. • John Nixon, Sr.’s case was severed and was tried in a three day trial beginning March 24, 1986.

Gilbert Jimenez, who plea-bargained to the charge of conspiracy to commit capital murder, tes-tified at John Nixon, Sr.’s trial, describing the details of the pre-murder preparations and the payments to John Nixon, Sr. and John Nixon, Jr. by Joe Ponthieux. •

The jury deliberated only thirty-one minutes before returning a verdict of guilty of capital mur-der. • John B. Nixon, Sr. was sentenced to death on March 26, 1986. Death Row Inmate John B. Nixon, Sr.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Mississippi Department of CorrectionsDecember 14, 2005 Death Row Executions Since Mississippi joined the Union in 1817, several forms of execution have been used. Hanging was the first form of execution used in Mississippi. The state continued to execute prisoners sentenced todie by hanging until October 11, 1940, when Hilton Fortenberry, convicted of capital murder inJefferson Davis County, became the first prisoner to be executed in the electric chair. Between 1940 and February 5, 1952, the old oak electric chair was moved from county to county to conduct execu-tions. During the 12-year span, 75 prisoners were executed for offenses punishable by death. In 1954, the gas chamber was installed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, in Parchman, Miss. It replaced the electric chair, which today is on display at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy.

Gearald A. Gallego became the first prisoner to be executed by lethal gas on March 3, 1955. During the course of the next 34 years, 35 death row inmates were executed in the gas cham-ber. Leo Edwards became the last person to be executed in the gas chamber at the Mississippi State Penitentiary on June 21, 1989.

On July 1, 1984, the Mississippi Legislature partially amended lethal gas as the state’s form of execu-tion in § 99-19-51 of the Mississippi Code. The new amendment provided that individuals who com-mitted capital punishment crimes after the effective date of the new law and who were subsequentlysentenced to death thereafter would be executed by lethal injection. On March 18, 1998, the Mississippi Legislature amended the manner of execution by removing the provision lethal gas as a form of execution.