Posted on 06/20/2006 6:23:11 PM PDT by Dubya
HUNTSVILLE Proclaiming his innocence, an admitted drug dealer was executed Tuesday evening for a shooting spree that left three men dead and two others wounded outside a Fort Worth convenience store more than seven years ago.
Lamont Reese, 28, had to be carried into the death chamber.
"I want everyone to know I did not walk to this because this is straight-up murder," he said. "I am not going to play a part in my own murder. No one should have to do that."
He expressed love to his mother and to relatives of the murder victims as they watched from separate windows nearby.
"I do not know all of your names and I don't know how you feel about me," he said addressing the victims' relatives. "And whether you believe it or not, I did not kill them."
He said that he was at peace and he wanted them to be at peace.
"You have to move past it. It is time to move on," he said.
He said he was glad that the execution was occurring and that his time on death row was not "10 or 20 years."
As the drugs began taking effect, he said, "This is some nasty." Then he gasped.
At that moment, his mother, Brenda Reese, began pounding with her fists on the chamber window and began screaming repeatedly, "They killed my baby."
She kicked two holes in the death chamber wall and eventually was removed from the chamber. She sobbed loudly as she walked from the prison and nearly collapsed as she reached the prison administration building across the street.
Reese was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m., eight minutes after the drugs began to flow.
He was the 12th inmate executed this year in the nation's busiest capital punishment state.
Reese, who described himself as "no angel" and acknowledged dealing crack cocaine for years, contended in an earlier interview he wasn't involved in the gunfire outside the convenience store the evening of March 1, 1999.
Anthony Roney, 26, Riki Jackson, 17, and Alonzo Stewart, 25, were killed. A 24-year-old man and 13-year-old boy were wounded.
"I was not at the crime," Reese insisted.
Reese's lawyers went to the federal courts to try to block the punishment, citing among their claims a U.S. Supreme Court ruling a week ago that condemned prisoners can file special appeals challenging the lethal injection method under a federal civil rights law after exhausting regular appeals. The high court, however, said inmates would not always be entitled to delays in their executions.
In Reese's case, the justices rejected his appeals about 20 minutes before he was scheduled to be taken to the death chamber.
Evidence at Reese's trial showed his 18-year-old girlfriend, Kareema Kimbrough, walked out of the convenience store about four miles southeast of downtown Fort Worth and drew the attention of several men who were drinking and playing dice outside the place. Reese became angry with the men flirting with Kimbrough.
The couple left, met up with three others, including a pair of juveniles, and armed themselves with handguns and assault rifles. With Kimbrough driving and accompanied also by her 2-year-old son, she dropped off the four near the store.
The gunmen then sprayed the scene with bullets. Kimbrough drove back around, retrieved her friends and they all sped off.
Police were told by the victim of another shooting of people bragging about the convenience store gunfire. That led to the arrests of Reese, Kimbrough and their companions. Detectives found ammunition in Reese's car that matched bullets found at the shooting scene.
Sean Colston, one of the Tarrant County district attorneys who prosecuted Reese, said evidence was clear that Reese was responsible for the slayings.
"When you're dealing with capital punishment, it's not that you get a sense of satisfaction," he said. "I feel it's a just punishment."
Reese grew up in Louisiana where he said he spent much of his childhood in state custody after his mother was sent to prison,
Kimbrough, now 26, is serving a life prison term on a capital murder conviction. The three others, including the two juveniles who were charged as adults, agreed to plea bargains and are serving sentences ranging from 35 to 50 years.
Scheduled to die next in Texas is serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz, a former FBI Ten Most Wanted fugitive, set for lethal injection June 27 for the fatal stabbing of Houston-area physician Claudia Benton in December 1998.
Benton is among at least 15 victims police in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois have linked to Resendiz, who became known as the "Railroad Killer" because many of the attacks were near railroad tracks and because he was known to hop on freight trains to travel around the United States.
HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Houston & Texas This article is: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3987757.html
.
The Penitent ThiefA Boy who had been taught by his Mother to steal grew to be a man and was a professional public official. One day he was taken in the act and condemned to die. While going to the place of execution he passed his Mother and said to her:
Behold your work! If you had not taught me to steal, I should not have come to this.
Indeed! said the Mother. And who, pray, taught you to be detected?
.
Ambrose Bierce, Aesopus Emendatus.
...have linked to Resendiz, who became known as the "Railroad Killer" because many of the attacks were near railroad tracks and because he was known to hop on freight trains to travel around the United States.
Flush twice, it's a long way from the execution chamber to the sewage plant.
She's in her own prison and not going anywhere.
Lamont Reese.
How come Andrea Yates kills five children and gets to live while this idiot kills three unsavory characters and gets executed? Common sense says this isn't fair.
The latest Inductee into the Greater Huntsville Flatliners' Club. Everybody is dying to get in! May he and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi split Satan's dance card tonight. May his victims rest in peace.
HANGMAN, n.
An officer of the law charged with duties of the highest dignity and utmost gravity, and held in hereditary disesteem by a populace having a criminal ancestry. In some of the American States his functions are now performed by an electrician, as in New Jersey, where executions by electricity have recently been ordered -- the first instance known to this lexicographer of anybody questioning the expediency of hanging Jerseymen.
The old softy!
Name:
Resendiz, Angel MaturinoNative County:
DurangoNative State
MexicoPrior Prison Record:
Florida Department of Corrections #73584 on a 20 year sentence for Burglary, vehicle theft, and aggravated assault (on an hispanic male with a knife), paroled 8/27/1985; FCI #35285-079 on 18 month sentence for Immigration Illegal Re-entry and False Representation to be a Citizen, discharged to detainer in 1987; FCI on 30 month sentence for False Statement to USINS and Use of Alias with Intent to Induce a Passport, discharged to detainer in 1991 to New Mexico State Prison; New Mexico State Prison #41648 on 18 month sentence for Residential Burglary, paroled 4/3/1993Summary of Incident:
On 12/17/1998 during the night in Houston, Resendiz killed an adult Hispanic female by beating her to death with a statuette from the victim's home. Resendiz had broken into the victim's house by going through an open door. Resendiz took the victim's cash and fled the scene in the victim's jeep. Resendiz is believed to have committed a series of murders throughout Texas and other states.Source
How come Andrea Yates kills five children and gets to live while this idiot kills three unsavory characters and gets executed?
_______________________________________________________
I would like the answer to that too. Flawed system for sure.
Hemp, n. A plant from whose fibrous bark is made an article of neckwear which is frequently put on after public speaking in the open air and prevents the wearer from taking cold. The Devils Dictionary.
Thanks, I had that info. Was thinking his was the 1st case that the Mex gov made a stink over because he wasn't allowwed to talk to Consular officials.
Nice neighborhood.
Detectives found ammunition in Reese's car that matched bullets found at the shooting scene.
I hope they had more than THAT as their primary evidence! I have pleanty of .45 ammo here, that doesn't mean I was at the scene! What were they "matching"?!
Sean Colston, one of the Tarrant County district attorneys who prosecuted Reese, said evidence was clear that Reese was responsible for the slayings.
Like what, Mr. "Professional" Journalist?
Reese grew up in Louisiana where he said he spent much of his childhood in state custody after his mother was sent to prison,
Apple. Tree.
Kimbrough, now 26, is serving a life prison term on a capital murder conviction. The three others, including the two juveniles who were charged as adults, agreed to plea bargains and are serving sentences ranging from 35 to 50 years.
Makes me wonder if he wasn't actually "the" shooter, and that his protestations had some kernel of truth to them. Maybe someone made a good plea bargain before he could.
Of course, with the felony murder rules, he didn't have to be "the" shooter to get executed, but it explains his seemingly sincere claims of "innocence".
Thanks!
"Texas must have an HOV lane for multiple murderers."
LOL
I think that was this guy, Jose Medellin.
http://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/nationalsJMedellin.cfm
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/statistics/deathrow/drowlist/medellin.jpg
I don't know if I can post the article but see this. They say he admitted it. Could have just been acting though though.http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=1604
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