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Offender profile: James Colburn |
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Posted on 03/27/2003 12:39:15 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
Mentally ill man executed
03/27/2003
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A mentally ill murderer spared from execution five months ago by a last-minute reprieve was executed Wednesday for fatally stabbing a woman during an attempted rape.
"None of this should have happened and now that I'm dying there is nothing left to worry about," James Colburn said in a brief final statement as he was strapped to the death chamber gurney. "I know it was a mistake. I have no one to blame but myself," he said.
Colburn added that it was "no big deal" about whether he knew the difference between right and wrong, which was an element of his appeal. He prayed "that everyone involved overlooks the stupidity. Everybody has problems and I won't be part of the problem any more. I can quit worrying now."
He then said he could feel the drugs in his system. "It's going to be like passing out on drugs," he said. Colburn gasped slightly and his eyes closed. He was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., eight minutes after the flow of drugs began.
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The execution was the 12th this year and third this month in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state. With three more set for next month, Texas remains on a pace that would top the record 40 carried out in 2000.
Prosecutors didn't dispute Colburn's mental illness but contended the repeat offender who was on parole when arrested for capital murder was competent and understood why he was facing lethal injection.
"The issue was whether or not that illness kept him from knowing right from wrong," said Jay Hileman, a former Montgomery County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Colburn. "It didn't, so he wasn't found to be insane.
"And the issue was whether or not his illness was to the extent that it would be a mitigating circumstance to warrant a life sentence. And the jury clearly found that too wasn't the case."
Defense lawyers argued in late appeals that an exam conducted last month by a psychologist showed Colburn to be delusional and that those results conflicted with the findings of state experts who last fall determined he was competent. Colburn's attorneys sought permission of a court to litigate the matter.
The Supreme Court last year halted executions of the mentally retarded as unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, but the justices so far have refused such blanket protection for the mentally ill.
"The Supreme Court is going to have the face the issue eventually," James Rytting, an attorney for Colburn, said. "It's these fundamental problems with people who suffer from this disease to process information and make judgments that goes to the heart of whether they should be held responsible for the offense the state says they committed."
Colburn's lawyers and death penalty opponents thought the high court would examine the issue when a Supreme Court order stopped Colburn's scheduled execution Nov. 6 at 5:59 p.m., one minute before he could have been moved to the death chamber.
But without comment in January, the justices refused to review his appeal, lifted the reprieve and Montgomery County authorities rescheduled the execution. The Supreme Court denied two stays Wednesday night, shortly before the execution.
Colburn was convicted of choking and fatally stabbing a hitchhiker, Peggy Louise Murphy, 55, at his Conroe-area apartment just north of Houston as she resisted a rape attempt June 26, 1994.
Colburn had been in mental institutions at least twice and in and out of prisons numerous times for robbery, burglary, assault and arson.
"Lord knows now I'm willing to lay down my life and end all of this," Colburn said last year shortly before his November execution date. The punishment, he said, would be "putting an end to my worries."
He declined to speak with reporters since then.
Rytting described Colburn as shaking so much a month ago during the session with the defense psychologist he could barely hold the telephone inmates use to speak with visitors, who are separated from prisoners by glass. Colburn, in an interview last year, blamed the condition on "bad nerves," adding that he's known to his fellow death row prisoners as "Shaky."
His punishment was not the first for a condemned murderer with mental illness. At least four Texas inmates last year were executed after raising similar claims and death penalty opponents and advocates for the mentally ill continue to denounce the practice.
"Given Mr. Colburn's clearly debilitated mental state, it is morally unconscionable that Texas would proceed with this execution," said Sue Gunawardena-Vaught, director of Amnesty International USA's program to abolish the death penalty.
"The larger question we need to ask ourselves as a country is: Do we want to treat people with mental illness this way?" said Charles Ingoglia, vice president for research and services for the Alexandria, Va.-based National Mental Health Association.
| Date of scheduled execution | State | Victim name | Inmate name | Status |
| March 26, 2003 | Texas | Peggy Murphy, 55 | James Colburn | pending |
| James Blake Colburn of Montgomery County was convicted of the June 26, 1994 stabbing of Peggy Murphy, 55, after she rebuffed his sexual advances. In his confession, Colburn admitted that he woke up on the morning of June 26, cooked a steak for breakfast, and decided to go outside. As he crossed the street in front of his apartment, he noticed Peggy Murphy hitchhiking. Colburn introduced himself and invited Murphy into his home. Once inside, Murphy asked for a beer. Colburn went next door and returned with a beer. He then offered to show Murphy some of his artwork, but when she entered his bedroom, Colburn grabbed her and attempted to rape her. When Murphy resisted, Colburn strangled her until she stopped breathing. Colburn then stabbed her in the neck with a steak knife to make sure she was dead. After the murder, Colburn went to a neighbor's apartment and asked them to call the police. Colburn told the police in a videotaped confession that he killed Peggy because he wanted to go back to prison. Colburn was previously convicted of burglary of a building on Oct. 19, 1977; attempted burglary of a building on Feb. 23, 1978; unauthorized use of a motor vehicle on July 16, 1979; aggravated robbery on May 22, 1980; arson on Jan. 25, 1990; and false statement in acquisition of a firearm on Jan. 2, 1991. Colburn also assaulted his wife with a motorcycle helmet on Jan. 11, 1990, fracturing her cheekbone and causing nerve damage. Colburn also kicked her on another occasion. Colburn had served 6 years of an 18 year sentence for the aggravated robbery charge. He was sent back to prison for parole violations as well as a new 5 year sentence for arson but was released less than a year later. Peggy was murdered about four years after Colburn was released. "I knew what I was doing when I killed her. When I laid her on the bed, something snapped,'' Colburn said. When he realized she was dead, he turned himself in, he said. "I'm not scared,'' Colburn said. ``I'll be free as I know it. I think this is, in a way, a step in the right direction for me. If I got out, I'm scared somebody else would be hurt or killed.'' Colburn had previously been scheduled for execution in November of 2002 but received a stay. | ||||
But his crime wasn't barbaric. Afterall he was mentally ill so it was okay. (Sarcasm Off)
I hate to claim conspiracy, because I have no idea who could be behind it, but there are folks trying to break down every aspect of society.
Fairies run the churches and have convinced most of the population that deviants are equal to or better than normal people. Working hard is bad because, if you profit by it, others feel bad. They should have what you have just because they are black. Mexicans are people too. Who is pushing these agendas and why?
And, Jim, be of good cheer. There is a very special place in hell for menatlly ill murderers, so you will get whatever special treatment you deserve.
Colburn added that it was "no big deal" about whether he knew the difference between right and wrong, which was an element of his appeal. He prayed "that everyone involved overlooks the stupidity. Everybody has problems and I won't be part of the problem any more. I can quit worrying now."
Singularly appropriate remarks from this (now) permanently rehabilitated killer.
Wow, what was their first clue that he was mentally ill? I hope they spent lots of tax dollars trying to figure that one out.
Yep, and there was no outrage from the liberal groups - Slick wanted to maintain his New DemocRat ruse.
In the first sentence of the article he has switched from "man" to "murderer".
No agenda here.
Got my defense talk date narrowed to plus or minus a day now, last week of June! Time, she be a-flyin'! ;)
Didn't Karla Faye said that she had "found Jesus" and shouldn't be put to death? Or was that only her defenders?
I was in Austin at the time she was "permanently rehabilitated" and don't remember her NOT pleading for her life.
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