Posted on 07/09/2003 9:24:54 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Man who killed three set to die07/09/2003
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - More than five years after 17-month-old Katrease Houston was gunned down at a home in Killeen, police officer Eric Bradley still can recall details that marked the horrendous scene where the girl's grandmother and an infant also were fatally shot.
"The toddler in the high chair was eating crinkle-cut french fries and corn," Bradley said, talking this week about the Feb. 7, 1998, massacre where the girl; her grandmother, Gwendolyn Black, 36; and Black's 5-month-old daughter, Christina Marie, were killed. "She was just sitting there in the high chair where she had been eating."
Black's estranged husband, Christopher Black Sr., was set for lethal injection Wednesday for the spree. The retired Army sergeant, who would be 44 next month, would be the 18th condemned Texas inmate executed this year and the second in as many weeks. Two more are set to die later this month.
Black called 911 to report the shootings and neighbors also called the emergency number telling dispatchers of hearing gunshots from the home. He was still inside when Bradley and his sergeant arrived and was talking to authorities on the telephone.
AP"He wanted us to know he put the gun down and he'd be coming out without the gun," Bradley recalled. "When he came out, he was holding the infant across his chest. We approached him and he said he wasn't going to put the baby down on the cold ground.
"As I reached up to grab the baby from him, he said: 'I want to kiss my baby.' I said go ahead. I went to grab the baby and noticed an exit wound on the left shoulder blade. As I pulled the baby toward me, the baby's head kind of just rolled to the left... The eyes were open, fixed, no pulse, no respiration, no nothing."
After Black was taken into custody by other officers, Bradley and his partner went inside where they found Gwendolyn Black dead.
Also Online
Texas Executions: Coverage from TXCN.com Offender profile: Christopher Black Sr. Related links Texas Department of Criminal Justice Scheduled executions Offenders on death row "The glasses that his wife had on were shattered because he initially shot her right in the side of the head," Bradley said.
Then they found Katrease, shot five times in the chest with a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. Gwendolyn Black had been shot 10 times.
"I ran out of bullets," her husband told the 911 dispatcher.
The couple had married just over three years earlier but relatives said Gwendolyn Black, who worked as an elementary school teacher in nearby Copperas Cove after leaving the Army, was seeking a divorce because she received little help from her husband with the children and that Black had moved out of town to take a security job.
At Black's trial, jurors heard tapes he sent to relatives explaining he was going to kill his wife and anyone else who was in the home. The tapes were timed to arrive after he killed her. Black specifically was charged with killing his 17-month-old step-granddaughter.
In Texas, murder of a child under the age of 6 can be a death penalty case. It took the jury in Killeen 15 minutes to convict him of capital murder. The same jury deliberated about seven hours before deciding punishment.
"I don't recall a case that was any more aggravated or any more vicious in the way the crime was committed and the consequences," Lon Curtis, the former assistant district attorney in Bell County who prosecuted Black, said this week. "The image of that baby, the little girl, slumped over in her high chair with five rounds in the chest... I wish I hadn't been reminded of that."
The U.S. Supreme Court in April refused to consider Black's appeal and no additional appeals were made, his lawyer, Jack Hurley, said this week.
Black declined to speak from death row with reporters.
"My days are long and sad," he wrote on a Web site where inmates seek pen pals. "I do not want romance or money, the only thing that I want is a friend."
"He made his choices," Bradley said. "And that's where he's at."
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/070903dntexexecute.6fb45569.html
"The toddler in the high chair was eating crinkle-cut french fries and corn," Bradley said, talking this week about the Feb. 7, 1998, massacre where the girl; her grandmother, Gwendolyn Black, 36; and Black's 5-month-old daughter, Christina Marie, were killed. "She was just sitting there in the high chair where she had been eating."
< snip >
Black called 911 to report the shootings and neighbors also called the emergency number telling dispatchers of hearing gunshots from the home. He was still inside when Bradley and his sergeant arrived and was talking to authorities on the telephone.
"He wanted us to know he put the gun down and he'd be coming out without the gun," Bradley recalled. "When he came out, he was holding the infant across his chest. We approached him and he said he wasn't going to put the baby down on the cold ground.
"As I reached up to grab the baby from him, he said: 'I want to kiss my baby.' I said go ahead. I went to grab the baby and noticed an exit wound on the left shoulder blade. As I pulled the baby toward me, the baby's head kind of just rolled to the left... The eyes were open, fixed, no pulse, no respiration, no nothing."
Texas Dept of Criminal Justice
Death Row
Texas Department of Criminal Justice | |||
Name |
TDCJ Number |
Date of Birth |
Black, Sr., Christopher |
999277 |
8/2/59 |
Date Received |
Age (when Received) |
Education Level (Highest Grade Completed) |
8/11/98 |
39 |
12 years |
Date of Offense |
Age (at the time of Offense) |
County |
2/7/98 |
38 |
Bell |
Race |
Gender |
Hair Color |
Black |
Male |
Black |
Height |
Weight |
Eye Color |
6-0 |
240 |
Brown |
Native County |
Native State |
Prior Occupation |
Portsmouth |
Virginia |
Unknown |
Prior Prison Record |
||
None |
||
Summary of incident |
||
Black fatally shot his 36-year-old wife, his 5-month-old daughter, and his 17-month-old granddaughter. Black shot and killed all three of the victims with a 9 millimeter pistol. After he shot all three, he called 911, and when the officers arrived he was holding his deceased daughter in his arms. |
||
Co-defendants |
||
None |
||
Race and Gender of Victim |
||
black female |
||
Photograph of Offender |
||
|
Last Updated: July 12, 2001
Date of scheduled execution | State | Victim name | Inmate name | Status |
July 9, 2003 | Texas | Katrease Houston, 18 months Gwendolyn Black, 36 Christina Black, 15 weeks |
Christopher Black | pending |
In August 1998, a jury took only 15 minutes Wednesday to convict a man of capital murder in the shooting death of a toddler. The same jury deliberated 7 hours before sentencing him to death. Christopher Black, 37, of Killeen was convicted of killing 18-month-old Katrease Houston, his wife's granddaughter, on Feb. 7, 1998. Black was also charged with killing his wife, 36-year-old Gwendolyn Black, and the couple's daughter, 15-week-old Christina Black. Relatives claim the triple homicide occurred after Black learned his wife planned to divorce him. Black claimed he shot and killed his wife because she tormented and belittled him and physically abused his 10-year-old son. |
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Man who killed three set to die -
18th execution for Texas in 2003
Christopher Black, Sr.Excerpt:
"The toddler in the high chair was eating crinkle-cut french fries and corn," Bradley said, talking this week about the Feb. 7, 1998, massacre where the girl; her grandmother, Gwendolyn Black, 36; and Black's 5-month-old daughter, Christina Marie, were killed. "She was just sitting there in the high chair where she had been eating."
< snip >
Black called 911 to report the shootings and neighbors also called the emergency number telling dispatchers of hearing gunshots from the home. He was still inside when Bradley and his sergeant arrived and was talking to authorities on the telephone.
"He wanted us to know he put the gun down and he'd be coming out without the gun," Bradley recalled. "When he came out, he was holding the infant across his chest. We approached him and he said he wasn't going to put the baby down on the cold ground.
"As I reached up to grab the baby from him, he said: 'I want to kiss my baby.' I said go ahead. I went to grab the baby and noticed an exit wound on the left shoulder blade. As I pulled the baby toward me, the baby's head kind of just rolled to the left... The eyes were open, fixed, no pulse, no respiration, no nothing."
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas Executions ping list!. . .don't be shy.
Yep ! Don't mess with Texas. If you're going to kill someone, don't do it here !
Good riddance.
18th file deleted before it could go to the "Repeat Offender" database.
Shortest Time on Death Row prior to Execution | |||||
Name | County | TDCJ Number | Time on Death Row | Execution Date | |
1. | Joe Gonzales | Potter | 999177 | 252 days | 9/18/96 |
2. | Steven Renfro | Harrison | 999229 | 263 days | 2/9/98 |
Longest Time on Death Row prior to Execution | |||||
Name | County | TDCJ Number | Time on Death Row | Execution Date | |
1. | Excell White | Collin | 511 | 8982 days (24 years) | 3/30/99 |
2. | Sammie Felder, Jr. | Harris | 550 | 8569 days (23 years) | 12/15/99 |
Fortunately for the rest of Texas, the TDCJ will NOT run out of lethal drugs.
I predict that Mr. Black will not be a repeat offender.
Claims he's upset that his child is abused, but he pumps lead into two of his other kids. A real knight in shining armor, isn't he?
The Dallas Morning News sure is right about the superiority of Cuba. The police car (only the one actually works) in Cuba has the new criminal justice logo painted on the side, "Do the capital murder crime (or one of several thousand lesser infractions) and don't even think about watching The Week In Review!" (I know, in loses a lot in translation)
Last night, Oklahoma awarded the final victory to it's 11th evildoer of the year. This will be our 18th. The rest of the states are falling way behind in demonstrating their sincerity and helpful intentions, feelings, understanding and desires for diversity by helping their evildoers to their final rewards.
I was just thinking about that. From Feb. 7, 1998 to today. He is obviously guilty of heinous murders, all in his own family. What a whackjob....
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