Man who killed three set to die - 18th execution for Texas in 2003

Associated Press ^ | July 9, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Man who killed three set to die

07/09/2003

Associated Press

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.

AP

Christopher Black Sr.

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."

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

[MeekOneGOP]

What a horrible crime:

"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
Return to Death Row Page

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

[MeekOneGOP]

http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/Pending/03/jul03.htm

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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[wideawake]

It's heartening to see that only five years elapsed between his crime and his execution.

[onyx]

Excellent post, just excellent.

A needle in the arm is hardly justice, but hey, at least Texas executes its murderous miscreants.

[MeekOneGOP]

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.

[MeekOneGOP]

Yeah, five years. This is one of the fastest I've seen, if not THE fastest.

[MeekOneGOP]

Yep ! Don't mess with Texas. If you're going to kill someone, don't do it here !

[Slyfox]

He shot his baby daughter five times in the chest?

Good riddance.

[MeekOneGOP]

[N. Theknow]

18th execution for Texas in 2003

18th file deleted before it could go to the "Repeat Offender" database.

[Frank_Discussion]

That's very Hard to read... Wet eyes on this corner of the forum. Such evil...

[Frank_Discussion]

Damn Straight.

[johnb838]

A needle in the arm is hardly justice,

But he won't do that again... hehheh

This is one of the fastest I've seen,

We're catching up!

I read something where somebody was complaining that the Saudis execute somebody almost every Friday and all I could think was that we do it on Wednesdays. I think publicly televised hangings would be a lot better though.

[deport]

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

[TheGrimReaper]

"I ran out of bullets," her husband told the 911 dispatcher.

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.

[Bonaparte]

"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."

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?

[Tacis]

Agree, five years isn't bad. But, it still is nowhere near as good as in the People's Paradise of Cuba. Cuba's efficient criminal justice system is able to process evil doer to their final reward in less than a week! Here in Texas, we can't get the cable guy to come out that quick.

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.

[onyx]

I love Texas, and, most Texans (except the democrats)!

When I was a little girl, "justice" was meted-out in a "timely" fashion. I have always remembered the first case I read about.... (I was only five or six at the time):

Little Bobby Greenlease was kidnapped from his Catholic school in Kansas City, Missouri, by a woman claiming to be an aunt, and subsequently murdered by Carl & the "aunt" Bonnie (their surnames escape me).

This occurred in early Septmember, 1953 (I think it was 1953). Immediately after the ransom was paid, they were caught and arrested while they sat in a bar using the ransom money to get drunk. Subsequently, they were both tried and convicted by late October, and both fried in the Missouri electric chair in December, 1953!

Bobby's little body was unearthed behind their house in St. Joseph, Missouri. He had been shot and they had put lye atop his body.

Kidnap and murder in September and fry in December! THAT was true justice for the murderous two-some!

[xJones]

It's heartening to see that only five years elapsed between his crime and his execution.

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....