Convicted killer in gay-bashing case set to die
Posted on 02/06/2003 2:35:13 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
Convicted killer in gay-bashing case set to die
02/06/2003
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Convicted killer Henry Dunn Jr. says a murder conviction that earned him a trip to Texas' death row wasn't a gay-bashing hate crime, at least not on his part.
Dunn, 28, doesn't deny being present when 23-year-old Nicolas West was gunned down during an abduction and robbery near Tyler more than nine years ago, but says the man primarily to blame was a companion also condemned for the slaying.
"I did admit to being at the crime scene," Dunn said from a cage in the visiting area of death row. "I'm not saying I'm responsible."
Dunn faced lethal injection Thursday evening for West's slaying Nov. 30, 1993. He would be the eighth Texas inmate executed this year and second this week. Three more are scheduled for later this month.
Dunn was one day away from execution in May when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped his punishment so it could consider an appeal in which he claimed his earlier legal help was incompetent. The court later rejected the appeal, lifted its reprieve and Thursday's death date was set.
The U.S. Supreme Court was considering a request to review the case and halt the execution.
Donald Aldrich, now 38, also is on death row for the West killing. A third man, David Ray McMillan, received a life prison term.
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Dunn was 19 and McMillan 17 at the time of the slaying. Aldrich was on parole after a pair of burglary and robbery convictions.
Authorities believed Aldrich was the leader of what became know as the "CB gang" -- because they first became acquainted over CB radios -- that for months preyed on homosexuals in the Tyler area.
"I don't hate homosexuals," Dunn said last week. "That's their right to be that way if they want to."
West, a medical clerk in Tyler, was abducted from a city park known as a homosexual meeting spot. Taken to a remote area of Smith County, he was stripped, ordered to his knees and shot as many as 15 times.
"This is a crime that got out of control," Dunn said. "That's what happened."
Aldrich had lured West under the guise of seeking sex, then drove away with him. Dunn said he and McMillan were waiting nearby. According to a plan carried out several times before, Dunn and McMillan followed them out of town where the trio then could rob the unsuspecting victim.
"Aldrich was mad because the dude didn't give him all his money," Dunn said.
"It was a deliberate, preplanned, cold-blooded kidnapping and murder," Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen said. "This wasn't an isolated incident by them in these types of attacks but the violence stepped up in this one and went all the way to kidnaping and murder."
Aldrich said at his trial it was Dunn who started the gunfire. Dunn replied from death row he could "not positively say" he did any shooting.
Evidence showed he used a .357-caliber Magnum and his shot to West's head was the last of the more than a dozen bullets and a shotgun blast fired into the victim.
West's body was found two days later. Dunn was arrested driving West's truck.
Dunn, formerly a fast-food restaurant worker, was among seven death row inmates who tried to escape from prison Thanksgiving night 1998. Only one, Martin Gurule, cleared a pair of fences that surrounded the Ellis Unit prison northeast of Huntsville. He was found drowned a week later. He never made it off prison property.
Dunn and the other five were stopped by the razor-tipped wire fences and gunfire from corrections officers.
As a result of the escape, death row was moved to the more restrictive Polunsky Unit near Livingston, about 45 miles east of Huntsville.
It really doesn't matter. These thugs were vicious, predatory animals who kidnapped, robbed, and murdered a person and therefore deserve the ultimate punishment regardless of the gender, race, sexual preferences, or any other characteristic of the victims. No hate crime statute is needed for this crime. It should simply be treated as what it is.
You'll need a "high volume ping list" warning, the way Texas has started out this year.
Oh, by the way. I love your tag line there, lol...
(©¿©)
Yeah, really ! Fast start...
So I guess I'm too late to say buh-bye?
Well, that happens when you elect a guy like Rick Perry, I guess. Not like it was under that fellow that had to resign the governorship and leave town - didn't he give a 30 day stay to a pickaxe murderer a few years ago?
Yep. See my post #10 also, fyi...
Convicted killer in gay-bashing case executed
02/06/2003
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – An apologetic Henry Dunn Jr. was executed Thursday night for participating in the fatal shooting of a Tyler man who was abducted and targeted for robbery because he was gay.
Strapped to the death chamber gurney, he expressed love for his family and asked for forgiveness from his victim's relatives.
"I hope you can find it in your heart to find forgiveness and strength, to move on and find peace," Dunn said, looking at Nicolas West's sister, brother and brother-in-law.
As the drugs began taking effect, Dunn let out a long, slight gasp. He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m., six minutes after the lethal dose began.
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"Texas has executed innocent people, and tonight, Texas has shown just how broke and unfair its system is," he said.
Dunn accused the state of having no clemency and urged politicians to work to "fix the Texas justice system" and continue to "work for a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas."
In the signed statement, he urged his family and friends to "continue to struggle and fight against the death penalty as its only use has been for revenge and it does not deter crime."
Dunn, 28, was the eighth Texas inmate executed this year and second this week. Three more are scheduled for lethal injection later this month.
The former fast-food restaurant worker acknowledged being present when the 23-year-old West was gunned down near Tyler more than nine years ago. But he said a companion also sent to death row primarily was to blame for the gay-bashing hate crime.
"I don't hate homosexuals," Dunn, who was 19 at the time of the killing, said last week. "That's their right to be that way if they want to."
Donald Aldrich, now 38, also is on death row for the West slaying. A third man, David Ray McMillan, who was 17 when the crime occurred Nov. 30, 1993, received a life prison term.
"I did admit to being at the crime scene," Dunn said in a death row interview. "I'm not saying I'm responsible."
The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday afternoon refused to review the case and halt the execution. Dunn was one day away from injection last May when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped his punishment so it could consider an appeal.
Authorities believed Aldrich, on parole after a pair of burglary and robbery convictions, was the leader of what became know as the "CB gang" – because they first became acquainted over CB radios. The gang for months preyed on homosexuals in the Tyler area.
West, a medical clerk, was abducted from a Tyler park known as a homosexual meeting spot. Taken to a remote area of Smith County, he was stripped, ordered to his knees and shot as many as 15 times.
Dunn called it "a crime that got out of control."
Aldrich had lured West under the guise of seeking sex, then drove away with him. Dunn said he and McMillan were waiting nearby. According to a plan carried out several times before, Dunn and McMillan followed them out of town where the trio then could rob the unsuspecting victim.
"Aldrich was mad because the dude didn't give him all his money," Dunn said.
"It was a deliberate, preplanned, cold-blooded kidnapping and murder," Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen said. "This wasn't an isolated incident by them in these types of attacks but the violence stepped up in this one and went all the way to kidnaping and murder."
Aldrich at his trial blamed Dunn for starting the gunfire. Dunn replied from death row he could "not positively say" he did any shooting.
Evidence, however, showed he used a .357-caliber Magnum and his shot to West's head was the last of the more than a dozen bullets and a shotgun blast fired into the victim.
West's body was found two days later. Dunn was arrested driving West's truck.
Dunn was among seven death row inmates who tried to escape from prison Thanksgiving night 1998. Only one, Martin Gurule, cleared a pair of fences that surrounded the Ellis Unit prison northeast of Huntsville. He was found drowned a week later, still on prison property.
Dunn and the other five were stopped by the razor-tipped wire fences and gunfire from corrections officers.
As a result of the escape, death row was moved to the more restrictive Polunsky Unit near Livingston, about 45 miles east of Huntsville.
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02/06/2003
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - An apologetic Henry Dunn Jr. was executed Thursday night for participating in the fatal shooting of a Tyler man who was abducted and targeted for robbery because he was gay.
Strapped to the death chamber gurney, he expressed love for his family and asked for forgiveness from his victim's relatives.
"I hope you can find it in your heart to find forgiveness and strength, to move on and find peace," Dunn said, looking at Nicolas West's sister, brother and brother-in-law.
As the drugs began taking effect, Dunn let out a long, slight gasp. He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m., six minutes after the lethal dose began.
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"Texas has executed innocent people, and tonight, Texas has shown just how broke and unfair its system is," he said.
Dunn accused the state of having no clemency and urged politicians to work to "fix the Texas justice system" and continue to "work for a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas."
In the signed statement, he urged his family and friends to "continue to struggle and fight against the death penalty as its only use has been for revenge and it does not deter crime."
Dunn, 28, was the eighth Texas inmate executed this year and second this week. Three more are scheduled for lethal injection later this month.
The former fast-food restaurant worker acknowledged being present when the 23-year-old West was gunned down near Tyler more than nine years ago. But he said a companion also sent to death row primarily was to blame for the gay-bashing hate crime.
"I don't hate homosexuals," Dunn, who was 19 at the time of the killing, said last week. "That's their right to be that way if they want to."
Donald Aldrich, now 38, also is on death row for the West slaying. A third man, David Ray McMillan, who was 17 when the crime occurred Nov. 30, 1993, received a life prison term.
"I did admit to being at the crime scene," Dunn said in a death row interview. "I'm not saying I'm responsible."
The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday afternoon refused to review the case and halt the execution. Dunn was one day away from injection last May when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped his punishment so it could consider an appeal.
Authorities believed Aldrich, on parole after a pair of burglary and robbery convictions, was the leader of what became know as the "CB gang" - because they first became acquainted over CB radios. The gang for months preyed on homosexuals in the Tyler area.
West, a medical clerk, was abducted from a Tyler park known as a homosexual meeting spot. Taken to a remote area of Smith County, he was stripped, ordered to his knees and shot as many as 15 times.
Dunn called it "a crime that got out of control."
Aldrich had lured West under the guise of seeking sex, then drove away with him. Dunn said he and McMillan were waiting nearby. According to a plan carried out several times before, Dunn and McMillan followed them out of town where the trio then could rob the unsuspecting victim.
"Aldrich was mad because the dude didn't give him all his money," Dunn said.
"It was a deliberate, preplanned, cold-blooded kidnapping and murder," Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen said. "This wasn't an isolated incident by them in these types of attacks but the violence stepped up in this one and went all the way to kidnaping and murder."
Aldrich at his trial blamed Dunn for starting the gunfire. Dunn replied from death row he could "not positively say" he did any shooting.
Evidence, however, showed he used a .357-caliber Magnum and his shot to West's head was the last of the more than a dozen bullets and a shotgun blast fired into the victim.
West's body was found two days later. Dunn was arrested driving West's truck.
Dunn was among seven death row inmates who tried to escape from prison Thanksgiving night 1998. Only one, Martin Gurule, cleared a pair of fences that surrounded the Ellis Unit prison northeast of Huntsville. He was found drowned a week later, still on prison property.
Dunn and the other five were stopped by the razor-tipped wire fences and gunfire from corrections officers.
As a result of the escape, death row was moved to the more restrictive Polunsky Unit near Livingston, about 45 miles east of Huntsville.
However, if there's going to be a death penalty, I thinking shooting a robbery victim 15 times pretty much qualifies someone to receive it.
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02/06/2003
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - An apologetic Henry Dunn Jr. was executed Thursday night for participating in the fatal shooting of a Tyler man who was abducted and targeted for robbery because he was gay.
Strapped to the death chamber gurney, he expressed love for his family and asked for forgiveness from his victim's relatives.
"I hope you can find it in your heart to find forgiveness and strength, to move on and find peace," Dunn said, looking at Nicolas West's sister, brother and brother-in-law.
As the drugs began taking effect, Dunn let out a long, slight gasp. He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m., six minutes after the lethal dose began.
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"Texas has executed innocent people, and tonight, Texas has shown just how broke and unfair its system is," he said.
Dunn accused the state of having no clemency and urged politicians to work to "fix the Texas justice system" and continue to "work for a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas."
In the signed statement, he urged his family and friends to "continue to struggle and fight against the death penalty as its only use has been for revenge and it does not deter crime."
Dunn, 28, was the eighth Texas inmate executed this year and second this week. Three more are scheduled for lethal injection later this month.
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