Texas Executes Killer of Houston Opera Singers

32nd Execution of 2010

Texas carried out the 32nd execution of 2010. Derrick Jackson is the 461st person executed in Texas and 1,220th person executed nationwide during the modern era of the death penalty. He was convicted of killing two Houston opera singers nearly 22 years ago.

According to the Associated Press, Jackson declined to make a final statement before the lethal injection was administered. He proclaimed his innocence in recent media interviews. He was the 15th person to be executed in Texas this year.

Jackson contended he was unfairly convicted of the September 1988 fatal beatings and slashings of Forrest Henderson and Richard Wrotenbery. The two 31-year-old men were in the Houston Grand Opera chorus.

The slayings inside Henderson's apartment went unsolved until 1995, when a bloody fingerprint from the scene was matched to Jackson. By then, Jackson already was in prison serving a 12-year term for aggravated robbery.

To read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7117026.html