Robert Jennings was executed on January 30, 2019 for July
1988 fatal shooting of Officer Elston Howard during a robbery at an adult
bookstore that authorities said was part of a crime spree, according to the
Washington Post.
As witnesses filed into the death chamber, Jennings asked a
chaplain standing next to him if he knew the name of the slain officer. The
chaplain didn’t respond, and a prison official then told the warden to proceed
with the punishment.
“To my friends and family, it was a nice journey,” Jennings
said in his final statement. “To the family of the police officer, I hope y’all
find peace. Be well and be safe and try to enjoy life’s moments, because we
never get those back.”
Outside the prison, more than 100 officers stood vigil. And
a motorcycle club that supports police revved their engines, with the roar from
the bikes audible in the chamber.
Jennings was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m., 18 minutes after
the drug started. He became the first inmate put to death this year both in the
U.S. and in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.
His attorneys had
asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay his execution, arguing Jennings’ trial
attorneys failed to ask jurors to fully consider evidence — including details
of his remorse for the officer’s shooting and possible brain damage — that
might have spared him a death sentence.
A twice convicted robber, Jennings had been on parole for
about two months when prosecutors say he entered Mr. Peeper’s Bookstore with
the intention of robbing the business. Since being paroled, Jennings had gone
on a crime spree, committing about 10 robberies, including having already
robbed the same adult bookstore 12 days before Howard’s slaying.
Officer Howard, 24, was in the middle of arresting the store
clerk for operating a pornographic video arcade without a permit when Jennings
shot the officer twice in the head.
Howard, who had been wearing a jacket with the words
“Houston Police” on it, staggered for a few feet before falling to the ground,
where he was shot twice more by Jennings. The clerk later testified the
shooting was so quick, Howard never had a chance to unholster his gun.
Jennings was arrested hours later when he went to a Houston
hospital after being shot in the hand by his accomplice, who got angry at
Jennings for shooting the officer.
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