The 6th Execution of 2021
A Texas inmate was executed on the evening of September 28, 2021 for fatally
stabbing two Houston-area brothers during a robbery in their home more than 30
years ago, reported NBC News.
Rick Rhoades, 57, was executed by lethal injection at the
state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the September 1991 killings
of Charles Allen, 31, and Bradley Allen, 33. The brothers were killed less than
a day after Rhoades had been released on parole after serving a sentence for
burglary.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to delay Rhoades’ execution
over claims his constitutional right to due process was being violated because
he was being prevented from pursuing allegations that some potential jurors at
his trial might have been dismissed for racially discriminatory reasons.
“We hope the Allen family finds peace after nearly 30 years
of waiting for justice for their loved ones. The death penalty should be
reserved for the worst of the worst, and a Harris County jury determined long
ago that this defendant fits the bill. Let us honor the memory of the victims,
Charles and Bradley Allen, and never forget that our focus has and always will
be on the victims,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a
statement.
In July, Rhoades’ attorneys had filed a federal lawsuit
against state District Judge Ana Martinez in Houston over a request they had
made that the judge order prosecutors to release information related to
allegations some jurors were dismissed based on racial discrimination.
Martinez ruled she lacked jurisdiction to consider the
request. The suit was dismissed earlier this month by a Houston federal judge,
who also declined to stay the execution. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
on Monday upheld the suit’s dismissal and also declined to stay the execution.
The appeals court in 2019 had previously denied a similar claim by Rhoades’
attorneys on allegations that two Black jurors were dismissed due to racial
bias. Rhoades is white.
Rhoades’ attorneys had previously unsuccessfully argued in
other appeals: that his constitutional rights were violated when childhood
photos depicting Rhoades in normal, happy activities and designed to show he
was nonviolent and would do well in prison were excluded during his trial’s
punishment phase; that a state investigator gave false testimony at his trial
over whether Rhoades could receive an unaccompanied furlough if sentenced to
life in prison; and that “evolving standards of decency” prohibit executions as
a punishment for murder.
"A 2020 Gallup poll on Americans’ attitudes regarding
capital punishment shows that public support for the death penalty is at its
lowest in a half-century, with opposition higher than any time since
1996," David Dow and Jeffrey Newberry wrote in a court motion last month.
Rhoades had a long criminal history, including convictions
for burglary and auto theft in Florida, Iowa and Texas, when he broke into
Charles Allen's house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena.
The home, located near where the siblings’ parents lived,
had just been custom built for Charles Allen and he had invited his brother to
temporarily live with him. The two brothers had recently gone through separate
divorces.
Charles Allen, who played the piano and had dreams of a
musical career, worked as a chemical operator at a local refinery. Bradley
Allen worked as a freelance artist.
At trial, prosecutors told jurors the siblings were asleep
when Rhoades broke into their home in the early morning hours and attacked
Charles Allen as he was in his bed. Bradley Allen was killed when he came to
his brother’s defense.
An arrest in the case wasn’t made until about a month later
when Rhoades was caught burglarizing an elementary school. While in custody,
Rhoades confessed to killing the brothers. But he claimed it was done in
self-defense after exchanging words with Charles Allen as Rhoades took a walk
at 2:30 a.m.
"I was tired of running. I wanted to tell what
happened," Rhoades said in his confession.
Rhoades was the third inmate put to death this year in Texas and
the sixth in the U.S. Four more executions are scheduled for later this year in
Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.
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