The 11th Execution of 2024
Texas executed death row inmate Arthur Lee Burton on August 8, 2024 for the murder of a mother of three during an evening jog in Houston, making him the third man put to death in the state this year and the 11th in the nation.
Burton, 54, was executed by lethal injection
in the Huntsville Unit north of Houston for the 1998 murder of 48-year-old
Nancy Adleman, whose daughter described her as someone who "chose
joy" every day of her life. Burton's time of death was 6:47 p.m.,
according to Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice.
Burton's attorneys filed numerous appeals throughout his time on
death row, including two in July that were recently denied by the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals.
Burton confessed to the murder to police and told a prison
sociologist it was "something I couldn't help," according to court
records.
Here's what to know about Burton's execution, his last words,
the case and the victim.
Before Burton was executed, he spoke his last words in the death
chamber.
"I want to say thank you to all the people who support me
and pray for me," he said. "For those of you I know and do not know,
thank you for your support and prayers ... And a full circle to all the guys at
the Polunsky Unit (prison), I love you guy ... Bird is going home."
Burton also addressed those affected by his crimes.
"To all the people I have hurt and caused pain, I wish we
didn't have to be here at this moment, but I want you to know that I am sorry
for putting y'all through this and my family," he said. "I'm not
better than anyone. I hope that I find peace and y'all can, too."
Nancy Adleman was killed on July 29, 1997, while out jogging
along Brays Bayou in Houston.
Harris County sheriff's deputies found Adleman's badly beaten
body in a 4-foot hole in a heavily wooded area along the bayou the next day.
Burton was arrested by authorities 10 days after the murder, and
although he initially denied killing Adleman, he eventually confessed in a
written statement after officers found inconsistencies in his alibi.
In Burton's written statement, he admitted to attacking Adleman,
dragging her into the woods, choking her unconscious, removing her shorts and
underwear and raping her, according to a 2004 court filing. When Adleman
regained consciousness and began screaming, Burton choked her unconscious again
and dragged her into the hole officials found her in.
When Burton was about to leave, he saw another person walking
nearby, so he returned to the hole and strangled Adleman to death with her own
shoelace, the court document says.
In his confession to police, Burton said that Adleman's last
words before her death were: "God forgives you and I do, too,"
according to Adleman's daughter, Sarah Adleman, who was 16 at the time and
recently talked to USA TODAY about the crime.
"For any woman who has ever exercised alone, or walked to
their car alone at night, this case is their worst nightmare," Josh Reiss,
chief of the Post-Conviction Writ Division of the Harris County District
Attorney’s Office, told USA TODAY.
Sarah Adleman told USA TODAY earlier this week that she would
not be attending Burton's execution, and would instead gather by a river with
friends and family for an afternoon of "play and laughter."
She was 16 years old when her mother was murdered while out on a
jog in Houston. Now Sarah Adleman is 43 and a mother herself.
"I think the greatest way to honor my mother’s life is to
be present with the joy in mind," Sarah Adleman said. "We will have a
gratitude and a forgiveness ceremony, a funeral of sorts. A letting go of the
past 27 years."
She recalled how her mother made it a point to choose joy.
"She woke most mornings to pray, meditate (and) write
before anyone else was awake," she recalled. "She understood that joy
is a choice."
Sarah Adleman said her brother, Geoff, and father, Mark, would
be attending the execution. Geoff was 14 when his mother was killed, and Mark
had been married to Nancy for 18 years.
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