[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

December 11




TEXAS----execution


Killer who shot newlywed, raped his wife on Mesquite walking trail is executed


A convicted killer who shot a man and raped his wife in 1993 as the newlyweds 
strolled on a trail in Mesquite was executed by lethal injection Tuesday night.

Alvin Braziel was convicted of fatally shooting Douglas White in 1993.

Alvin Avon Braziel Jr., 43, was convicted of capital murder in 2001, nearly 8 
years after he killed 27-year-old Douglas White and raped 23-year-old Lora 
White in September 1993.

Braziel’s execution was delayed about an hour after defense attorneys filed 
last-minute motions to stay the lethal injection, but the motions were denied.

Braziel was pronounced dead at 7:19, less than 10 minutes after he spoke for 
the last time.

In his final moments, Braziel apologized to Lora White for her husband’s death, 
calling his victim “Lori.”

She was not present at the execution.

“I want to apologize for the 2nd time to Lori for her husband dying at my 
hands,” Braziel said.

Braziel did not mention raping her in his apology.

He also apologized to the White family. Douglas White’s brother stood close to 
the window watching Braziel’s last words and sat after the condemned man’s 
heavy breathing faded.

Douglas and Lora White had been married for just 10 days and were on the 
walking trail at Eastfield College in Mesquite when an armed robber demanded 
money.

They told the man they didn’t have any.

The man put a gun to Douglas White’s head and threatened Lora White that if she 
ran he would “blow his [expletive] head off.”

He told the couple to get on the ground, where he shot Douglas White, then told 
the injured man to get up and shot him in the chest.

The couple prayed aloud during the attack. Before shooting Douglas White, the 
man asked, “Where’s your God at now?”

The robber, still armed, then dragged Lora White into the bushes and sexually 
assaulted her.

Afterward, Lora White described her attacker to a police sketch artist, but the 
case went cold.

In 2001, Braziel was connected to the attack on the Whites through DNA testing. 
His DNA had been collected after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 
15-year-old girl, a 1996 crime for which he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Braziel’s defense attorneys filed a motion Tuesday in the Dallas County court 
where he was convicted, seeking to withdraw the execution date.

The attorneys had previously requested additional forensic testing to verify 
whether another male’s DNA could’ve been in the swab taken from Lora White 
after the sexual assault. Forensic testing revealed that the DNA evidence 
collected from Lora White was consistent with one attacker, court records show.

Douglas White was fatally shot in September 1993 while he and his wife of 10 
days walked on a jogging trail at Eastfield College. (File photo)
  Douglas White was fatally shot in September 1993 while he and his wife of 10 
days walked on a jogging trail at Eastfield College.

Lora White picked Braziel from a photo lineup and identified him in court as 
her attacker.

“It felt like someone was squeezing my heart,” she said when she saw his photo 
in the lineup, according to court documents.

During the 2001 trial, Lora White left the courtroom after prosecutors showed 
her an autopsy photo of her slain husband while she testified. Later, she could 
be heard crying in the hallway, and defense attorneys asked for a mistrial at 
the time. The request was denied.

In Tuesday's motion, defense attorneys said prosecutors purposely “elicited the 
emotional response” of Lora White during the trial.

The attorneys also filed a stay of execution with the Court of Criminal 
Appeals, the highest criminal court in Texas. The court denied the request.

  Prosecutors showed a side-by-side comparison of a police sketch of the alleged 
killer and rapist and Alvin Braziel Jr. during the 2001 capital murder trial.

The attorneys wrote that one of the prosecutors called them Tuesday and said 
that the lead prosecutor, George West, said, “Watch this,” moments before 
showing Lora White the photo.

The former prosecutor named in the motion was scheduled to be one of the 
witnesses to the execution on the victim’s side but was not present.

No family members or friends of Braziel were at the Huntsville Unit to witness 
the lethal injection.

But the man did thank his supporters, including “Italy and France for their 
support for the death row prisoners.”

A handful of death penalty opponents stood outside the prison shouting their 
support for Braziel.

After Braziel was sentenced to die, Lora White spoke to him in the courtroom.

Braziel had told her after the attack that she had done “real good,” so he 
would let her live.

But she said that it was God who gave her a second chance after her husband 
prayed for her. She told Braziel that it would be his turn to be saved.

“You will go to court again, and this time, it’s for your soul,” Lora White 
said in court. “You’d better ask God to forgive you and make amends to God or 
your soul will go to hell.”

Braziel become the 13th condemned (and last) inmate to be put to death this 
year in Texas, and the 588th overall since the state resumed capital punishment 
on December 8, 1982.

Braziel becomes the 40th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since 
Greg Abbott became governor of the state in January 2015.

Braziel becomes the 24th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the 
USA and the 1,489th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 
1977.

(sources: Dallas Morning News & Rick Halperin)


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Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----40




Executions in Texas:  Dec. 7, 1982----present-----558

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #



41---------Jan. 15----------------Blaine Milam------------559

42---------Jan. 30----------------Robert Jennings---------560

43---------Feb. 28----------------Billy Wayne Coble-------561

44---------Apr. 11----------------Mark Robertson----------562

45---------Mar. 28----------------Patrick Murphy----------563

46---------May 2------------------Dexter Johnson----------564

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)