As anti-death penalty activists protested, a Texas death row inmate was executed over the weekend, having been convicted of the brutal murder of a woman while he was on parole for the murder of three other people.
Robert Ladd, 57, received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead just after 7 p.m. on Sunday, February 1.
Ladd was convicted and put to death for murdering 38-year-old Vickie Ann Garner in 1996. The convict beat the woman with a hammer, strangled her, tied her arms and legs, and eventually lit her on fire to finish her off.
Lawyers attempted to put a halt to the execution, claiming that the pentobarbital Texas uses for its lethal injections causes unconstitutional pain and suffering. But courts rejected the plea and allowed the sentence to be carried out.
As the drugs took effect, Ladd was heard saying, “Stings my arm, man!”
For his last words, the convicted killer asked his victim’s family to forgive him and hoped that they could get past any hate they may harbor. “I really, really hope and pray you don’t have hatred in your heart,” Ladd said. “A revenge death won’t get you anything.”
The murder of Vickie Garner was not the only murder this convict committed. When he murdered Miss Garner in 1996, Ladd was already out on parole for having murdered another woman and her children. In 1978, Ladd murdered Vivian Thompson and then set her apartment on fire, an act that killed the woman’s two children, Latoya and Maurice. Ladd pleaded guilty to those three murders and received a 40-year prison sentence.
However, Ladd only served a third of his sentence before he was released on parole. It was during his parole that he murdered Vickie Garner.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.