Texas executes Alvin Braziel Jr.

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.

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

RELATED: Alvin Braziel Jr. scheduled to be last inmate executed by Texas in 2018

“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.

Source: Dallas Morning News & Rick Halperin, December 12, 2018

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