Execution Report: David Gibbs

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In an interview several years ago, Gibbs described himself as a "country gentleman." "This is a blow to everything I believe in," he said. "I don't believe in hitting women. But for me to turn around and rape and murder two women ... the point is, I did it."

In 1990, Gibbs was involved in the death of a fellow death-row inmate. Calvin Williams was strangled with a rope in a recreation yard. Gibbs told investigators he helped Williams commit suicide. One report says he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter; another says he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. In any case, he received another 20-year sentence.

At his execution, Gibbs told Mickey Bryant, Marietta's brother, "I have wronged you and your family, and for that I am truly sorry. I forgive and have been forgiven." He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

Afterwards, Mickey Bryant told a reporter, "the apology doesn't cover the crime that he committed. He needed to die for that crime. But, I did appreciate the statement and the fact that in his mind, he has been forgiven as best as I understood it and I hope that's the case. The Lord will judge in the end, and whether or not he truly repented as was forgiven, in my mind, he paid the price he needed to pay. I guess if I was a vindictive person, I would think that he should die in the way that he murdered Marietta ... (but) we live in a humane society and that's the humane way to do it."

By David Carson. Posted on 13 September 2000.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press, Huntsville Item.