Execution Report: Mack Hill

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In July and August 1989, a jury found Hill guilty of capital murder and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and death sentence in May 1993. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal courts were denied. He was previously scheduled to be executed on 6 June, but received an eleventh-hour stay, so that the Court of Criminal Appeals could consider a claim of prosecutorial misconduct. That claim was judged to be without merit, and a new execution date was set.

Throughout his trial and his stay on death row, Hill said that he was innocent. He said he was never at the murder scene and that he heard about the crime from Herbert Elliot. "I was across town in bed -- sick," he said, "I wasn't even there." At his execution, he repeated his claims of innocence, and mentioned the Lubbock County District Attorney by name. "I'm innocent. Lubbock County officials obviously believe I'm guilty, but I'm not. Travis Ware ... needs to be stopped or he is going to do it time and time again. The power is invested in you as a public official to do your job." He also expressed love to his family before the lethal dose was administered. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m.

Herbert Wayne Elliot was convicted of robbery and sentenced to twenty years in prison. He is now out of prison, on parole until 2009.

By David Carson. Posted on 13 August 2001.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's Office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press, Huntsville Item.