Execution Report: Jeffrey Doughtie

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On death row, Doughtie admitted he was responsible for the killings. "I walked into that store and beat two people to death with a pipe and that was the lowest point of my life," Doughtie said. "It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. The sick thing is that I didn't walk out of there thinking, 'There are two people inside bleeding to death. I was thinking, 'I'm going to get a good deal for this ring.' That's some sick (stuff)." He also said he was a changed person since entering prison. "I was a mess ... I just didn't have the sense to lay down and die."

Doughtie said that he wasn't afraid of being executed. "I wish those people hadn't died. But that gurney holds no fear for me -- I have a peace inside my heart." He continued, "to kill me isn't going to bring them back. I'm getting off easy -- they're the ones who had to suffer. Yes, I'm getting the ultimate punishment, but I got time to get it together, and I know where I'm going. The one thing we have on death row is that we know when, where and how (we're going to die). We have time to prepare for it. ... They are honestly not giving me the ultimate punishment, they're cutting me loose."

On the execution gurney, Doughtie questioned the point of executing him. "I don't think the world will be a better or safer place without me," he said. "You are not hurting me now. I have had time to get ready, to tell my family goodbye, to get my life where it needed to be." Referring to his $400-a-day drug habit that led to him murder Jerry and Sylvia Dean, he said "it started with a needle and it is ending with a needle." He then thanked his friends who were present and told the warden to proceed with the lethal injection. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 20 August 2001.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's Office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, United Press International.