Execution Report: Jermarr Arnold

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In another letter from about the same time, he wrote, "I was convicted in a sham trial. I was given an incompetent court appointed attorney who essentially collaborated to railroad me. ... There was no physical evidence introduced during the trial of my guilt. There were no eyewitnesses. None of my fingerprints were found. No DNA. There was not even a murder weapon. This was a long ago murder robbery that had happened July 1983 and the police had not solved or made any arrests in over 6 or 7 years when I came along and they seen a perfect chance to 'solve' their case." He called his case "one of the most egregious examples on Texas's already long and growing list of travesties symbolizing the dark cloud of corruption of power and racism long hanging over this state and tainting its entire legal System." Arnold wrote that his confession to Texas Rangers in California was invalid because he was "psychotic, depressed, and suicidal" at the time and was being treated with anti-psychotic drugs. He also attributed his record of prison violence to his mental illness. His letter ended with a plea for funds for a DNA test.

Grant Jones, the prosecutor in the case, said that he would not have pursued Arnold as the suspect if his confession were the only evidence. "We proved without a doubt he was in town; we proved he was at the store the day of the robbery; we connected to him, or had in his possession, some of the jewelry," Jones said, adding that Arnold also provided details only the killer could have known. "You had to ask yourself: How can a guy in California come up with all the details of a robbery in Corpus Christi? How could he know about it unless he was here?"

Despite his claims of innocence, Arnold still admitted to plenty of wrongdoing. He acknowledged more than two dozen rapes, at least two murders (including Maurice Andrews), and numerous robberies. "I can accept I did bad things," he said in an interview the week before his execution. "I'm not very good with people. Sometimes I feel paranoid and threatened and I strike out ... I start hurting myself or other people." But Arnold said that he has mellowed in recent years, describing himself as "level, calm, and peace-loving." Of the Sanchez killing, he said, "I do care and I'm sorry and I wish none of this had happened."

On Monday, 14 January, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Arnold's final appeal and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously to deny his request for a stay of execution.

On Tuesday, former Nueces county assistant district attorney Bill May asked Governor Perry to grant Arnold an emergency 30-day stay of execution. May said that he believed Christine Sanchez may have been murdered because of her role as an informer in drug investigations, and that the jewelry store robbery was faked to cover the real motive behind her murder. Perry declined the stay request Wednesday afternoon. A spokesman said that the governor's office investigated May's comments and found that they were not supported in the trial record.

"I'm taking responsibility for the death of your daughter in 1983," Arnold told the victim's family at his execution. "I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your loved one ... I cannot explain and can't give you answers. I can give you one thing, and I'm going to give that today. I give a life for a life. I pray you will have no ill will or animosity. You have the right to see this, I am glad you are here. All I can do is ask the Lord for forgiveness. I am not saying this to be facetious. I am giving my life. I hope you find comfort in my execution. As for me, I am happy, that is why you see me smiling. I am glad I am leaving this world. I am going to a better place. I have made peace with God, I am born again." He continued with his last statement in the same vein, repeating that he took responsibility for the killing and that he hoped the Sanchez family would find peace. After he signaled the warden to begin the lethal injection, he began singing "Amazing Grace" and kept singing as the chemicals coursed into his veins. He was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 16 January 2002.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's Office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Socialist Worker, letters from Jermarr Arnold.