Stanley Baker

Stanley Allison Baker Jr., 35, was executed by lethal injection on 30 May in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of a store clerk.

In September 1994. Baker, then 27, entered an adult video store wearing green fatigues and carrying a 12-gauge shotgun. He ordered the clerk, Wayne John Walters, 44, to give him the keys to his pickup. After Walters did so without resistance, Baker shot him three times. The third shot to the back of the head was fired as Walters lay face down on the floor. Baker then cleared the cash register of about $40 in cash and fled the store in Walters' pickup truck. During the robbery, the shotgun recoiled, hitting Baker in the face. He left blood, a tooth fragment, footprints, and other physical evidence at the crime scene.

Baker drove home and loaded his belongings into the stolen truck, then drove out of town. A Department of Public Safety trooper spotted the truck, driven by Baker, about two hours after the shooting, 70 miles from the scene. When he was arrested, Baker had blood on his shirt and a cut lip. Police also found the murder weapon, other weapons, ammunition, and survival gear in the pickup. Furthermore, they found a notebook in which Baker had written his goals for the year, which included "30+ victims dead. 30+ armed robberies. Steal a lot of cars." He confessed to the murder and robbery.

Baker had recently quit work as a stock clerk at a Winn-Dixie supermarket. In a search of Baker's home, police found an obscenity-filled resignation letter. Prosecutors claimed that Baker had planned to kill the store manager and others at the Winn-Dixie after the video store robbery, but he changed his plans because of his chipped tooth and bloody shirt. Baker's other writings documented his hatred of blacks, gays, and President Clinton, and his plans to go on a killing spree similar to the one by Charles Whitman, who shot 16 people from the University of Texas clock tower in 1966.

A jury convicted Baker of capital murder in July 1995 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction and sentence in May 1997. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

I was really depressed all the time," Baker said in an interview on death row. "I just wanted it to end. It's weird the way it happened. It's like I went insane ... I'm just glad it's about over. I'm looking forward to the last meal, but not the part that comes after," he laughed.

Baker's last meal request was for two 16-ounce rib eye steaks, a pound of thinly sliced turkey breast, 12 strips of bacon, two large hamburgers with mayonnaise, onion and lettuce; two large baked potatoes, four slices of cheese or a half-pound of grated cheddar cheese, a chef salad with bleu cheese dressing, two ears of corn on the cob, one pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and four vanilla Cokes or Mr. Pibbs. Whether or not this request was granted in full was not made public.

"Well, I don't have anything to say, so let's go," Baker said at his execution. When warden Neill Hodges asked Baker if he was sure he had no last statement, he said, "I am just sorry about what I did to Mr. Peters," calling his victim by the wrong name. "That's all." As the drugs began taking effect, he said, "My arm feels cold ... got some pain in my left arm. I guess that's the poison." Next, he coughed, gasped, and slightly wheezed. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m.