Execution Report: Daniel Reneau

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A jury convicted Reneau of capital murder in March 1997 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in January 1999. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Jeffery Lee Wood was also convicted of capital murder in a separate trial and was also sentenced to death. His conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeals in May 2000. He is presently on death row, with no execution date set.

In a letter to Amnesty International, Reneau wrote that before his trial, he thought the death penalty was only for "treason or trying to kill the President or something of that nature." He admitted robbing the gas station and shooting the clerk, but wrote that he didn't deserve to be put to death. "I'm not close to perfect but when you compare my case and background to the other people who are inmates in general population, it doesn't make a lot of sense."

"I don't feel like dying," Reneau said in a death-row interview. "I don't want to die. But if it does happen, I accept it." He said that Wood recently wrote him to ask him to write him a letter exonerating him of the crime, but he did not respond.

At his execution, Reneau made no final statement. As the lethal injection began flowing, he looked at Chaplain Richard Lopez and said, "I thought you were going to speak to me." He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 17 June 2002.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's office, Associated Press, San Antonio Express-News, Letter from Daniel Reneau to Brian Crowther on 4 April 2002.