Execution Report: William Chappell

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A jury convicted Chappell in November 1989 of the capital offense of murdering Alexandra Heath in the course of burglary. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction in February 1993 because of an error during jury selection. He was brought to trial again in October 1993, but the judge declared a mistrial before the jury was sworn in because another death row inmate, Ricky Lee Green, confessed to the slayings. Prosecutors contended that Green's confession was part of a plot that he and Chappell worked out together. Green was executed in 1997 for a different conviction.

Chappell was tried again, and in October 1996, another jury convicted him of capital murder and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed this conviction and sentence in October 1999. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

"My request is that y'all get yourselves in church, because y'all are killing me," Chappell said in his last statement. "Pray for your souls, because you need to." He said that he was innocent of the triple murder, that other people had confessed to it, and that additional DNA testing should have been performed. "I didn't do it. It's not in my nature," he said. Speaking to Jane Sitton, who watched through a window, he said, "Jane, you know damn well I didn't molest that damn daughter of yours." At 6:10 p.m., after the two minutes allotted for his last statement had elapsed, the lethal injection was started. Chappell was repeating that he was being murdered and that his victims' witnesses should ask for salvation when the drugs took effect. He gasped twice and went silent. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m.

At 66, Chappell was the oldest person to be executed by the state of Texas since it began performing executions in 1924. (Before then, each Texas county carried out its own executions.)

By David Carson. Posted on 21 November 2002.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's office, Associated Press, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Huntsville Item.