Alva Curry

Alva Eziel Curry, 33, was executed by lethal injection on 28 January 2003 in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of a convenience store clerk.

On 16 October 1991, Curry, then 22, and Mark Davis, 18, entered an Austin convenience store armed with guns. Curry jumped over the counter, held his gun at employee David Vela's head, and demanded money. When Vela, 20, was unable to open the store's safe, Curry shot him in the temple at close range. Curry and Davis took the cash drawer, which contained $220. Before leaving the store, they shot Vela four more times. The incident was recorded on security cameras.

One week later, on 23 October, convenience store employee Brendon Proske, 23, was killed in a similar robbery.

A tip from a confidential informant led to Curry's arrest on 8 November. A search of his home produced clothing that matched that recorded on the Vela murder videotape. The convenience store's missing cash register drawer was also found in Curry's home, as well as one of the murder weapons. Curry confessed.

Curry had no prior felony convictions, but he had a history of theft and assault. At the time of the killings. He was free on bond on a charge of assaulting his sister-in-law.

A jury convicted Curry in October 1992 of the capital murder of David Vela and sentenced him to death. In a separate trial, Curry was convicted of the capital murder of Brendon Proske and was sentenced to life in prison. Mark Davis pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated robbery and received two life sentences.

"I believe I deserve to die," Curry said in an interview from death row the week before his execution. "If I could, I would take back the nights that all this mess happened. I hope with the help of God the relatives of the victims can forgive me," he said. Curry said that his life took a turn for the worse after he was fired from a busboy job for being late. Unable to find a job, at age 22, he started hanging out with drug dealers. "The wrong choices in life took me down a destructive road," Curry said. "If I was still in the outside world, I might not have lived to 23 years old." Curry said that he became a Christian after a visit from mother. "She told me to give my life to God and let him deal with it," he said.

In his appeals, Curry's attorney argued that the judge should have allowed the defense to dismiss three jurors who displayed a pro-conviction or pro-death-penalty bias during questioning. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in November 1995. All of Curry's subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied, including a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, whose members were at the U.S. Capitol to attend President Bush's State of the Union address. The execution was delayed for about two hours.

"I pray with the help of God that you will forgive me for the pain that I have caused your family," Curry told his victims' witnesses in his last statement. "I'm truly sorry. I wish I could take it back. I just pray and ask that you forgive me." Next, Curry turned his head toward his mother and smiled. He then nodded at Huntsville Unit warden Neill Hodges, who signaled for the lethal injection to begin. Curry coughed and sputtered as the lethal drugs began to take effect. He was pronounced dead at 8:09 p.m.