Execution Report: Richard Dinkins

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A jury convicted Dinkins of capital murder in February 1992 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in February 1995. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

In a death-row interview the week before his execution, Dinkins said that the gun "just went off" during the struggle with Thompson. Then, "I saw someone out of the corner of my eye after Ms. Thompson was shot, and I heard the door rattling," Dinkins said. "I didn't know who was in there. I could see someone with something in their hand. I shot at the door knob to keep whoever was back there from coming out. I didn't know I hit her. It looked like they had ducked." Though Dinkins denied that he intended to kill the women, he accepted responsibility for his actions. "It was my fault ... I can't be bitter," he said. "I'm the one who put myself in this situation."

Dinkins did not make a last statement at his execution. He did, however, leave a written statement in which he apologized to the Thompson and Cutler families. "I am sorry for what happened and that it was because of me that they are gone," he wrote. "If there were any way I could change things and bring them back, I would." He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 30 January 2003.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's Office, Associated Press, Huntsville Item.