Execution Report: Cedric Ransom

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A jury convicted Ransom of the capital murder of Herbert Primm in December 1992 and sentenced him to death. (Ransom was also indicted, but not tried, for the murders of Juan Valdez, Sulieman El-Hamad, and Adam Meflah.) In June 1994, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction due to a problem with jury selection. On the state's request for rehearing, the Court of Criminal Appeals reinstated the conviction in February 1996, but did not reinstate the death sentence. The case was remanded to the trial court for a new punishment hearing.

At Ransom's second punishment hearing, the jury heard of other violent acts committed since his first conviction, including an attack on a sheriff's deputy that occurred two days before the hearing began.

A jury resentenced Ransom to death in February 1997. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed this death sentence in February 1999. All of Ransom's subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Isaac Deon Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder in the Primm case and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in less than 18 months. (At the time, early release was common in Texas due to strict prison population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.) In 1993, he was convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He is still in custody at this writing.

Nathan Clark was apparently not charged in the Primm murder, but in 1993, he was convicted of aggravated robbery and cocaine possession and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He also remains in custody.

Brian Keith Williams is also serving a 25-year sentence for aggravated robbery.

Alexis Alexander Apples was convicted of murder with a deadly weapon in the J.R.'s Food Store case. He was sentenced to life in prison and is in custody at this writing.

While testifying at his 1997 punishment hearing, Ransom denied any involvement in the Primm case, but he did admit to killing El-Hamad. "It was wrong," Ransom told the court. "I had no right to shoot him."

Ransom was caught while attempting to escape from the Ellis Unit near Huntsville in 1997. He and another condemned inmate had cut through a fence with a hacksaw blade.

Ransom declined requests to be interviewed from death row.

At his execution, Ransom thanked his friends for their support and expressed love to them. Without their calming influence at his execution, he said, "Probably I would have put up a good fight." As the lethal drugs began taking effect, he told them "I'll be OK." He did not look at or acknowledge Lori Primm, his victim's wife. He was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 24 July 2003.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, public records, Associated Press, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Huntsville Item.