Execution Report: Billy Vickers

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A jury convicted Vickers of capital murder in October 1993 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in December 1996. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Tommy Perkins Jr. was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. In exchange for his testimony, Jason Paul Martin pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and received a 25-year sentence. Both men are still in custody at this writing.

"I'm innocent," Vickers told a reporter from death row. "I never confessed to shooting anyone."

Vickers had previously been scheduled for execution on 9 December 2003. That day, his lawyer filed a lawsuit in federal court, challenging the constitutionality of lethal injections involving the chemical pancuronium bromide. A lower court rejected the lawsuit, and as of midnight, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had not yet made a ruling. Even though no stay had been issued, the Huntsville warden decided, upon the advice of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, not to execute Vickers that evening. The Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court later rejected the lawsuit, and Vickers' trial judge signed a new death warrant for 28 January 2004.

Vickers' attorney, Keith Hampton, told a reporter that the state's failure to execute his client on the scheduled date amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. "They prepared Vickers for death, the motion to stay his execution had been denied, and he had to wonder until midnight whether or not he was going to be executed. ... It violated the Eighth Amendment," Hampton said. Hampton filed a motion to attempt to halt Vickers' execution a second time, but the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that appeal Wednesday afternoon.

In his last statement, Vickers admitted to killing Phillip Kinslow. "It was nothing personal, I was just trying to make a living," he said. Vickers then took credit for more than a dozen other killings. "I'm sorry, but I am not sure how many. There must be a dozen or 14, I believe, all total." He only mentioned one specific case: "One I would like to clear up his Cullen Davis, where he was charged with shooting his wife," Vickers said, without elaborating. Davis, a former Texas oil millionaire, was tried and acquitted of killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter in 1976. Davis's wife, Priscilla, was also shot, and her boyfriend was killed.

"I wish to say to my family, I'm sorry for all the grief I've put you through," Vickers added. He was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m.

Jack Strickland, a former prosecutor who worked on the Cullen Davis case, said that he had never heard of Vickers and doubted that he was involved in the shooting. "I certainly don't put any stock in it, not the slightest bit," Strickland said.

By David Carson. Posted on 29 January 2004.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press.