James Allridge

James Vernon Allridge III, 41, was executed by lethal injection on 26 August 2004 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder and robbery of a convenience store clerk.

On 4 April 1985, Allridge, then 22, and his brother, Ronald, 24, drove to a convenience store in Fort Worth. James Allridge used to be an employee of the store and knew where the combination to the safe was kept. Ronald dropped James off at the store and drove around the corner to wait for him. The store was closed. Through the locked doors, James asked the clerk, Brian Clendennen, for change to make a telephone call. Clendennen recognized Allridge, opened the doors for him, and gave him change. After Allridge pretended to use the phone, he left, and Clendennen locked the doors again.

After getting back into the car, Ronald accused James of "chickening out." James decided to go back to the store. Clendennen again opened the doors for him. When he did, Allridge pointed a .25-caliber pistol at him and forced his way into the store. Allridge then took Clendennen into the storeroom and tied his hands behind his back. While he was emptying the cash register and safe, Allridge heard a noise from the storeroom. He went back and saw that Clendennen had moved. Allridge then forced Clendennen to his knees and shot him twice in the back of the head.

After returning to the car, Allridge decided to go back into the store to make sure Clendennen was dead. However, a woman was in the store parking lot when Allridge arrived, so he fled. The woman, who was Clendennen's mother, entered the store, saw some loose change on the floor, and immediately left and called the police from a nearby restaurant. The police found Clendennen in the storeroom, still alive. He died the next day in the hospital.

At his punishment hearing, the state introduced evidence that after murdering Clendennen, James Allridge committed or participated in seven other aggravated robberies of stores or restaurants in Fort Worth. In one of those robberies, a Whataburger customer, Carla McMillen, was killed.

A jury convicted James Allridge of capital murder in March 1987 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in November 1991. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Ronald Keith Allridge was convicted of the capital murder of Carla McMillen and was sentenced to death. He was executed on 8 June 1995.

While on death row, James Allridge made art prints and greeting cards. He sold the items, many of which depicted flowers, on an internet web site set up and operated by sympathizers. According to the web site, proceeds went into Allridge's legal defense fund.

In 2001, the state legislature passed a "murderabilia" law, which was intended to prohibit convicts from profiting from the sale of items in connection with their inmate status. In July 2004, Allridge's web site received international media attention when actress Susan Sarandon, who had been pen pals with Allridge for 8 years, visited him on death row. Andy Kahan, a crime victims' advocate who was a driving force behind the 2001 law, filed a formal complaint with TDCJ and with the Polk county district attorney's office, asking them to shut down Allridge's site. At the time of Allridge's execution, the request was still under investigation.

While pursuing his final appeals, Allridge sent a clemency petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. In the petition, Allridge requested that his sentence be commuted to life, on the basis that he had become completely rehabilitated on death row and was no longer a danger to society. Saying that he accepted full responsibility for his crime and that he felt deep remorse, Allridge claimed that he had been a model prisoner during his 17 years on death row, and that he spent his spare time writing, drawing and painting, and teaching other inmates to read and write. The parole board rejected his petition. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last appeal late in the afternoon of his execution.

"I'm sorry, I really am," Allridge said in his final statement. Speaking slowly and quietly, Allridge said, "I am sorry I destroyed y'all's life. Thank you for forgiving me. To the moon and back, I love you all. I leave you all as I came - in love." The lethal injection was started at 6:13 p.m. Allridge was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m.