Execution Report: Leon Dorsey

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A jury convicted Dorsey of capital murder in May 2000 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in October 2002. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Dallas county prosecutor Jason January did not blame the police for deciding not to charge Dorsey after the first murder. He said that the technology at the time was not advanced enough. "You hate to see that," he said, "knowing that potentially if the technology had been as good when the crime was committed, someone else would not have been killed."

In his eight years on death row, Dorsey was written up at least 95 times for disciplinary infractions, including the 2004 stabbing of a corrections officer 14 times in the back with an 8½-inch shank. The officer's body armor protected him from serious injury. Authorities found another shank in Dorsey's cell less two weeks before he was executed.

Dorsey was not available for media interviews while on death row because of his disciplinary record and his threats of violence. Prison officials were prepared to use force to take him to the execution chamber, but Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said that Dorsey did not put up a fight, and force was not used.

At his execution, Dorsey acknowledged his sister, who watched from a viewing room, but did not acknowledge the victims' witnesses. "I love y'all. I forgive y'all. See y'all when you get there," he said in his last statement. "Do what you're going to do." The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 13 August 2008.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's office, Associated Press, Huntsville Item.