Kevin Watts

Kevin Michael Watts, 27, was executed by lethal injection on 16 October 2008 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of three people in a restaurant.

On 1 March 2002, four employees of the Sam Won Garden restaurant in San Antonio were inside the restaurant, preparing to open for business for the day. Watts, then 21, entered, brandishing a Tec-22 pistol. Demanding money, he fired one shot into the ceiling, then rounded up the four workers into the kitchen. He then shot the manager, Hak Po Kim, 30, cook Yuan Tzu Banks, 52, and cook Chae Sun Shook, 59, in the back of the head. He then ordered the manager's wife, Hye Kyong Kim, to retrieve her dying husband's wallet and car keys from his pants pocket and ordered her to empty the cash register. He then ordered her into her vehicle and fled with her.

Watts sexually assaulted Mrs. Kim in her car, then took her to his mother-in-law's apartment, where he again raped and sodomized her and allowed his roommate, Terrance Bolden, to rape her. Watts also forced Mrs. Kim to ingest narcotics and attempted to insert his pistol into her vagina. Mrs. Kim survived the ordeal and testified against Watts at his trial.

Watts was captured about three hours after the shootings, after he attempted to flee by ramming two police cars with the victim's sports utility vehicle. He confessed to the robbery and murders. The Tec-22 pistol he was carrying at the time of his arrest was matched to slugs removed from the victims' heads. A medical examiner testified that the angle of entry into the three victims' heads was consistent with them having been shot while kneeling. Also, police found Mr. Kim's wallet in the apartment Watts visited between the killings and his arrest.

Watts' attorney, Tina Tussay-Cooper, told the jury that Watts had gone on an alcohol and narcotics binge prior to the killings and that he "suffered a drug-induced psychosis" that led to his actions. Witnesses testified that Watts had been drinking "thug passion," an alcoholic drink made famous by rapper Tupac Shakur.

Watts' prior convictions included assault causing bodily injury, driving while intoxicated, and criminal mischief. He received probation for each of these convictions. At one point, his probation was revoked, and Watts was later arrested and convicted of failure to identify himself to a police officer while being a fugitive. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Watts was a member of a street gang and introduced a letter Watts wrote while in jail, describing how he wanted to become a member of the Black Gorilla Family prison gang.

Tussay-Cooper argued that Watts' string of misdemeanor convictions did not make him a continuing threat to society. "Two wrongs don't make a right," she told the jury. "Don't go back and retaliate because of the anger you feel."

A jury convicted Watts of capital murder in February 2003 and sentenced him to death. Mrs. Kim was permitted to address Watts after his punishment was announced, but she sobbed uncontrollably. An employee with the district attorney's office read her note.

As Watts was being led away, he made a brief statement expressing love to his family. He also apologized to the victims' families, but tempered his apology with the statement, "If they hate me, they hate me."

Tussay-Cooper responded to the jury's decision by saying, "What a waste of four lives."

Terrance Bolden was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to 14 years in prison. He remains in custody as of this writing.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Watts' conviction and sentence in December 2004. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Even though Watts admitted his guilt, he still claimed he had been treated unfairly. In a courtroom appearance earlier this year, he exploded with an obscenity-filled tirade. "I never had a chance to speak for myself, how I was railroaded, how I had an inadequate attorney, how this is not about justice," he said.

"My intent was to put food on the table, get some money, go home and live happily ever after," Watts said in an interview from death row the week before his execution. "The situation gets out of control, and one thing leads to another."

In the interview, Watts said that when he was about 14 years old, his mother moved him away from San Jose, California because he was involved in street gangs there. She moved him to San Antonio to live with an aunt. "I came to Texas and I guess you could say I picked up where I left off with the gangs," he said.

Watts dropped out of school in the ninth grade. "School was boring," he said. "The teacher wasn't into it. I'm not into it. I got money on my mind. I want to get high, smoke some weed, make some money, be with the homies. So I became a full-time participant in the street life."

As the time for his execution drew close, Watts made an appeal, without his lawyer's knowledge, to the U.S. Supreme Court claiming he was mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for execution. The court returned the motion without considering it. Watts' lawyer, John Economidy, said there was no evidence to support his claim he was retarded.

In his last statement, Watts expressed love and thanks to his friends. He also spoke words of encouragement to others in prison. "For everybody incarcerated, y'all keep your heads up," he said. "Stay strong and keep fighting, it's not over yet." Watts also asked the Lord to forgive him. He finished his last statement by saying, "I am out of here. I am gone. Keep me in your hearts." The lethal injection was then started. Watts then said, "Can I say something? I'm dying but..." He then lost consciousness. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m.