Execution Report: Donnie Roberts

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A jury convicted Roberts of capital murder in October 2004 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in April 2007. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Roberts declined to be interviewed by the media from death row.

Several of Vicki Bowen's relatives, including her father, attended Roberts' execution. "I'm really sorry. I never meant to cause you all so much pain," Roberts said to them in his last statement. "I hope you can go on with your life."

"I loved your daughter," he continued. "I hope to God He lets me see her in Heaven so I can apologize to her and see her and tell her."

Roberts also asked two of his friends who watched from another room to tell his own daughter that he loved her. He repeated that he was sorry, and the lethal injection was started. He was pronounced dead at 6:39 p.m.

Roberts' execution was the 250th to take place during Governor Rick Perry's tenure. Perry, the longest-serving current governor in the U.S., took office in December 2000 after George W. Bush resigned to assume the office of President of the United States. He won re-election in 2002, 2006, and 2010.

By David Carson. Posted on 1 November 2012.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, Huntsville Item.