Execution Report: Ronnie Threadgill

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A jury convicted Threadgill of capital murder in July 2002 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in October 2004. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Threadgill's appeals argued that the jury should have been instructed to consider convicting him of felony murder, which lacks the intent to kill, rather than capital murder. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, however, applied a precedent which states, "where a deadly weapon is fired at close range and death results the law presumes an intent to kill." The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this reasoning.

Some of Threadgill's friends watched his execution from a viewing room. No one attended on Dexter McDonald's behalf.

In his last statement, Threadgill expressed love to his friends and told them, "I am going to a better place." He also encouraged the prisoners on death row to "keep your heads up, keep fighting." He then said, "I'm ready. Let's go." The lethal injection was then started. He nodded to a woman in attendance and showed her a smile full of gold teeth. He was pronounced dead at 6:39 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 17 April 2013.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's office, court documents, Associated Press.