Execution Report: Carroll Parr

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A jury convicted Parr of the capital murder of Joel Dominguez in May 2004. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in June 2006.

Earl Dewane Whiteside was convicted of aggravated robbery and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He remains in custody as of this writing.

In April 2012, while his case was pending before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Parr wrote a letter to state district judge Matt Johnson asking how to end his appeals. "Sir, there's no reason to continue wasting tax payers [sic] funds in this fight that I knew I'd lose even before it started," Parr wrote. "But to be frank, I want to drop my appeals and end my suffering." Johnson took no action on the letter, and at the end of the month, the Fifth Circuit court rejected Parr's appeal.

Parr's appeals attorney, Stan Schwieger, learned about his client's letter to Judge Johnson from a news reporter. Schwieger said he intended to schedule a visit with Parr to determine his wishes. If Parr wanted to drop his appeals, Schwieger said he was legally obligated to obey that directive.

According to the Waco Tribune, Parr subsequently withdrew his request. Schwieger continued to file appeals in the state and federal courts, all of which were rejected.

At a hearing in February 2013 to set Parr's execution date, Judge Johnson asked him if there was any legal reason why he should not sign the death warrant. Parr, who was represented by his trial attorney, Russ Hunt Sr., looked around the courtroom and asked if Schwieger was there. Not seeing him, he asked, "Did Abel Reyna tell you what happened to my grand jury? I wrote him letters." Reyna, the McLennan County district attorney, responded he did not know what Parr was talking about, and was not sure if Parr had ever written him.

Letters Parr had written to Judge Johnson only said that there might have been something wrong with the grand jury, without specifying what that might have been.

After Johnson announced the execution date and deputies began leading Parr from the courtroom, members of Parr's family cried and shouted that they loved him. "What are y'all crying for?" Parr hollered back. "Don't cry. Stop fearing death. Death is a prize."

Parr also had words for both of his lawyers after the hearing. About 2½ weeks later, Stan Schwieger filed motions in state and federal courts to withdraw as Parr's appellate attorney, "at the wishes of my client." A federal judge subsequently denied the motion, saying it would not be in the best interests of justice to change lawyers two months before an execution date. "It would be impossible at this stage in the proceedings for a newly appointed attorney to become familiar with the background and issues involved in this case without a stay of execution and a significant delay in these proceedings," wrote U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr.

Parr's message to Ross Hunt was more unusual. He told Hunt that he would lead Waco police to where some bodies were buried if they would dismiss a robbery case against his nephew.

At Parr's invitation, McLennan County First Assistant District Attorney Michael Jarrett went with two investigators to visit Parr at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston. After the visit, Jarrett did dismiss the robbery case against Parr's nephew.

Jarrett told a reporter that Parr told him he was a "hit man" in Waco and had killed 16 people. Most of his victims were drug dealers or those he was paid to kill. But Jarrett said Parr spoke in vague generalities about the missing bodies and did not seem sincere. He gave Parr's information to the Waco Police Department, and none of it checked out.

Jarrett said he made the decision to dismiss the robbery case against Parr's nephew long before he visited Parr, because the case was weak. Nevertheless, he let Parr think that he was making a deal with him so he would provide information that could help bring closure to families in Waco who have missing loved ones.

"I let him believe what he wanted to believe," Jarrett said.

Jarrett said Parr was trying to manipulate the authorities. "[He] was telling us these stories because he wanted to get out of jail. He thought we were going to take him off death row so he could lead us to these bodies. But we were not able to verify anything he said."

"I'm not guilty of what I'm on death row for," Parr said in an interview with Associated Press reporter Michael Graczyk. "I wasn't holding the gun. I wasn't at the scene of the crime." When asked about the videotape showing him at the crime scene, Parr said prosecutors used footage from his drug deal at the store an hour earlier. "They chopped the tape," he said.

Parr said he knew the people responsible for Dominguez's death, but he told them he would not identify them. "I gave the dudes my word," he said.

Parr said he was not afraid of being put to death. "My execution is a release for me and a relief." Of the death penalty, he said he agreed with it, but "I disagree in how it's carried out."

Parr's lawyers filed the usual final appeals to try to receive a stay of execution. After they were denied, Parr himself filed a pro se petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking for a stay. The high court did not take his case.

Trial lawyer Russ Hunt said the evidence against his client was strong. He tried to portray Parr, who grew up with an abusive childhood and in a "hellacious environment", in the most sympathetic light possible in hopes of avoiding a death sentence. "Unfortunately," Hunt said, "Carroll has some sort of seedy criminal history."

"We did our best for him," Hunt said.

Hunt was asked about Parr's claim that he was not at the store when Dominguez was killed. "It probably was somebody who borrowed his body that's on that video," he replied facetiously.

Joel Dominguez's wife, Dosheque Zarazue, attended Parr's execution. Parr began his last statement with a vague implication of innocence addressed to her. "First of all, Shonna, talk to your brother," Parr said. "He'll tell you the truth about what happened to your husband. I told Bubba to tell you what happened."

"Now my statement to the world," he continued. "I am in the midst of the truth. I am good. I am straight, don't trip. To all my partners, tell them I said, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'I'll be back.' I'm on my way back. ... These eyes sill close, but they will be opened again. My understanding of God is, Jesus has got me through." He then expressed love to his family and thanked his spiritual advisor, then told the warden he was ready. The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 8 May 2013.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, Huntsville Item, Waco Tribune, public records.