Execution Report: Kent Sprouse

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A jury found Sprouse guilty of the capital murder of Officer Harry Steinfeldt in February 2004 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in January 2007. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied. The principal claim of his appeals was that the court's instructions to the jury when deciding Sprouse's punishment did not adequately inform jurors that they could have considered his voluntary drug addiction as a mitigating circumstance regardless of whether or not it produced temporary insanity.

"He started hitting the meth and went crazy," his lead trial lawyer, Jim Jenkins, said in 2004.

Sprouse did not meet with his attorneys in the days leading up to his execution, and they did not file any final appeals on his behalf.

Sprouse's father and brother attended his execution, as did Harry Steinfeldt's mother and widow and Pedro Moreno's widow and son. Members of the Ferris police department came and waited outside in a show of support.

"I would like to apologize to the Moreno family and the Steinfeldt family for all of the trouble I have caused them," Sprouse said in his last statement. "I would like to apologize to my family for all of the trouble that I have caused them. I would also like to thank my family for all of their support. I guess that's it."

After Sprouse concluded his last statement, the lethal injection was started. "Yeah, you can smell it," he said as the drugs began to take effect. "It's starting to hit me at that ten thousand dollars." He was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m.

News reports published prior to Sprouse's execution stated that his execution would use up the last dose of the drug pentobarbital that the Texas prison system had in stock, and it was uncertain whether a new drug supply would be available for the three other executions scheduled for April. Reports published after his execution, however, stated that he was the first prisoner executed with a new batch of chemicals.

By David Carson. Posted on 10 April 2015.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Huffington Post, Waxahachie Daily Light, wfaa.com.