Execution Report: James Freeman

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A jury found Freeman guilty of capital murder in November 2008 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in March 2011. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

After the judge read the verdict in court, Freeman's parents, Jim and Lori Freeman, walked across the aisle to hug and console Hurst's parents, telling them the man who killed their son was not the son they raised. The victim's parents hugged them back. The slain man's mother, Pat Hurst, told a reporter, "In no way do we want them to feel we held them accountable for what he did that night."

"He never did anything wrong in his life other than a DUI," Freeman's appeals lawyer, Don Vernay, said in an interview. "This kid was not a future danger, he was just a loser."

In 2007, Governor Rick Perry signed a law passed by the Texas legislature renaming the 12,000 acre Peach Point Wildlife Management Area in Brazoria County to the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area.

About 100 law enforcement officers, many of them Texas game wardens, stood outside the Huntsville prison where Freeman's execution was being carried out. Members of the Thin Blue Line motorcycle club also attended.

At his execution, the warden asked Freeman whether he had a final statement. Freeman shook his head from left to right and answered, "No, I do not." The revving of motorcycle engines could be heard inside the death chamber as the lethal injection was started. He was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 28 January 2016.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, Houston Chronicle, Huntsville Item.