Execution Report: Clydell Coleman

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While on death row, Coleman declined requests for interviews from the news media. His daughter, Gladys Washington, said she did not believe her father committed the crime. She also stated that her father, who she had not spoken with for four years, left instructions for no one from his family to attend his execution.

"He didn't want to put us through no more pain," Washington said.

Arthur Joe, 74, expressed frustration over the lengthy capital appeals process, but also admitted he was glad that Coleman was given time to reflect on his crime.

"I think the time suffering before being put to death is appropriate," Joe said. "I wouldn't have wanted it to be the next day. I wanted extensive time for him to suffer for what he did to my mother."

Arthur and four other members of the victim's family attended Coleman's execution. The only person who attended on Coleman's behalf was his spiritual advisor, Melodee Smith.

The condemned man glanced briefly at the victim's family as they entered the room. He declined to make a last statement. The lethal injection was then started. He looked at Smith, glanced at the Joe family again, and then closed his eyes. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m.

Smith said afterward that Coleman maintained his innocence to the end. Still, she said, "He wanted them to know he felt very sorry for their loss. He hoped his death would bring them peace."

"We don't know that he really said that or not," Arthur Joe said angrily. "He's dead, so I give no credence to that."

Joe nevertheless said that Coleman's execution was "satisfying" because it put an end to his mother's death.

At age 62, Coleman was, at that time, the oldest prisoner to be executed in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Another 62-year-old older than Coleman, Betty Beets, was executed in 2000. At this writing, the oldest prisoner executed in Texas by lethal injection is Lester Bower, who was put to death in 2015.

At age 67, he is the oldest person executed in Texas by lethal injection.

By David Carson. Posted on 10 May 2016.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press, Waco Times-Herald.