Execution Report: Joseph Faulder

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A jury found Faulder guilty of capital murder and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently ruled that Faulder's confession was inadmissible because he was not informed of his consular rights. The appeals court reversed the conviction. He was convicted in a new trial in 1981 and sentenced to death again.

Linda McCann was indicted for capital murder and burglary by a grand jury. A third suspect was indicted for conspiracy to commit burglary. This man had reportedly been a contractor in the victim's home and told Faulder and McCann about the floor safe and the unlocked side door. Public records do not indicate the outcome of these indictments.

Faulder's attorneys appealed his second conviction on the same consular rights claim as the first one. The Canadian government supported his appeals, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called for a reprieve. Both Texas and U.S. federal courts, however, rejected his appeals. On the day before his scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case.

"I'm at peace with my maker," Faulder said as he was moved from Death Row to the execution chamber. "I'm ready to go."

At Faulder's execution, when the warden asked Faulder whether he wanted to make a last statement, he shook his head and said, "No statements." The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

Faulder was the first Canadian citizen executed in the United States since the early 1950s.

By David Carson. Posted on 13 April 2016.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Front Page Detective magazine.