Execution Report: John Lamb

John Michael Lamb, 42, was executed by lethal injection on 17 November 1999 in Huntsville, Texas, for murdering and robbing a 30-year-old man.

On 5 November 1982, Lamb, then 25, was released from prison in Arkansas, where he had served four months for receiving stolen property. He hitchhiked to Greenville, Texas, which is near Dallas. In a parking lot of a Greenville motel on 6 November, Lamb met Jerry Chafin, 30. According to Lamb, he and Chafin spoke briefly, then Chafin invited him into his motel room. While they were talking, Lamb observed that Chafin had a pistol in his room. When Chafin went to the bathroom, Lamb took his pistol and hid it in a bag. After Lamb had been in the room for about 30 minutes, he got up to leave. He shot Chafin three times, then took his billfold, shaving kit, and car keys.

According to Lamb, he threw the pistol out the window of the car on his way to Dallas. From there, he drove to Houston, where he used the victim's credit card to rent a motel room. He stayed there for two nights, then headed towards Louisiana. He left the credit card at a gas station in Louisiana when the clerk called to check it out. He continued driving east and was arrested on 11 November after an extended chase. He was driving Chafin's car and had his billfold and driver's license in his possession. Two days later, he confessed.

In his confession, Lamb stated that he shot Chafin after Chafin put his hand on his leg while they were talking. He also confessed to shooting a gas station attendant in Florida during a robbery, while he was on the run.

Chafin's body had three bullet wounds in the chest and one in the head. The .25-caliber rounds were fired from a distance of three to four feet.

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