Execution Report: Sammie Felder Jr.

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A jury convicted Felder of capital murder in June 1976 and sentenced him to death. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned this conviction, ruling that Felder's confession was improperly admitted. Felder was convicted again in a new trial in September 1986 and again sentenced to death. This conviction was overturned upon appeal because of an error in jury selection. He was convicted a third time in February 1989. This conviction was upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in September 1992. It was also upheld throughout all subsequent appeals.

On death row, a month before his execution, Felder recalled the story of his life. "My life of crime started when I was 14 years old. It seems that I just turned bad. Not bad in the sense of someone who is constantly walking around thinking about evil deeds. Not like this. Bad in the sense that I just started doing wrong, started stealing. I was burglarizing peole's houses, I was robbing peoples [sic], I was just a common thief." He also recounted the murder of James Hanks, describing all of the particulars the same way he always had. He also added, "It was not my intention to kill him. I just snapped." He said that at his execution, "They'll ask me if I have any last words to say. If the victim's family is there, I'll probably tell them how terribly sorry I am that this happened, because there was no need for him to die. I know this is not going to be any consolation to them, because they lost a loved one. I'm very sorry for it."

At his execution, Felder simply expressed love to his friends and family. He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m.

At the time of his execution, Felder was fourth in seniority among the 460 prisoners on Texas' death row.

By David Carson. Posted on 6 August 2002.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's Office, www.soundportraits.org.