Execution Report: Timothy Gribble

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A jury convicted Gribble of capital murder and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his conviction in November 1990, saying that the jury should have received better instructions about Gribble's claims that he had mental disorders and was sexually abused as a child. He was retried, convicted, and sentenced to death again in April 1992. The Court of Criminal Appeals upheld this conviction and sentence in February 1995. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

While Gribble was on death row, another missing woman's remains were found in the same area. Gribble admitted to the June 1986 strangulation murder of Donna Weis, 23. He was indicted, but not tried, for this offense. Gribble also told authorities that he murdered a third woman, however, this claim was never substantiated.

"To the Weis family, I just want you to know from the bottom of my heart that I am truly sorry," Gribble said in his last statement. "I know you had to go through a lot of pain and I'm sorry. To the Jones family, the same is true, I am truly truly sorry." Gribble then asked the chaplain to read a written last statement he had prepared. The written statement also began with Gribble's apologies to the Jones and Weis families. Furthermore, he used his written last statement to protest the death penalty: "I feel that I have to speak out against the practice of the death penalty, although I have no regrets in my case. The death penalty is an unnecessary punishment for society who has other means to protect itself. You cannot rectify death with another death. Whenever the state chooses to take a life and take the power of God into their own hands, whenever our leader's kill in the name of justice, we are all diminished."

By David Carson. Posted on 8 April 2002.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's office, ABC News.