Execution Report: Lamont Reese

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When the time came for his execution, Reese refused to walk into the death chamber, and was carried in by guards. "I want everyone to know that I did not walk to this, because this is straight-up murder," he said after he was strapped to the gurney. "I am not going to play a part in my own murder. No one should have to do that."

Reese also addressed the victims' relatives who were in attendance. "I do not know all of your names, and I don't know how you feel about me," Reese said, "and whether you believe it or not, I did not kill them."

Despite his proclamation of innocence, Reese said that he was glad he was being executed now, rather than spending ten or twenty years on death row.

Reese's lengthy last statement was cut short after the warden signaled for the lethal dose to be started. Starting to feel the effects of the drugs, Reese said, "This is some nasty," then he gasped and lost consciousness.

Reese's mother, Brenda Reese, watched the execution from a viewing room. At the moment Reese gasped, she screamed, "They killed my baby!" and sobbed loudly, and pounded on the reinforced glass window that separated her from her son. She also kicked two holes in a wall and was eventually removed from the chamber.

Reese was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 21 June 2006.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, court documents.