Execution Report: Gregory Russeau

Gregory Lynn Russeau, 45, was executed by lethal injection on 18 June 2015 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder and robbery of a 75-year-old man.

James Syvertson owned and operated an auto repair shop in Tyler. On 30 May 2001, Syvertson, 75, spoke with a customer around 11:30 or 11:45 a.m. about repairing a car for her employee, Bob Bruner. When Bruner dropped his car off at around 12:30 p.m., the doors to the garage were locked. Two vehicles belonging to Syvertson - a gray Chevrolet Corsica and a gray Audi - were parked outside. Bruner called the shop at about 1:30 p.m., but the call was not answered.

That afternoon, Syvertson's wife went to the garage. She saw her husband's two cars and Bruner's vehicle parked outside. She knocked on the door, but no one answered, so she left.

Bruner returned to pick up his vehicle at 5:30 p.m. because he had not heard from Syvertson. The same cars were parked outside, and no one responded when he knocked on the door.

Mrs. Syvertson became worried when she stopped by again later, so she went home and got her daughter, Jeanette Jones, who had a key to the garage. They returned at about 7:00 p.m. This time, her husband's gray Corsica was gone, and the door to the office was unlocked. Syvertson went inside and found her husband's body on the garage floor. His wallet and keys were missing, and one of his pants pockets was turned inside out.

A medical examiner determined that Mr. Syvertson died from blunt-force head injuries that were consistent with being struck by an object such as a hammer. She estimated that time of death was between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

An investigator with the Tyler Police Department found fingerprints and a palm print on a vehicle next to Syvertson's body, which he had apparently been working on before his death. The police also observed that the bolt on his office door was broken and hanging by a single screw, as if it had been kicked in.

Russeau, then 31, was stopped 35 miles from the crime scene in Longview at around 3:30 a.m. the next morning driving a gray Corsica around a well-known drug house. The victim's title and registration documents were in his pocket, and his keys were in the ignition. Russeau's fingerprints were matched to those found on the vehicle next to Syvertson's body.

After the police processed the crime scene, they asked the victim's son, David Syvertson, to go through the garage and search for anything that seemed to him to be missing or out of place. On 4 June, Syvertson reported that several tools were missing and a hammer lying next to a greasy bottle on a shelf was out of place. Detective Gregg Roberts collected the hammer and bottle. A DNA test was performed on some hairs found on the bottle. In March 2002, the lab reported that the DNA found on the bottle matched DNA from a hair sample taken from Russeau.

At Russeau's trial, the prosecution accused him of murdering and robbing Mr. Syvertson of his wallet between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. while on a crack cocaine binge, then returning around 6:00 p.m. to steal the victim's keys and his Corsica. In addition to the fingerprint and hair evidence, numerous witnesses testified to seeing Russeau in the vicinity of the garage on the day of the murder. Witnesses testified that Russeau offered to rent the gray Corsica to them in exchange for money to buy drugs.

The defense acknowledged that Russeau stole Syvertson's automobile, but alleged that Detective Roberts planted Russeau's hairs on the bottle taken from the crime scene five days later. They argued that the state failed to prove that Russeau killed Syvertson.

Russeau had prior felony and misdemeanor offenses, mostly for burglary and drugs. He also had multiple probation and parole violations. He received six concurrent 10-year prison sentences and one 3-year sentence between March and June 1988. He was paroled in August 1991. (At the time, Texas was under strict prison population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.)

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