Texas Man Put To Death After 2000 Crime

(USNewsBreak.com) – In 2000, 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham was shot to death during a carjacking. Jedidiah Murphy was eventually convicted of the crime, and because he was suspected of carrying out an earlier carjacking, he was at risk of being a future danger. As a result of this determination, he was sentenced to death. Throughout the past few months, Murphy has been trying to overturn the sentence to no avail. On Tuesday, October 10, he was put to death.

Texas man executed for killing woman in 2000 addresses victim's family from gurney: "I sincerely apologize for all of it" https://t.co/tQKaXcoMAx

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) October 11, 2023

Murphy had recently been granted a stay of execution while his attorneys contested the validity of the evidence that was presented at his trial in 2001. Prosecutors at the time had tried to pin a kidnapping and two robberies on the suspect, though he was never charged with the crimes. Though Murphy admitted to killing Cunningham, he remained steadfast in his innocence for the kidnapping and robberies. His lawyers tried to contest the evidence, saying it was problematic, but prosecutors maintained it was a “manipulative” tactic that he had years to employ.

Initially, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals held up the stay in the case after prosecutors challenged it. Eventually, the Supreme Court overruled it, and the state gave the all-clear for the death penalty to go through. Murphy also tried to contend that a fire at a facility storing the drugs for lethal injection compromised them and would lead to pain and suffering. The Supreme Court denied this without comment.

Finally, Murphy’s day of reckoning came. While strapped to the gurney, he expressed his remorse to the victim’s family and hoped that his death would bring them closure. He then recited a Psalm and gave the warden the OK. The warden administered pentobarbital, and 25 minutes later, Murphy was pronounced dead.

Murphy’s execution was the twentieth to take place in the US this year and the sixth in Texas.