Friday, May 26, 2000
Clayton executed for 1987 murder
By Jason Gibbs
Reporter-News Staff Writer
HUNTSVILLE — The convicted killer of
a young Abilene woman offered few words of comfort and none that
admitted his guilt before he died Thursday night.
James Edward Clayton was executed behind
the towering, red brick walls of the Huntsville Unit, fulfilling
a sentenced handed down by an Abilene jury in 1988.
Clayton was convicted for the murder of
27-year-old Hawley Elementary School teacher Lori Michelle Barrett
in 1987. He was the second Abilene killer to die this month. William
Joseph Kitchens was executed May 9 for the 1986 rape, robbery
and murder of Patricia Leanne Webb.
Four members of Barrett’s family and
one family friend witnessed the execution.
“He lived too long and died too easy,”
Joe Insall, Barrett’s stepfather, said after the execution.
Barrett’s mother, Myrna Insall, did
not witness the execution, but attended a news conference after
the death sentence had been carried out.
“She was a wonderful person,”
the victim’s mother said as she broke into tears. “This
never should have happened to her. This was terrible.”
Among the family members who witnessed Clayton’s
execution was the victim’s brother, David Barrett. He said
he was there to see that Clayton was put to death to ensure he
could not repeat his crime.
David Barrett noted his sister’s killer
had tried to escape once and said he feared Clayton would make
the same attempt again.
Clayton was one of seven death row inmates
who attempted an escape from the Terrell Unit on Thanksgiving
1998. Shots fired from a watchtower froze all but one of the inmates
in their tracks.
Martin Gurule, a Corpus Christi killer,
was found dead in a creek a week later.
“I don’t think it’s painful
enough,” the still-grieving brother said of Clayton’s
demise. “I wish the judicial system was a little quicker.
But according to the Constitution, even murderers have rights.
“I don’t forgive him,” he
added.
Before he died, Clayton feasted on a last
meal of three fried chicken breasts, a lettuce and cucumber salad
with light vinegar dressing and a pitcher of ice water.
Dressed in black slacks and a blue shirt,
he licked his lips nervously as he lay on the executioner’s
gurney.
A former Abilene Christian University athlete
and Reserve Officers Training Corps member, Clayton’s still-muscular
body was held to the gurney with five restraint straps. He glanced
at the window behind which his lawyer, four friends and a spiritual
adviser stood to witness his death.
“I would like to use this moment as
an example for Christ,’’ Clayton said. “I would
like to follow his example and leave with peace in my heart and
forgiveness. There is no anger in my heart about this entire situation.”
Barrett’s family stood silently as
the lethal cocktail began to course through the veins of their
loved one’s murderer.
Clayton struggled to take his last breath
before expiring. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m., maintaining
his innocence to the end.
During a jailhouse interview Wednesday,
Clayton, who was 33, said he did not commit the crime for which
he was sentenced to die. He said he bore no ill feelings toward
those who he claimed falsely prosecuted him.
He said his thoughts the day before his
execution were of his family and friends. The killer said he was
grateful for their support.
“I’m just amazed by the love I’ve
been shown for the past 14 years,” said the convicted murderer.
“I never thought I was worthy of it.”
Clayton had been on death row since November
1988, almost a year after he was arrested for Barrett’s murder.
His execution was repeatedly delayed while state and federal courts
heard his appeals.
He was slated to die in 1994, but the U.S.
Supreme Court granted a stay of execution the day before because
it opened a review in a similar case involving another condemned
prisoner.
The court later retracted its stay, but
Clayton continued his appeals, claiming errors that ranged from
insufficient evidence to the judge’s decision not to move
the trial despite intense publicity. All of those appeals were
denied.
“I spent many nights thinking what
a change of venue would have changed,” Clayton said. “There
is no way I should have been tried in Taylor County.”
In 1995, Congress passed legislation that
limits to one the number of appeals death row inmates may pursue
in the state and federal courts. Where in years past, inmates
and their attorneys raised issues one point at time — filing
endless motions that delayed executions — the new law required
all points of appeal to be included in one filing.
Successive appeals can be raised only if
the defense discovers information previously unavailable to it.
State reforms, also passed in 1995, have
further sought to limit delays in the execution of justice. Condemned
prisoners must file writs within 90 days of their convictions
so those issues can be considered simultaneously with their automatic
direct appeals.
On Wednesday, Clayton said he was tying
up loose ends before his execution.
“I’ve been giving my property
away,” he said. “I don’t want to leave anything
important. It’s like when you go on vacation and you have
the feeling you have forgotten something. But I can’t figure
out what I forgot.”
Contact courts writer Jason Gibbs at
676-6734 or gibbsj@abinews.com.
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Copyright ©2000,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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