HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The oldest death row inmate in Texas was executed Thursday for killing a police officer in Houston during a traffic stop nearly 32 years ago.
Carl Wayne Buntion, 78, was executed at Huntsville State Prison. He was convicted of the fatal shooting in June 1990 of Houston police officer James Irby, a nearly 20-year-old force officer.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request by Bantion’s lawyers to suspend his execution.
“I wanted the Erby family to know one thing: I have remorse for what I did,” Buntion said as he was strapped to a Texas death cell cart. “I pray to God that they will decide that I killed their father and Mrs. Erby’s wife.
“I hope to see you in heaven one day and when you show up I will hug you tight.”
Buntion, joined by his spiritual counselor, began praying Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” when the deadly dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began. He took a deep breath, coughed once, then took three less pronounced breaths before stopping each movement.
He was pronounced dead at 6:39 p.m., 13 minutes later.
Buntion said he regretted killing Houston police officer James Irby. Harris District Attorney
Dozens of motorcyclists demonstrating support for the slain motorcyclist turned their engines noisily as the execution took place, and the roar could be heard clearly in the death chamber.
Buntion was released on parole just six weeks ago when he shot 37-year-old Irby. Buntion, who had a wealth of criminal records, was a passenger in the car Irby stopped. In 2009, the Court of Appeal overturned Buntion’s sentence, but another jury sentenced him to death three years later.
“I feel joy,” said police officer’s widow, Maura Irby, after seeing Buntion’s execution. “I am sorry that someone died. But I didn’t consider him human. I just thought of it as something like my family’s face cancer. “
Prior to his murder, James Irby talked about retiring and spending more time with his two children, who were 1 and 3 years old at the time, Maura Irby, 60, said earlier.
“He was ready to fill out the paperwork and stay home and open a feed store,” she said. “He wanted to be a father who was there to go to all the ball and dance games of father and daughter. He was a great man, the love of my life. “
Prior to his execution, various state and federal courts also rejected appeals by Buntion’s lawyers to suspend his death sentence. The Texas Pardon and Parole Board on Tuesday rejected his request for pardon.
Buntion’s lawyers said he was responsible for Irby’s death and “deserves to be severely punished for this crime.”
But they say his execution is unconstitutional, as the jury’s finding that he would pose a future threat to society – one of the reasons he received the death penalty – turned out to be incorrect, and his execution would have no legal purpose. as so much time has passed since his conviction. His lawyers describe Buntion as a geriatric prisoner who poses no threat because he suffers from arthritis, dizziness and needs a wheelchair.
“This delay of three decades undermines the justification for the death penalty … Whatever deterrent effect it reduces with the delay,” court attorneys David Dow and Jeffrey Newbury wrote in court documents.
Walter Leroy Moody Jr. is the oldest prisoner to be executed. Alabama Department of Corrections through the AP
With his execution, Buntion became the oldest man to kill Texas since the Supreme Court overturned his death penalty in 1976. The oldest prisoner executed in the United States today is Walter Moody Jr., who was 83 years when he was killed in Alabama in 2018.
Buntion was also the first prisoner to be executed in Texas in 2022. Although Texas was the busiest state with the death penalty in the nation, it had been almost seven months since the execution. There have been only three executions in each of the past two years, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic and delays in legal issues over Texas’ refusal to allow spiritual advisers to touch prisoners and pray aloud in the death chamber.
In March, the US Supreme Court said states must comply with requests from religious leaders to pray and touch prisoners during executions.
As Texas prepared to execute Buntion, Tennessee officials canceled the execution of a prisoner on Thursday, the first since the pandemic. Oscar Smith, 72, had to die for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and her teenage sons. Republican Gov. Bill Lee did not specify which problem forced the surprise shutdown at 11 a.m. of the planned execution.
Texas Prison officials agreed with Buntion’s request to allow his spiritual adviser to pray aloud and touch him until he was killed.
Councilor Barry Brown placed his right hand on Buntion’s right ankle just before the drugs flowed and prayed for about five minutes. He said Buntion was no longer “the stubborn youth” but had been “humbled by the walls and the cold steel of the prison”.
Although the execution brought back painful memories, Irby said it also reminds her of her advocacy in public safety since her husband’s death, including helping draft legislation that allows statements about the impact of victims during trials. .
“I still miss him, 32 years later,” she said Thursday night.
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