Condemned Dallas carjacker set to die Thursday; 9th execution in Texas in 2004

Associated Press ^ | March 4, 2004 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Condemned Dallas carjacker set to die Thursday

07:10 AM CST on Thursday, March 4, 2004

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Frank Meziere had watched a Dallas Mavericks basketball game at a restaurant with a friend and before heading home stopped at a self-service car wash to clean his black Mustang convertible.

The 23-year-old Plano stockbroker, a 1996 Texas A&M University graduate, never made it home.

His body was found the next day, March 26, 1998, along the side of a road in an industrial area of Oak Cliff, an area of south Dallas. He had been shot in the head 10 times. His car was found about five miles away, abandoned and with the lights on.

"Having dealt with murders, you think you've seen it all," said Jason January, a former Dallas County assistant district attorney. "But this innocent victim was shot almost for sport.

"It was just the sheer overkill of the thing that was ludicrous."

Yokamon Hearn bragged to friends about how he "domed" Meziere, meaning he shot him in the head. Hearn was set to die Thursday evening for the slaying.

He would be the ninth condemned Texas prisoner to receive lethal injection this year and the second in as many nights.

In an appeal filed this week, lawyers for Hearn said the inmate may be mentally retarded and asked the courts to halt the punishment so they can pursue their claim. The U.S. Supreme Court has barred execution of the mentally retarded. Prosecutors said questions about Hearn's mental competence never surfaced previously.

Hearn, 25, refused to speak with reporters as his execution date neared. The U.S. Supreme Court in November denied his request seeking a review of his case.

"It's hard sometimes to know what a death penalty case is, but after a while you know one when you see it," said January, the lead prosecutor at Hearn's trial. "And this just screamed out for the death penalty."

Dallas jurors agreed, deliberating less than an hour to convict Hearn and about an hour before deciding on punishment.

Hearn was 19 at the time of the crime and had a lengthy record that included burglary, robbery, assault, a sexual assult and weapons possession.

"I remember having a big map of the city showing places he had hit and pulled guns on people," January recalled this week. "He was an equal opportunity carjacker -- women, black, white, everybody."

Hearn, along with two other Dallas men and one woman from Oklahoma City, were seen on a security camera video at a convenience store adjacent to the car wash. They had been out looking for someone to carjack, authorities said.

According to testimony at his trial, Hearn drove Meziere's car after he and companion Delvin Diles forced the victim into the car. The two others, Dwight Burley and Teresa Shirley, were in a second car in a convoy that took them to an area near Dallas' wastewater treatment plant. Meziere was shot there with a Tec-9 automatic, then with a .22-caliber pistol. Hearn drove off with his car.

Shirley, driver of the second car, testified Meziere had his arms raised near his head and appeared to beg for his life as Hearn swung the Tec-9, a 9 mm assault-style rifle stolen from an apartment the previous day, back and forth before opening fire. After the victim hit the ground, Hearn shot him several more times, she said. Diles added some shots from his revolver.

Hearn drove off with Meziere's car and kept the victim's license. A witness testified at his trial that Hearn later bragged at a party about the shooting.

Physical evidence linked both Hearn and Diles to the car.

Diles, 19 at the time, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to consecutive life terms for Meziere's death and an unrelated aggravated robbery. He and Hearn were arrested within days of the slaying.

Shirley, then 19, and Burley, then 20, were arrested more than eight months later. Each pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and received 10-year prison sentences.

Hearn was to head to the death chamber 24 hours after convicted killer Marcus Cotton, 29, received lethal injection for fatally shooting Gil Epstein, 27, a Fort Bend County assistant district attorney, during a robbery in Houston in 1996.

---

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/030404dntexexecute.4fc79c1f.html

[MeekOneGOP]

http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/deathrow.htm

	Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Return to Death Row Page

Name	TDCJ Number	Date of Birth
Hearn, Yokamon L.	999292	11/6/78
Date Received	Age (when Received)	Education Level (Highest Grade Completed)
12/31/98	20	10 years
Date of Offense	Age (at the time of Offense)	County
3/26/98	19	Dallas
Race	Gender	Hair Color
Black	Male	Black
Height	Weight	Eye Color
5-8	184	Brown
Native County	Native State	Prior Occupation
Dallas	Texas	Unknown
Prior Prison Record
None
Summary of incident
On March 26, 1998, Hearn and 3 co-defendants approached the victim (a 26 year old white male) with a gun.  They forced the victim into his own car, took him to a deserted area, and shot him 12 times in the head and upper body, resulting in his death.  Hearn and the co-defendants took the victim's wallet and personal items and fled in the victim's vehicle.
Co-defendants
Delvin Dites; Dwight Burley; Theresa Shirley
Race and Gender of Victim
White male
Photograph of Offender

Last Updated:  December 10, 2003

[KantianBurke]

fry'em.

[MEG33]

The world will be a better place without this murderer.

[MeekOneGOP]

Condemned Dallas carjacker set to die Thursday

Yokamon Hearn 

Excerpt:

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Frank Meziere had watched a Dallas Mavericks basketball game at a restaurant with a friend and before heading home stopped at a self-service car wash to clean his black Mustang convertible.

The 23-year-old Plano stockbroker, a 1996 Texas A&M University graduate, never made it home.

His body was found the next day, March 26, 1998, along the side of a road in an industrial area of Oak Cliff, an area of south Dallas. He had been shot in the head 10 times. His car was found about five miles away, abandoned and with the lights on.

"Having dealt with murders, you think you've seen it all," said Jason January, a former Dallas County assistant district attorney. "But this innocent victim was shot almost for sport.

"It was just the sheer overkill of the thing that was ludicrous."

Yokamon Hearn bragged to friends about how he "domed" Meziere, meaning he shot him in the head. Hearn was set to die Thursday evening for the slaying.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas Executions ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[writer33]

There is a need for the death penalty. And states that enforce it only help remind murderers that they will forfeit their life should they commit the act.

[John123]

Am I reading this right? Texas is executing this creep six years after the crime? In California, where I used to live, the average length of time is over 20 years. If that.

There must be something about "Do not mess with Texas."

[Born Conservative]

I wonder what he'll have for breakfast?

[No Blue States]

I guess the retarded defense didnt work out.

Funny how everyone on death row is suddenly retarded.

9 this year, good job Texas this is a virtue.

Let that be a lesson to others who would murder here.

[jimt]

I'm getting very tired of the "mentally retarded" copout.

This POS had the mental capacity to murder - to me that means he has the mental capacity to be executed.

[PaulaB]

This is one of the reasons I live in this great state called Texas....Goodbye and good riddance.

[american spirit]

Shot over ten times in the head....in almost "sportlike" fashion....victim is white....shooter is black, yet not even a vague reference to this being a hate crime! Has the life of young white males now been devalued so much that our alleged legal system does not even investigate the possiblity of this heinous act being a hate crime?

[per loin]

In an appeal filed this week, lawyers for Hearn said the inmate may be mentally retarded and asked the courts to halt the punishment so they can pursue their claim.

Looks like there is a double benefit in snuffing this creep.

[PISANO]

Cleaning out the gene pool!

[petercooper]

good riddance scumbag

[KJacob]

Maybe it is because Mike Farrell does not live in Texas.

[Yudan]

Why should this waste of oxygen be allowed to just "go to sleep" after taunting his victim? And then shooting him TEN EFFING TIMES IN THE HEAD?

Justice for this guy would be terrible, terrible suffering. Like being...

...dipped in molasses, bound to a wall and quarantined with a colony of soldier ants...

...Or fed (alive) to wolves.

"he may be retarded"

No $#!+? Honestly, this statement is an insult to people with genuine, congenital mental handicaps.

[billorites]

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Sometimes I question my support of the death penalty, and if I'm being hypocritical as a Christian being pro-life and pro-death penalty.

Then I read about an incident like this and I have no doubts. Good riddance to scum.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Rodriguez bump! I love his cartoons!

[Gunslingr3]

Hearn swung the Tec-9, a 9 mm assault-style rifle

Say what?!

Tec-9 semi-automatic handgun.