Posted on 03/04/2004 7:24:52 AM PST by Born Conservative
HUNTSVILLE - After trying to console his mother, convicted killer Marcus Cotton was executed Wednesday evening for the fatal shooting of a Houston-area assistant district attorney during a robbery attempt 7 1/2 years ago.
"Well, Mom, sometimes it works out like this," Cotton said from the death chamber gurney as his mother, who was among the witnesses, watched through a window. "When you are dealing with reality, real is not always what you want it to be."
Cotton, 29, a native of the Houston suburb of Missouri City, told his relatives to take care of themselves and that he loved them and his children.
"Y'all are fixing to find out some deep things that are real. Bounce back, baby. You know what I'm saying. Y'all take care of yourselves," he said.
He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m.
Cotton was the eighth convicted murderer to receive a lethal injection this year in Texas and the first of two scheduled for consecutive nights this week.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to review his case, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request.
Cotton, 29, had been out of prison for less than seven months after serving four years for attempted murder when he was arrested in 1996 for gunning down Gil Epstein, 27, a Fort Bend County assistant prosecutor. Epstein was shot as he left Houston's Jewish Community Center after playing basketball with friends.
According to testimony at his trial, Cotton first demanded Epstein's wallet and then shot him after spotting his district attorney's badge in the wallet.
Epstein was considered a rising star at the Fort Bend County district attorney's office, where he had interned while attending law school at the University of Houston.
Epstein was one of two men confronted by robbers outside the center that night. The other victim testified that he saw Cotton inside Epstein's car. Epstein was found dead in the back seat, shot twice in the head. A former security guard also testified that she saw Cotton point a gun at Epstein.
The second gunman, Lawrence Watson, testified against Cotton in exchange for a 10-year prison term. Both had ridden their bicycles to the community center.
Tips to police led to Cotton, who was arrested at his girlfriend's home about a week after the slaying.
"I don't have any remorse because I didn't do it," Cotton said in a recent Death Row interview.
Greg Gilleland, a former colleague of Epstein's in the district attorney's office, and Epstein's brother and father were also in the chamber Wednesday night. Cotton never acknowledged their presence.
Condemned inmate Yokamon Hearn was set to die this evening for a carjacking, abduction and fatal shooting in Dallas in 1998.
next reservations...yokamon hearn, texas, and jose busanet, pennsylvania, march 4, 2004
Source: deadmaneating.com
"I don't have any remorse because I didn't do it,"
Over 50 years ago, when I was about 13 years old, I said I hadn't done something. Years and years later, I suddenly remembered. I DID do it! I still feel guilty over that, because it got my friend in trouble. Plus, I wonder how in the world I could have honestly forgotten?
And when I see remarks like this killer's, I wonder if they, too, have really forgotten?
Whatever, come Judgement Day, there's probably going to be a LOT of things we will be reminded of. Good thing Jesus forgives ALL of our sins, not just the ones we remember.
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