Convicted killer in gay-bashing case set to die - 8th execution for Texas in 2003

Associated Press ^ | February 6, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

[Houmatt]

Put me on that execution ping list!

[VRWCmember]

Did this low-life and his accomplices select their victims out of hate for homosexuals, or just because they provided convenient targets that might be less likely to offer resistance or report the crime?

It really doesn't matter. These thugs were vicious, predatory animals who kidnapped, robbed, and murdered a person and therefore deserve the ultimate punishment regardless of the gender, race, sexual preferences, or any other characteristic of the victims. No hate crime statute is needed for this crime. It should simply be treated as what it is.

[BJClinton]

I would love to be on the Execution ping list.

[PAR35]

You ought to start a Texas execution ping list.

You'll need a "high volume ping list" warning, the way Texas has started out this year.

[MeekOneGOP]

Sure, FRiend. You're on...

[MeekOneGOP]

You're on FRiend. Thanks...

Oh, by the way. I love your tag line there, lol...

(©¿©)

[MeekOneGOP]

You'll need a "high volume ping list" warning, the way Texas has started out this year.

Yeah, really ! Fast start...

[Dog Gone]

I haven't heard otherwise, so I assume this one is now over.

[steveo]

He's got about 30 more minutes before he quits being a drain of taxpayer money.
6 posted on 02/06/2003 3:37 PM PST by Dog Gone

So I guess I'm too late to say buh-bye?

[PAR35]

Yeah, really ! Fast start...

Well, that happens when you elect a guy like Rick Perry, I guess. Not like it was under that fellow that had to resign the governorship and leave town - didn't he give a 30 day stay to a pickaxe murderer a few years ago?

[MeekOneGOP]

I don't see any update on the Dallas Morning News, so I also assume that SCOTUS passed on this one...

[MeekOneGOP]

No hate crime statute is needed for this crime. It should simply be treated as what it is.

Yep. See my post #10 also, fyi...

[deport]

http://www.txcn.com/texassouthwest/stories/020703dntexexecution.bec54.html

Convicted killer in gay-bashing case executed

02/06/2003

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – An apologetic Henry Dunn Jr. was executed Thursday night for participating in the fatal shooting of a Tyler man who was abducted and targeted for robbery because he was gay.

Strapped to the death chamber gurney, he expressed love for his family and asked for forgiveness from his victim's relatives.

"I hope you can find it in your heart to find forgiveness and strength, to move on and find peace," Dunn said, looking at Nicolas West's sister, brother and brother-in-law.

As the drugs began taking effect, Dunn let out a long, slight gasp. He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m., six minutes after the lethal dose began.

Also Online

	Texas Executions: Coverage from TXCN.com
	Offender profile: Henry Dunn Jr.
Related links
	Texas Department of Criminal Justice
	Scheduled executions
	Offenders on death row

In a written statement released following his death, he complained that the death penalty in Texas is "broke." He said unqualified attorneys were appointed for him under state law.

"Texas has executed innocent people, and tonight, Texas has shown just how broke and unfair its system is," he said.

Dunn accused the state of having no clemency and urged politicians to work to "fix the Texas justice system" and continue to "work for a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas."

In the signed statement, he urged his family and friends to "continue to struggle and fight against the death penalty as its only use has been for revenge and it does not deter crime."

Dunn, 28, was the eighth Texas inmate executed this year and second this week. Three more are scheduled for lethal injection later this month.

The former fast-food restaurant worker acknowledged being present when the 23-year-old West was gunned down near Tyler more than nine years ago. But he said a companion also sent to death row primarily was to blame for the gay-bashing hate crime.

"I don't hate homosexuals," Dunn, who was 19 at the time of the killing, said last week. "That's their right to be that way if they want to."

Donald Aldrich, now 38, also is on death row for the West slaying. A third man, David Ray McMillan, who was 17 when the crime occurred Nov. 30, 1993, received a life prison term.

"I did admit to being at the crime scene," Dunn said in a death row interview. "I'm not saying I'm responsible."

The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday afternoon refused to review the case and halt the execution. Dunn was one day away from injection last May when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped his punishment so it could consider an appeal.

Authorities believed Aldrich, on parole after a pair of burglary and robbery convictions, was the leader of what became know as the "CB gang" – because they first became acquainted over CB radios. The gang for months preyed on homosexuals in the Tyler area.

West, a medical clerk, was abducted from a Tyler park known as a homosexual meeting spot. Taken to a remote area of Smith County, he was stripped, ordered to his knees and shot as many as 15 times.

Dunn called it "a crime that got out of control."

Aldrich had lured West under the guise of seeking sex, then drove away with him. Dunn said he and McMillan were waiting nearby. According to a plan carried out several times before, Dunn and McMillan followed them out of town where the trio then could rob the unsuspecting victim.

"Aldrich was mad because the dude didn't give him all his money," Dunn said.

"It was a deliberate, preplanned, cold-blooded kidnapping and murder," Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen said. "This wasn't an isolated incident by them in these types of attacks but the violence stepped up in this one and went all the way to kidnaping and murder."

Aldrich at his trial blamed Dunn for starting the gunfire. Dunn replied from death row he could "not positively say" he did any shooting.

Evidence, however, showed he used a .357-caliber Magnum and his shot to West's head was the last of the more than a dozen bullets and a shotgun blast fired into the victim.

West's body was found two days later. Dunn was arrested driving West's truck.

Dunn was among seven death row inmates who tried to escape from prison Thanksgiving night 1998. Only one, Martin Gurule, cleared a pair of fences that surrounded the Ellis Unit prison northeast of Huntsville. He was found drowned a week later, still on prison property.

Dunn and the other five were stopped by the razor-tipped wire fences and gunfire from corrections officers.

As a result of the escape, death row was moved to the more restrictive Polunsky Unit near Livingston, about 45 miles east of Huntsville.

[Dog Gone]

It appears you missed your chance. Bummer.

[MeekOneGOP]

AP

Henry Dunn Jr.

---

Convicted killer in gay-bashing case executed

02/06/2003

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - An apologetic Henry Dunn Jr. was executed Thursday night for participating in the fatal shooting of a Tyler man who was abducted and targeted for robbery because he was gay.

Strapped to the death chamber gurney, he expressed love for his family and asked for forgiveness from his victim's relatives.

"I hope you can find it in your heart to find forgiveness and strength, to move on and find peace," Dunn said, looking at Nicolas West's sister, brother and brother-in-law.

As the drugs began taking effect, Dunn let out a long, slight gasp. He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m., six minutes after the lethal dose began.

Also Online

	Texas Executions: Coverage from TXCN.com
	Offender profile: Henry Dunn Jr.
Related links
	Texas Department of Criminal Justice
	Scheduled executions
	Offenders on death row

In a written statement released following his death, he complained that the death penalty in Texas is "broke." He said unqualified attorneys were appointed for him under state law.

"Texas has executed innocent people, and tonight, Texas has shown just how broke and unfair its system is," he said.

Dunn accused the state of having no clemency and urged politicians to work to "fix the Texas justice system" and continue to "work for a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas."

In the signed statement, he urged his family and friends to "continue to struggle and fight against the death penalty as its only use has been for revenge and it does not deter crime."

Dunn, 28, was the eighth Texas inmate executed this year and second this week. Three more are scheduled for lethal injection later this month.

The former fast-food restaurant worker acknowledged being present when the 23-year-old West was gunned down near Tyler more than nine years ago. But he said a companion also sent to death row primarily was to blame for the gay-bashing hate crime.

"I don't hate homosexuals," Dunn, who was 19 at the time of the killing, said last week. "That's their right to be that way if they want to."

Donald Aldrich, now 38, also is on death row for the West slaying. A third man, David Ray McMillan, who was 17 when the crime occurred Nov. 30, 1993, received a life prison term.

"I did admit to being at the crime scene," Dunn said in a death row interview. "I'm not saying I'm responsible."

The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday afternoon refused to review the case and halt the execution. Dunn was one day away from injection last May when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped his punishment so it could consider an appeal.

Authorities believed Aldrich, on parole after a pair of burglary and robbery convictions, was the leader of what became know as the "CB gang" - because they first became acquainted over CB radios. The gang for months preyed on homosexuals in the Tyler area.

West, a medical clerk, was abducted from a Tyler park known as a homosexual meeting spot. Taken to a remote area of Smith County, he was stripped, ordered to his knees and shot as many as 15 times.

Dunn called it "a crime that got out of control."

Aldrich had lured West under the guise of seeking sex, then drove away with him. Dunn said he and McMillan were waiting nearby. According to a plan carried out several times before, Dunn and McMillan followed them out of town where the trio then could rob the unsuspecting victim.

"Aldrich was mad because the dude didn't give him all his money," Dunn said.

"It was a deliberate, preplanned, cold-blooded kidnapping and murder," Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen said. "This wasn't an isolated incident by them in these types of attacks but the violence stepped up in this one and went all the way to kidnaping and murder."

Aldrich at his trial blamed Dunn for starting the gunfire. Dunn replied from death row he could "not positively say" he did any shooting.

Evidence, however, showed he used a .357-caliber Magnum and his shot to West's head was the last of the more than a dozen bullets and a shotgun blast fired into the victim.

West's body was found two days later. Dunn was arrested driving West's truck.

Dunn was among seven death row inmates who tried to escape from prison Thanksgiving night 1998. Only one, Martin Gurule, cleared a pair of fences that surrounded the Ellis Unit prison northeast of Huntsville. He was found drowned a week later, still on prison property.

Dunn and the other five were stopped by the razor-tipped wire fences and gunfire from corrections officers.

As a result of the escape, death row was moved to the more restrictive Polunsky Unit near Livingston, about 45 miles east of Huntsville.

---

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/020703dntexexecution.bec54.html

[LanaTurnerOverdrive]

or is he to f**king illiterate to read it?

That should be too f**king illiterate....

Sorry. I never mention grammer or spelling but the irony in this instance was irresistable.

[Marines981]

We Will Mourn Him. Make it a national holiday.

[FormerLib]

I'm opposed to the death penalty based solely upon "sanctity of life" issues.

However, if there's going to be a death penalty, I thinking shooting a robbery victim 15 times pretty much qualifies someone to receive it.

[MeekOneGOP]

SCOTUS stayed out, apparently. Full update on #35...

AP
Henry Dunn Jr.

---

Convicted killer in gay-bashing case executed

02/06/2003

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - An apologetic Henry Dunn Jr. was executed Thursday night for participating in the fatal shooting of a Tyler man who was abducted and targeted for robbery because he was gay.

Strapped to the death chamber gurney, he expressed love for his family and asked for forgiveness from his victim's relatives.

"I hope you can find it in your heart to find forgiveness and strength, to move on and find peace," Dunn said, looking at Nicolas West's sister, brother and brother-in-law.

As the drugs began taking effect, Dunn let out a long, slight gasp. He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m., six minutes after the lethal dose began.

Also Online

	Texas Executions: Coverage from TXCN.com
	Offender profile: Henry Dunn Jr.
Related links
	Texas Department of Criminal Justice
	Scheduled executions
	Offenders on death row

In a written statement released following his death, he complained that the death penalty in Texas is "broke." He said unqualified attorneys were appointed for him under state law.

"Texas has executed innocent people, and tonight, Texas has shown just how broke and unfair its system is," he said.

Dunn accused the state of having no clemency and urged politicians to work to "fix the Texas justice system" and continue to "work for a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas."

In the signed statement, he urged his family and friends to "continue to struggle and fight against the death penalty as its only use has been for revenge and it does not deter crime."

Dunn, 28, was the eighth Texas inmate executed this year and second this week. Three more are scheduled for lethal injection later this month.

---

[Sparta]

I want on your new list.