Jan. 4
TEXAS---- volunteer execution
Inmate who killed child molester executed
Condemned inmate James Porter was executed tonight for fatally beating a
convicted child molester nearly 5 years ago while in prison.
Porter, who dropped his appeals and ordered nothing be done to stop the
1st execution of the year in the nation's most active capital punishment
state, apologized to the relatives of his victims and expressed love to
his family.
"I am sorry for the pain I have caused you," he said in a brief final
statement. "I know it is a great loss and I want to apologize. I am sorry.
"And to my family I love you and I will see you all in heaven."
He closed his eyes and quickly stopped breathing as the lethal drugs took
effect and his mother sobbed while watching through a window nearby. 6
minutes later, at 6:12 p.m. CST, Porter was pronounced dead.
Porter, 33, from Lake Dallas, was sentenced to die for using a smuggled
rock wrapped in a pillowcase to fatally pummel fellow prisoner Rudy
Delgado, 40.
Porter's lawyer, Robin Norris, said Porter had been advised that attorneys
were ready to help him, even at the last minute.
Porter already was serving a 45-year term for the 1995 shooting death of a
transient in Denton County when he attacked Delgado in May 2000 at the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Telford Unit near Texarkana. Delgado,
who also was stabbed and kicked, was serving a 15-year term for sexually
assaulting a child in Dallas County.
"I believe he was taken out too easy," Anna Acevedo said after watching
her brother's killer die. "He didn't feel the same pain my brother did. I
would have been happy to see him feel the same pain my brother felt.
"His apology wasn't good enough for me."
Porter said Delgado was gay and made a pass at him, which the former white
supremacist didn't appreciate.
"What I done is what I done," Porter told The Associated Press in a recent
interview. "I'd taken a 2-pound rock to somebody's head and spread them
all over the place. I guess at that time, I just lost all my cool and
didn't care anymore."
He wrote letters to James Elliott, the Bowie County prosecutor handling
his capital murder trial, referring to his victim in epithets and said he
should be applauded for ridding society of a child molester.
Elliott used the letters at Porter's trial, telling jurors the convicted
murderer was boasting and proud of killing Delgado.
"In a way, I was," Porter said from death row. "That dude never touched
any little boys again."
In another letter, Porter warned he would murder again and didn't care if
it was another prisoner or a corrections officer.
"The letter where he said 'I'm going to kill again the next chance I get'
was fairly convincing," Elliott said.
Norris said Porter had a difficult childhood that included being raped. He
ran away from home when he was about 14 and linked up with supremacists
who shared his hatred of gays, Norris said. In prison, Porter claimed
allegiance to white gangs and acquired extensive tattoos, including
letters that spell "HATE" on 4 fingers of his right hand.
"I'm over that," Porter said. "I've kind of stepped out. There's too much
ignorance that comes with it."
He said he eventually realized he was wrong to repunish Delgado "for
something he was already punished for."
"I'm just thankful I had the chance to get salvation," he said, adding
that he was convinced he would be going to heaven "although I don't
deserve it."
"I know where I'm going. I know what's going to happen," Porter said. "I'm
set. I'm secure in that and I'm at a real peace with it. I've never felt
that kind of peace. And I like it, instead of all the hate, the chaos, the
anger and the aggravation I usually feel."
Porter was 1 of at least 9 men in Texas with execution dates already this
year, including four in January. The state carried out 23 executions last
year.
Porter becomes the 337th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas
since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Porter
becomes the 98th condemned inmate to be put to death during the tenure of
Rick Perry as Governor of Texas.
Porter also becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year
in the USA and the 945th overall since America resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
