Texas executes John Balentine, sixth inmate to be put to death in US this year
A man convicted of killing three teenagers while they slept in a Texas home more than 25 years ago was executed on Wednesday, the sixth inmate to be put to death in the US this year and the second in as many days.
John Balentine, 54, whose attorneys argued his trial was marred by racial bias, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, for the January 1998 deaths of Edward Mark Caylor, 17, Kai Brooke Geyer, 15, and Steven Watson, 15, in Amarillo. Prosecutors said all three were shot once in the head.
Balentine appeared jovial as witnesses entered the death chamber, asking if someone could massage his feet. After a brief prayer from a spiritual adviser who held Balentine’s left foot with his right hand, the prisoner gave a short statement thanking friends for supporting him. Then he turned his head to look through a window at seven relatives of his three murder victims and apologized.
“I hope you can find in your heart to forgive me,” he said.
The mothers of each of the three victims were among the witnesses.
Balentine took two breaths as the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began flowing, snored twice, yawned and began snoring again loudly. The snores – 11 of them – became progressively quieter, then stopped.
At 6.36pm, 15 minutes after the injection, a physician pronounced him dead. The victims’ witnesses shared high-fives. They declined to speak with reporters.
Caylor’s sister, who was among the witnesses, was Balentine’s former girlfriend. Prosecutors said the shootings stemmed from a feud between Caylor and Balentine. Ballentine argued that Caylor and others threatened his life over his interracial relationship. Balentine is Black. The three victims were white.
Balentine confessed to the murders. One of his attorneys said Balentine turned down a plea agreement that would have sentenced him to life in prison because racist threats made him afraid of being attacked or killed while incarcerated.
Lawyers pursued two legal strategies. The first was to argue that the trial and sentencing were tainted by racism. Balentine was also among five Texas death row inmates who sued to stop the state using what they allege are expired and unsafe execution drugs. Despite a civil court judge in Austin preliminarily agreeing with the claims, the state’s top two courts have allowed three of the five inmates in the suit to be killed. Robert Fratta, 65, was put to death on 10 January and Wesley Ruiz, 43, on 1 February.
Prison officials said the state supply of execution drugs is safe.
Balentine’s attorneys also alleged the jury foreman in his case, Dory England, held racist views and bullied other jurors who wanted to sentence Balentine to life. Lola Perkins, who had been married to England’s brother, told Balentine’s attorneys England “was racist against Black people because that is how he was raised”.
In a declaration before his death in 2021, England said he pushed for Balentine’s death sentence because he worried if the accused was ever released England himself “would need to hunt him down”. England also said he threatened to report another juror to the judge for making prejudiced comments when the person “started going off about this Black guy killing these white teenagers”.
Balentine’s attorneys alleged prosecutors blocked prospective Black jurors and Balentine’s trial lawyers referred to sentencing proceedings as a “justifiable lynching”.
Randall Sherrod, one of Balentine’s
attorneys, said he could not remember the note but denied that he or the other attorney, James Durham Jr, had racist attitudes toward Balentine. Durham died in 2006.
“I think he got a fair trial,” Sherrod said of Balentine. “I think we had a good jury … We tried to help John whatever way we could.”
The US supreme court on Wednesday declined an appeal from Balentine’s attorneys to halt the execution so his claims of racial bias could be properly reviewed.
A defense request for the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, to temporarily stay the execution also failed and the Texas court of criminal appeals denied a request to stay Ballentine’s execution over allegations that “racism and racial issues pervaded” his trial. The appeals court denied the stay on procedural grounds without reviewing the merits.
On Wednesday, the Texas board of pardons and paroles unanimously declined to commute Balentine’s death sentence or grant a 30-day reprieve.
“Without a thorough judicial consideration of Mr Balentine’s claims, we can have no confidence that the death verdict isn’t tainted by racial bias,” said Shawn Nolan, one of Balentine’s attorneys.