A Texas man who was accused of stabbing twin 16-year-old girls to death in 1989 was executed Tuesday evening, October 1, over three decades after the heinous crime. 61-year-old Garcia Glenn White was pronounced dead at 6:56 pm after being given a chemical injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
White was accused of fatally stabbing Annette and Bernette Edwards in December 1989. The twin sisters’ bodies, alongside their mother’s, were discovered in their Houston apartment.
White was put to death after the US Supreme Court declined requests to intervene. He happens to be the sixth inmate to be executed in the United States in the last 11 days.
Who was Garcia Glenn White?
Garcia was the prime suspect in two additional murders (besides those of the twins and their mom) with which he had not been charged. He was one of several siblings born in Houston, and was known for his love for football.
As per testimony, White went to the twin’s house to smoke crack with their mother Bonita. At one point, he fatally stabbed Bonita, and when the twins came out of their rooms to see what happened, he attacked them too. He was later connected to the deaths of a grocery store owner and another woman, according to authorities.
“Garcia Glenn White committed five murders in three different transactions and two of his victims were teenage girls. This is the type of case that the death penalty was intended for,” Josh Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writs Division with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston, said ahead of the execution, according to the Citrus County Chronicle.
{{/usCountry}}“Garcia Glenn White committed five murders in three different transactions and two of his victims were teenage girls. This is the type of case that the death penalty was intended for,” Josh Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writs Division with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston, said ahead of the execution, according to the Citrus County Chronicle.
{{/usCountry}}White, while waiting to be executed, offered an apology to witnesses. “I would like to apologize for all the wrong I have done, and for the pain I've caused,” he said from the death chamber.
The twins and their mother’s deaths remained unsolved for about six years. Later, White confessed to the murders after being arrested in connection with the July 1995 death of grocery store owner Hai Van Pham. Pham has been beaten to death during a robbery at his business. White also confessed to killing another woman named Greta Williams, according to police.
After White’s lawyer’s unsuccessful attempts at appealing to the US Supreme Court to stop the execution, they claimed that Texas’ top criminal appeals court refused “to accept medical evidence and strong factual backing” that showed White is intellectually disabled. Back in 2002, the Supreme Court banned the execution of intellectually disabled people, but certain states were given some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities. White’s lawyers made other arguments too, including alleging that the Texas appeals court did not permit his defence team to present evidence that could save him from a death sentence. One of White's attorneys, Patrick McCann, said that the suspect spent his time behind bars “working to be a better human being.”