Jeffrey Lynn Williams Executed
Wed Jun 26

A man convicted of raping and killing a woman in her home in 1994 was put to death by injection Wednesday in Texas' 18th execution of the year.

Jeffrey Lynn Williams, 30, recited the 23rd Psalm just before he died.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," he said. As the lethal drugs began flowing, he said: "I thank you Lord for all good things you have given me. Bless my family."

Williams was convicted of killing Barbara Pullins, 31, after breaking into her Houston home. Prosecutors said he raped her and strangled her with the cord of an iron, then touched her body repeatedly with a lighted cigarette to make sure she was dead. He then went to the room of the woman's 9-year-old daughter and raped her.

Williams later confessed to police that he "just went off." At trial, the girl identified him from the witness stand and said he choked and punched her as she struggled. Jurors returned with a death sentence in 23 minutes.

Last year, 17 condemned prisoners were put to death in Texas. The state executed a record 40 inmates in 2000.


23 minutes?????
disgusting


...sorry for your loss Amanda. :(

23 minutes!!!!! that's not normal. they decided to kill someone a lot faster then some killers decide to attack. sorry for the victim, the woman who was killed and the little girl that was raped. but another killing will never make up for the hurt

My heart goes out to his family and the family of the victims

Yesterday, in the US, it was ruled unconstitutional to say "The Pledge of Alledgence" yet it's constitutional to have state sanctioned murder? I'll never understand.

This is another story.. My sympathies go out to both families. This is a situation where no one wins. However, I would like to point out one sentence
"now-teenage girl who was also Williams' victim and who, at 16, is too young to witness an execution in Texas. "

16 is too young to witness an execution? yet...17 isn't to young to execute?




June 26, 2002, 9:52PM

Killer dies for murder of woman
18th execution in Texas this year
By ROMA KHANNA
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
HUNTSVILLE -- Jeffery Lynn Williams prayed Wednesday as he was put to death, eight years after he raped and murdered a mother in her home before raping and beating her 9-year-old daughter.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," he said, citing the 23rd Psalm before he fell silent. As the lethal drugs began to flow into his arms, he added: "God bless my family."

Six of Williams' relatives and friends gestured at the inmate from an adjacent viewing room, separated by a glass window, when the lethal injection began at 6:09 p.m. He gasped once, made a gurgling noise and fell silent as his eyes closed. Williams was pronounced dead eight minutes later as his mother wept.

Williams, 30, was the 18th person executed in Texas this year and the second from Harris County in two days. Robert Coulson, condemned for killing his adoptive parents, two sisters and a brother-in-law in Spring Branch in 1992, was put to death Tuesday.

In his final moments, Williams made no mention of the Oct. 25, 1994, night when he raped and strangled Barbara Jean Pullins, 31, as her 9-year-old daughter lay asleep in their bedroom. After burning Pullins' body with cigarettes and burning paper towels, Williams turned to the girl.

But she survived the attack. It was her resilience and power of recollection during the investigation and ensuing trial that distinguish her mother's murder from many of those that occur in Houston, police and prosecutors involved said.

Several members of Pullins' family also witnessed Williams' execution, including her two brothers, a sister and a cousin. Absent was the now-teenage girl who was also Williams' victim and who, at 16, is too young to witness an execution in Texas.

"I will tell her that justice was served for her mother at 6:17 tonight," Willie Collins, Pullins' brother, told reporters afterward.

He and other relatives were disappointed that Williams did not speak of the crime.

"He had no remorse," Collins said. "It don't trouble me now. I went through eight years of waiting for this, and I am at ease."

With the assistance of Pullins' daughter, Williams was arrested within one day of the attack. Public anger ensued when police discovered he was a parolee who was released early and never received the electronic monitor he was ordered to wear four months before the slaying.

Williams served only five of the 42 years he had been sentenced to for a string of crimes, including shooting at a man and four auto thefts

Joy I know what you mean....Texas needs to clear out their laws!!

Your right Joy ..there's definitely something wrong with that!

Thanks for your support Joe.

That is a case so simliar to mine, I feel for the young girl who was 9 at the time . I just hope if this was the way she could find peace that she found it. I do feel sorry for the killers family, but not him he was a evil man and what he did it makes it very difficult for me to sympathise. At least he died alot more peacefully and less painfully than the victim and I suppose the killers family can find peace in that. If life meant life maybe I could be anti dp, until then I make up my mind.

Caroline, how can you say he was a evil man if you don't know him. He was my friend and i know him as a nice person who has changed a lot on daeth row. So it makes me angry if somebody write things like this. My friend died a few days ago and it's not pleasant for me to read this

I am sorry for your loss of him. Maybe execution wasnt the right thing, but maybe life in jail. I know how it is to lose someone and I hope you can find peace knowning if he changed alot he has found peace, as god is forgiving. One day we all find the strength.

All for the loss for all that were envolved may God Keep them..