aprilcat
08-21-2002, 07:07 AM
HUNTSVILLE -- An apologetic Gary Wayne Etheridge was executed Tuesday evening for the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old girl more than a dozen years ago while the then-paroled burglar said he was high on drugs.
Gary Wayne Etheridge, 38, who was executed Tuesday, was the 22nd inmate put to death this year in Texas and the fourth this month.
In a brief final statement, he apologized to the girl's relatives and expressed love to his wife, who watched through a window a few feet away.
"I'm sorry for what was taken from you," he told two sisters and an uncle of his victim, Christie Chauviere. "I hope you find peace."
Then he looked out another window at his wife and urged her to "stay strong, keep building and be careful. I love you."
As the drugs began flowing into his heavily tattooed arms, he added that he hoped "there's closure for the victim's family and everybody. I feel it burning. Getting real dizzy."
Then he gasped several times and sputtered before he stopped breathing.
He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m., nine minutes after the drugs began flowing.
Etheridge, 38, acknowledged knifing the girl's mother, who hired him as a maintenance worker despite knowing his criminal past, but said he wasn't responsible for killing the teenager at her Brazoria County home on Feb. 2, 1990.
Etheridge was the 22nd Texas inmate put to death this year and the fourth this month. Last year, 17 prisoners were executed in Texas. A record 40 were put to death in 2000.
"I've been a criminal all my life," Etheridge said earlier from death row. "I was there. I done wrong and I feel responsible, but I did not kill the girl."
The U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, refused Tuesday to stop the punishment. His attorneys had argued in appeals that earlier lawyers did not provide him competent help.
It was the second time in recent months the former maintenance man prepared for death.
A day before Etheridge was scheduled to die in June, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the punishment after his attorneys complained the judge who signed his death warrant once called him "a piece of trash" and was biased against Etheridge.
A new judge was assigned to his case and reset the execution date for Tuesday.
Etheridge, with a history of theft and burglary convictions, was on parole for about six weeks after serving part of a 10-year term for burglary when he showed up at the home of Gail Chauviere.
Chauviere had given him a job at a condominium she managed near Surfside, about 60 miles south of Houston. Etheridge said he demanded money "to fill a hole for drugs" and he knew the woman carried in a bag some cash received from tenants.
When Chauviere resisted, she was stabbed. Her daughter also was assaulted and fatally stabbed with a knife.
"I never intended to hurt everyone," Etheridge said. "I cut and stabbed Gail with a little bitty pocket knife."
Etheridge, who started using cocaine at age 17, said he probably was high on drugs at the time and she fought as he tried to put the woman in a closet.
"She kicked me and it hurt," he said.
Etheridge drove off in the woman's car. A neighbor found Chauviere, seriously wounded with at least 30 stab wounds, and her daughter. The girl had been bound with a telephone cord and fatally stabbed several times in the chest. The high school freshman also had been sexually abused with an object.
Five days later, after wrecking the car in Mobile, Ala., Etheridge was arrested while hitchhiking south of Houston. He told police he was heading back to Brazoria County to turn himself in, apologized to the arresting officer for killing the girl and gave a written statement that he committed the murder.
In a death row interview, Etheridge blamed the slaying on a companion. At his trial, however, Gail Chauviere identified him as the lone attacker.
A Dallas man, Toronto Patterson, is scheduled to die Aug. 28 for killing a 3-year-old Dallas girl in a shooting rampage that also claimed the lives of the girl's mother and a 6-year-old sister.
Gary Wayne Etheridge, 38, who was executed Tuesday, was the 22nd inmate put to death this year in Texas and the fourth this month.
In a brief final statement, he apologized to the girl's relatives and expressed love to his wife, who watched through a window a few feet away.
"I'm sorry for what was taken from you," he told two sisters and an uncle of his victim, Christie Chauviere. "I hope you find peace."
Then he looked out another window at his wife and urged her to "stay strong, keep building and be careful. I love you."
As the drugs began flowing into his heavily tattooed arms, he added that he hoped "there's closure for the victim's family and everybody. I feel it burning. Getting real dizzy."
Then he gasped several times and sputtered before he stopped breathing.
He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m., nine minutes after the drugs began flowing.
Etheridge, 38, acknowledged knifing the girl's mother, who hired him as a maintenance worker despite knowing his criminal past, but said he wasn't responsible for killing the teenager at her Brazoria County home on Feb. 2, 1990.
Etheridge was the 22nd Texas inmate put to death this year and the fourth this month. Last year, 17 prisoners were executed in Texas. A record 40 were put to death in 2000.
"I've been a criminal all my life," Etheridge said earlier from death row. "I was there. I done wrong and I feel responsible, but I did not kill the girl."
The U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, refused Tuesday to stop the punishment. His attorneys had argued in appeals that earlier lawyers did not provide him competent help.
It was the second time in recent months the former maintenance man prepared for death.
A day before Etheridge was scheduled to die in June, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the punishment after his attorneys complained the judge who signed his death warrant once called him "a piece of trash" and was biased against Etheridge.
A new judge was assigned to his case and reset the execution date for Tuesday.
Etheridge, with a history of theft and burglary convictions, was on parole for about six weeks after serving part of a 10-year term for burglary when he showed up at the home of Gail Chauviere.
Chauviere had given him a job at a condominium she managed near Surfside, about 60 miles south of Houston. Etheridge said he demanded money "to fill a hole for drugs" and he knew the woman carried in a bag some cash received from tenants.
When Chauviere resisted, she was stabbed. Her daughter also was assaulted and fatally stabbed with a knife.
"I never intended to hurt everyone," Etheridge said. "I cut and stabbed Gail with a little bitty pocket knife."
Etheridge, who started using cocaine at age 17, said he probably was high on drugs at the time and she fought as he tried to put the woman in a closet.
"She kicked me and it hurt," he said.
Etheridge drove off in the woman's car. A neighbor found Chauviere, seriously wounded with at least 30 stab wounds, and her daughter. The girl had been bound with a telephone cord and fatally stabbed several times in the chest. The high school freshman also had been sexually abused with an object.
Five days later, after wrecking the car in Mobile, Ala., Etheridge was arrested while hitchhiking south of Houston. He told police he was heading back to Brazoria County to turn himself in, apologized to the arresting officer for killing the girl and gave a written statement that he committed the murder.
In a death row interview, Etheridge blamed the slaying on a companion. At his trial, however, Gail Chauviere identified him as the lone attacker.
A Dallas man, Toronto Patterson, is scheduled to die Aug. 28 for killing a 3-year-old Dallas girl in a shooting rampage that also claimed the lives of the girl's mother and a 6-year-old sister.