A Texas inmate has been executed for the killings of his 15-year-old girlfriend, her mother and her grandfather nearly 13 years ago in Houston. Derrick Dewayne Charles, 32, became the seventh prisoner put to death this year in the nation's most active capital punishment yesterday. He was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m. CDT, 25 minutes after being given the execution drug.
As the pentobarbital took effect, he took two breaths, yawned and then appeared to go to sleep. Six relatives of Charles' victims witnessed the execution, but he made no eye contact with them.
His lawyers had argued that he was mentally incompetent for execution and that they needed more time. But the judge frowned at the statement and sentenced him to death after 13 years of in and out of court.
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