Johnny Garrett

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Johnny Frank Garrett (born December 24, 1963 ; † February 11, 1992 in Huntsville , Texas ) was an American citizen who was sentenced to death and executed as a rapist and murderer, according to supporters innocent.

The crime

On October 31, 1981, the 76-year-old Catholic nun Tadea Benz was raped and murdered in her room in a convent in Amarillo ; Garrett was then arrested and charged as a suspect.

Condemnation

The Court of Appeal (5th Circuit) summarized the evidence against Garrett as follows:

The evidence against the accused is overwhelming. Garrett was seen walking from the direction of the monastery (the crime scene) on the night of the murder. Fingerprints on the handle and blade of the kitchen knife under the victim's bed and headboard match those of Garrett. Pubic hair at the crime scene is reminiscent of the Garretts. The steak knife that was found in the driveway of the monastery comes from the production of the knife company Garrett has in his kitchen at home.

The state also produced Lonnie Watley's testimony. Watley testified that Garrett originally denied the commission of the crime, but later changed his mind and confessed that he had broken into the monastery and admitted to killing the nun.

Garrett said in his own defense that he did not rap and murder Sister Benz.

Garrett testified that he entered the monastery two days before the murder in search of stolen goods. He took a knife from the monastery kitchen to break open drawers. In Sister Benz's room he left fingerprints in search of stolen goods.

The state is trying to convict Garrett of the oral statement he allegedly made to the police after his arrest on November 9, 1981. Two police officers testified that after taking Garrett's testimony and asking him to sign the confession, he said it was true. He reportedly refused to sign it until he spoke to a legal advisor. After consulting with his lawyer, Garrett declined to sign the statement. In the statement the police presented, Garrett admitted that he had broken into the monastery. He explained: I went into the cafeteria and stole knives, I broke open a chest and stole valuables. I leaned over Sister Benz's bed to steal a crucifix. There was a nun in bed and she was about to scream. I covered her mouth so she couldn't make any noise.

I started choking her until she passed out. I had sex with her. I left the monastery as I had entered it. Sister Bernice Noggler testified that, contrary to Garrett's testimony, the front door of the monastery was normally locked and that no one could have entered the cafeteria unnoticed at lunchtime. She also denied that any of the chests in the monastery had been broken into or that any valuables had been reported missing. She also denied that Sister Benz ever had a cross hanging over the headboard of the bed. The state also presented witnesses who lived near Garrett's mother. A neighbor testified that Garrett was seen sneaking around the home of an elderly woman in the neighborhood on the night of the murder. The second neighbor testified that Garrett came to his house at about 11:00 PM that evening.

Garrett's defense attorney presented a forensic psychiatrist, Dorothy Otnow Lewis , who examined Garrett and diagnosed a personality disorder caused by childhood trauma. According to his expertise, Garrett suffered from dissociative personality disorder .

Later evidence

In March 2004, a DNA test found Leoncio Perez Rueda to be the rapist and murderer of Narnie Box Bryson, an elderly Amarillo woman who was murdered a few months before Sister Benz.

In both cases, a white T-shirt and black curly hair were found at the scene. The fingerprints that had been found in Sister Benz's apartment at the time were compared with those of Rueda and they found a match. The victims had been found cut and stab wounds in both murders, and both times shortly before the murders, witnesses had seen a tall, slim, dark-haired man in a white T-shirt near the crime scene.

Rueda had been imprisoned for murder and rape in his old homeland of Cuba and ultimately confessed to the murder of Sister Benz. The State of Texas continued to refuse to posthumously confirm Garrett's innocence and threatened the Garretts family with lawsuit.

last words

According to the Daily News , before his execution, Garrett said, “I'd like to thank my family for loving me and taking care of me. And the rest of the world can kiss my ass ” (“ I thank my family for the love and care. And the rest of the world can lick my ass ”). The Texas Department of Criminal Justice website claims that Garrett has stopped speaking. Associated Press reporter Michael Graczyk confirmed the Daily News statement.

documentary

In 2008, Jesse Quackenbush made a documentary about the case called The Last Word . In this film, Garrett's mother, Catholic priests, a juror and legal experts all have their say. Serious reproaches are made against the Texas state. Society is immoral, stupid and vengeful. If the population wanted to see someone hanging, the accused had no chance from that point on.

Initially, the police recorded statements about a dark-haired Latino near the crime scene. But when Garrett came into the focus of the investigation, other clues were no longer investigated, law enforcement agencies and criminal defense lawyers had not examined an existing sperm sample. The statement was recorded in violation of the procedure that there was no actually necessary tape recording. The jury made the decision “death by lethal injection” in less than an hour. All Texas Catholic bishops appealed to Governor Ann Richards against the execution. Finally, Pope John Paul II spoke out against the execution. One of the interviewees expressed disgust at Richard's decision, which he described as a "rotten human being". The film also describes the spectacle held for journalists and supporters of the death penalty in Texas before, during and after the trial.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Garrett v. Lynaugh, 842 F.2d 113 (5th Cir. 1988).
  2. ↑ Lewis, Dorothy Otnow. Guilty by Reason of Insanity . Ivy Books, 1999. ISBN 978-0-8041-1887-3
  3. ^ A b Photo Gallery, FBI Documents Gallery, Police Reports Gallery, Crime Scene and Evidence Gallery, Correspondence Gallery, Videotape Interviews, and Full Case Documentation, by Bloodshed Books Corporation, http://www.bloodshedbooks.com/tour.php
  4. ^ The Skeptical Juror, "Actual Innocence: Johnny Frank Garrett and Bubbles the Clairvoyant," http://www.skepticaljuror.com/2010/04/fine-folks-of-amarillo-wanted-justice.html
  5. ^ Photo Gallery, FBI Documents Gallery, Police Reports Gallery, Crime Scene and Evidence Gallery, Correspondence Gallery, Videotape Interviews, and Full Case Documentation, by Bloodshed Books Corporation, http://www.bloodshedbooks.com/tour.php
  6. ^ The Skeptical Juror, "Actual Innocence: Johnny Frank Garrett and Bubbles the Clairvoyant," http://www.skepticaljuror.com/2010/04/fine-folks-of-amarillo-wanted-justice.html
  7. ↑ a b "The Last Word" film documentary, 2008, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1553919/
  8. ^ Photo Gallery, FBI Documents Gallery, Police Reports Gallery, Crime Scene and Evidence Gallery, Correspondence Gallery, Videotape Interviews, and Full Case Documentation, by Bloodshed Books Corporation, http://www.bloodshedbooks.com/tour.php
  9. ^ The Skeptical Juror, "Actual Innocence: Johnny Frank Garrett and Bubbles the Clairvoyant," http://www.skepticaljuror.com/2010/04/fine-folks-of-amarillo-wanted-justice.html
  10. ^ McShane, Larry: Last Words of Those Executed Express Variety of Emotions . In: Daily News , April 24, 1992. Retrieved July 29, 2012. 
  11. ^ "Death Row Information" . November 16, 2012. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 9, 2013. - John Garrett corresponds to Execution number 44 in the table. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tdcj.state.tx.us
  12. ^ "Recollections From Hundreds of Executions in Texas" . June 26, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Garrett, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Garrett, Johnny Frank (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American rapist and murderer
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1963
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1992
Place of death Huntsville , Texas