On
this date, June 16, 2011, an Aryan Brotherhood & Prison Killer, Lee Andrew
Taylor was executed by lethal injection in Texas. He was convicted of the April 1, 1999 murder of his African American cellmate, Donta Green. Before the
prison killing, he had already caused the death of an elderly man in a robbery
on November 17, 1995. He is an example of a white man killing an African
American, where we can debunk the myth that only killers of white victims get
executed. I got the information about him from clarkprosecutor.org
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Lee
Andrew Taylor
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Summary: At 16, Taylor was convicted of a 1995
aggravated robbery that resulted in the death of an elderly man. While serving
a life sentence at the Telford State Prison in New Boston, Taylor became a
member of the Aryan Brotherhood. Another inmate, Daniel Richbourg, had property
stolen from his cell and it was suspected that inmate Donta Greene participated
in the theft. Taylor and Richbourg made plans to seek revenge. The next morning,
the inmates were released from their cells to go to breakfast. Taylor walked
just past Greene, then turned and struck Greene with his fist. Taylor then
grabbed Greene around the head, held him in a headlock, and repeatedly stabbed
him in the chest with a rod-like shank, a prison-made stabbing device that
resembled an ice pick. Afterwards, Taylor shouted at Greene, “That’s what you
get for stealing." During the stabbing, Richbourg brandished his own
shank, to chase away other inmates attempting to help Greene, who was unarmed.
After the stabbing, Taylor was euphoric and repeatedly bragged that he must
have stabbed Greene twenty-five to thirty times. He later claimed self defense.
Accomplice Richbourg was serving a 12-year sentence for Burglary. He was also
convicted in the murder of Greene and was sentenced to 48-years imprisonment.
Taylor v. Thaler,397 Fed.Appx. 104 (5th Cir. 2010). (Habeas)
Final/Special Meal:
A medium pizza with cheese, beef, black olives and mushrooms, four soft tacos, large bowls of fried okra and one pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream.
Last Words:
"There are 300 people on death row, and not every one of them is a monster. The state of Texas is carrying out a very inhuman and unjust situation. It's not right to kill anybody, not the way I did it, or the way it's being done to me. Everyone changes, right? Life is about experience, and people change." The condemned man then looked to the victim's family. "For all you people," I defended myself when I killed your family member. Prison is a bad place. I didn't set out to kill him. But he would not have been in prison if he was a saint. I hope y'all understand that. I hope you don’t find satisfaction in this, watching a human being die.” While Taylor continued talking to the victim's family, the lethal injection was started. As the drug was taking effect, he said, "I'm ready to teleport".
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Lee
Andrew Taylor
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Internet Sources:
Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (Taylor)
Taylor, Lee Andrew
Date of Birth: 01/08/1979
DR#: 999344
Date Received: 02/22/2000
Education: 9 years
Occupation: stocker, laborer
Date of Offense: 04/01/1999
County of Offense: Bowie
Native County: Galveston
Race: White
Gender: Male
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 5' 09"
Weight: 207
Prior
Prison Record: #765153 on 10/29/96, Life sentence for 1 count Aggravated
Robbery.
Summary
of incident: On 04/01/99, during the daytime, at TDCJ-ID Telford Unit dayroom,
Taylor fatally stabbed an adult black male offender multiple times with an
8" home-made weapon. Taylor and one co-defendant had engaged in a fight
with the victim due to racial tension between Taylor and the victim. Taylor was
a member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (a recognized security threat
group).
Co-Defendants:
Richbourg, Daniel.
Media Advisory: Lee Taylor scheduled for execution
AUSTIN
– Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Lee
Andrew Taylor, who is scheduled for execution after 6 p.m. on Thursday, June
16, 2011. Taylor, a prison inmate who was serving a life sentence for
aggravated robbery that resulted in the death of an elderly man, was convicted
and sentenced to death in a Bowie County state district court for the murder of
another prison inmate, Donta Greene.
FACTS
OF THE CRIME
During
the evening hours of March 31, 1999, in the Barry Telford state prison in New
Boston, property was stolen from the cell of inmate Daniel Richbourg. Inmate
Donta Greene participated in the theft and took some of Richbourg’s property.
During the night of March 31, 1999, Taylor and Richbourg made plans to seek
revenge for the theft.
The
next morning, in the early morning hours of April 1, 1999, the inmates were
released from their cells to go to breakfast. When Taylor was released from his
cell, he walked just past Greene, then turned and struck Greene with his fist.
Taylor then grabbed Greene around the head, held him in a headlock, and
repeatedly stabbed him in the chest with a rod-like shank—a prison-made
stabbing device that resembled an ice pick. Afterwards, Taylor shouted at
Greene, “That’s what you get for stealing....”
During
the stabbing, Richbourg brandished his own shank—a plexiglass blade-like
weapon—to chase away other inmates attempting to help Greene so Taylor could
complete the murder. At no time did Greene himself ever have a weapon. After
the stabbing, Taylor was euphoric and repeatedly bragged that he must have
stabbed Greene twenty-five to thirty times. Taylor inflicted thirteen actual
stab wounds and numerous scratches on Greene’s body. Several of the puncture
wounds were fatal.
PROCEDURAL
HISTORY
On
November 4, 1999, Taylor was indicted by a Bowie County grand jury for capital
murder in the death of Donta Greene. On Feb. 18, 2000, a jury found Taylor
guilty of the capital murder and the court sentenced Taylor to death. The Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Taylor’s conviction and sentence on December
11, 2002.
Taylor
filed a state application for writ of habeas corpus in the trial court on
November 30, 2001. The trial court entered findings of fact and conclusions of
law recommending that Taylor be denied relief. The Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals adopted the trial court’s findings and conclusions and denied Taylor
habeas relief on March 31, 2004.
Taylor
filed a federal habeas petition in a U.S. district court on March 30, 2005. The
court then issued a stay so that Taylor could exhaust a mental-retardation
claim in state court. On July 11, 2008, Taylor’s attorney informed the court
that a doctor determined Taylor was not mentally retarded. On July 28, 2008,
the court lifted the stay. On August 31, 2009, the court denied Taylor federal
habeas relief. Taylor appealed this decision to the United States Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit court affirmed the federal
district court’s decision on October 7, 2010. Taylor filed a petition for writ
of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court on January 5, 2011. The Supreme Court
denied the petition on April 18, 2011.
EVIDENCE
OF FUTURE DANGEROUSNESS
Taylor
was convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced to life imprisonment for a
Nov. 17, 1995, incident in which a grandfather and his wife were beaten at
their home. The grand father died a short time later in a hospital.
Lee
Andrew Taylor, 32, was executed by lethal injection on 16 June 2011 in
Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a fellow prison inmate.
In
November 1995, Taylor, then 16, beat an elderly man and woman during a robbery
of their home. The man, 79-year-old John Hampton, subsequently died in the
hospital. Taylor was convicted of aggravated robbery and sentenced to life in
prison.
On
31 March 1999, in the Telford state prison in Bowie County, some property was
stolen from the cell of inmate Daniel Richbourg, 29. Inmate Donta Greene
participated in the theft. On 1 April, as some inmates were leaving their cells
to go to breakfast, Taylor, then 20, walked past Greene, then turned around and
struck him with his fist. Taylor then grabbed Greene and held him in a headlock,
then stabbed him in the chest thirteen times with an 8" home-made weapon.
Meanwhile, Richbourg brandished his own blade made from plexiglass to keep
other inmates from coming to Greene's aid. Greene was unarmed. After the
stabbing, Taylor shouted, "That's what you get for stealing ..."
The
prosecution asserted that, in addition to the theft incident, Greene's killing
was the product of racial tension. Taylor was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood
of Texas, while Greene was black.
A
jury convicted Taylor of capital murder in February 2000 and sentenced him to
death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence
in December 2002. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were
denied.
At
the time of the killing, Daniel Joseph Richbourg Jr. was serving a 12-year
sentence for burglary of a building. He was convicted of murder in Greene's
case and was given a 48-year sentence. If he serves his term to completion, he
will be 80 when he is discharged.
On
a web site operated by opponents of the death penalty, Taylor admitted killing
Greene, but stated that the killing was done in self-defense. "... on
April 1st 1999 I fought off 8 black men with a shank," he wrote.
"Defending myself against 8 men older and stronger, fighting for my life
against a premeditated attack, I defended myself ... the result - I killed one
of them."
Taylor
began his last statement at his execution by protesting the Texas death
penalty. "There are 300 people on death row, and not every one of them is
a monster," he said. "The state of Texas is carrying out a very
inhuman and unjust situation. It's not right to kill anybody, not the way I did
it, or the way it's being done to me. Everyone changes, right? Life is about
experience, and people change."
The
condemned man then looked to the victim's family. "For all you
people," he said, "I defended myself when I killed your family
member. Prison is a bad place. I didn't set out to kill him. But he would not
have been in prison if he was a saint. I hope y'all understand that."
While Taylor continued talking to the victim's family, the lethal injection was
started. As the drug was taking effect, he said, "I'm ready to
teleport". He was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m.
While
serving a life sentence for aggravated robbery, Lee Andrew Taylor, a member of
the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood gang, stabbed another inmate to death
in a racial fight.
On
November 17, 1995, at the age of 16, Taylor robbed and brutally beat an elderly
couple in their home in Channelview, Texas, near Houston. John and Mildred
Hampton, both 79 years old, were savagely beaten during the robbery. Taylor
used the money he got from robbing the couple to rent a motel room and throw a
party. John Hampton was in a coma for most of the two months after the beating
before finally succumbing to his injuries on January 13, 1996. Mildred had to
have massive reconstructive surgeries to repair her broken jaw and other damage
to her face. At the February 20, 1996 hearing held to determine whether to
certify Taylor as an adult in this crime, John K. Hampton, the grandson of John
and Mildred Hampton, testified. He said that he had traveled from Plano with
his wife, half-brother and two young children to visit his grandparents in
Houston on the day of the crime.
The
next morning around 10:00 am they went to the home where his grandparents had
lived for 10 years and knocked on the door. After not receiving an answer, he
checked the garage to see if the couple's car was there. Mildred frequently
left the garage door slightly elevated so their cats could enter and exit.
After around ten minutes, Mildred made it to the door and opened it, revealing
her battered face to her family. "Her head was about twice the size and
her eyes were swollen shut. There was blood on her hands and all over her
blouse." John K. Hampton sent his family back to their car and asked a
neighbor to call 911, then went inside. His grandfather was lying on his side
in a pool of blood and Mildred was in a state of shock, but was lucid enough to
warn her grandson not to touch the phone because the attacker had touched it
and there might be fingerprints. In any case, the phones were not working
because the cords had been ripped from the wall. Jewelry boxes were emptied and
John Hampton's wallet containing about $40 was stolen. After police questioned
neighbors, they learned that someone named Lee had stayed at a nearby motel and
had gone to a hospital after being involved in a fight during his party. Police
obtained Taylor's full name at the hospital and matched it to the motel
records. After they questioned Taylor, he confessed and showed them where he
had thrown away John Hampton's wallet. Taylor was charged with capital murder
and was to be tried as an adult. He subsequently accepted a plea bargain and
was convicted of aggravated robbery and sentenced to a term of life
imprisonment.
While
he was serving that sentence, Taylor came into possession of a “shank” — a
prison-made stabbing implement — which he used against Donta Green during the
morning of March 31, 1999. Taylor stabbed Green 13 times and inflicted numerous
other scratch wounds; Green later died as a result. Taylor was indicted for
capital murder for intentionally or knowingly causing the death of an
individual while serving a sentence of life imprisonment for aggravated
robbery.
Following
a jury trial, Taylor was convicted and sentenced to death. David Richbourg, a
second prisoner who was convicted of the attack on Green received a 48-year
sentence. Evidence showed that Richbourg used a sharpened piece of plastic
glass to stab Green and then brandished his weapon to keep other inmates at bay
while Taylor was making his attack. Medical evidence showed that Taylor's
weapon was responsible for the fatal wounds.
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