On this date, May 19, 2021, Quintin Jones was executed by lethal injection in Texas, for the 1999 killing of his great aunt, Berthena Bryant. However, Jones also committed other murders. Please hear from one of the victim’s daughter at the bottom.
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Quintin Jones received
the lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the September
1999 killing of Berthena Bryan.
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[PHOTO SOURCE: https://abc13.com/quintin-jones-execution-death-penalty-tarrant-county/10661790/] |
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Quintin
Jones |
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Born |
Quintin Phillippe Jones
Fort
Worth, Texas, U.S. |
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Died |
May 19, 2021 (aged 41) Huntsville, Texas, U.S. |
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Cause of
death |
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Criminal
status |
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Criminal
penalty |
Death (March 16, 2001) |
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Details |
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Victims |
Berthena Bryant |
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Date |
September 11, 1999 |
Quintin Phillippe Jones (July 15, 1979 – May 19, 2021) was an
American man from Livingston, Texas, who was executed for the 1999
killing of his great aunt, Berthena Bryant. Bryant's family and over 180,000
other people petitioned Texas Governor Greg
Abbott for clemency to commute his death sentence to a life sentence. He
was executed on May 19, 2021, the first execution in the US in almost 30 years
without any media presence.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintin_Jones_(prisoner)
Biography
Jones
experienced 'brutal conditions' during his childhood, suffering neglect by his
parents, sexual assault by his siblings, and extreme poverty. His mother
threatened him with a gun and he was forced at age 7 by his older siblings to
have sex with his stepsister. He shot himself twice, once in the hand to
placate gang members and later in the chest in a suicide attempt. He became
addicted to drugs by his early teens.
Crime
On September
11, 1999, Jones murdered his great aunt, 83-year-old Berthena Bryant,
bludgeoning her to death, after she refused to give him money to purchase
cocaine. He was high on heroin and cocaine during the murder.
Trial
Jones admitted
to the killing during the trial and showed remorse. The Bryant family gave
evidence in the trial of Jones' mental illness and addiction. Jones was
sentenced to death and spent 21 years on death row with 23 hours a day in
solitary confinement.
Michael Mowla,
Jones' attorney, later filed a habeas corpus motion in Texas state
court, arguing that prosecutors gave unscientific testimony during the trial,
violating Jones' rights. Texas state law only allows the death penalty on the
argument of “future dangerousness”, Jones had no record of violence in prison.
The online
news media Austin American-Statesman have highlighted racial bias in his
sentencing. They have compared Jones to Riky “Red” Roosa who was convicted of
murdering two people and was given a life sentence with the possibility of
parole. Jones, who is black, was sentenced to death for one murder.
Clemency
petition
Bryant's
family, with help from several other people and organisations, petitioned for
Texas Governor Greg Abbott to grant clemency to Jones. They began an
unsuccessful petition which reached over 180,000 signatures. Abbott had
previously given clemency in 2019 to Thomas “Bart” Whitaker for the murder of
his mother and brother, after his father Kent Whitaker, who was shot during the
attack, pleaded for clemency.
- Mattie Long, sister of murder
victim Berthena Bryant, wrote in the clemency petition to Governor Abbott
"I have forgiven him, I love him very much... I am writing this to
ask you to please spare Quintin's life".
- Writer Suleika
Jaouad called for clemency. Jones supported her through treatment for leukemia
with a 30% chance of survival in her 20s. She wrote a book about her
friendship with Jones, 'Between Two Kingdoms'.
- Benjamin Jones, Quintin's twin
brother stated in the clemency petition “Both of us have long forgiven
Quin. Please don’t cause us to be victimized again through Quin’s
execution.”
- Jones worked with the New
York Times to ask for clemency from Governor Abbott stating 'I'm
writing this letter to ask you if you could find it in your heart to grant
me clemency, so I don't get executed on 19 May. I got two weeks to live,
starting today.'.
- On May 10, he was featured in the New
York Times essay 'Quintin Jones Is Not Innocent, But He Doesn’t
Deserve to Die'.
"If
a man is a danger to the community, threatening it with disintegration by some
wrongdoing of his, then his execution for the healing and preservation of the
common good is to be commended. Only the public authority, not private
persons, may licitly execute malefactors by public judgment. Men shall be
sentenced to death for crimes of irreparable harm or which are particularly
perverted."
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 11; 65-2; 66-6.
"If
a man is a danger to the community, threatening it with disintegration by some
wrongdoing of his, then his execution for the healing and preservation of the
common good is to be commended. Only the public authority, not private
persons, may licitly execute malefactors by public judgment. Men shall be
sentenced to death for crimes of irreparable harm or which are particularly
perverted."
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St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 11; 65-2; 66-6. |
Execution
Jones was
executed by lethal injection at 6:40 PM CDT on May 19, 2021. While members of the
media were scheduled to be present to witness the execution, they were not
admitted to the prison by authorities due to a communication error, making it
the first execution in nearly 30 years without a media presence.
Before his
execution, Jones made this final statement:
I would like to thank all of the supporting people who helped me over the years. To mad Maddie, my twin Sonja, Angie, and all the homies. AKA money and Peruvian queen including crazy Dominican. I was so glad to leave this world a better, more positive place. It's not an easy life with all the negativities. Love all my friends and all the friendships that I have made. They are like the sky. It is all part of life, like a big full plate of food for the soul. I hope I left everyone a plate of food full of happy memories, happiness and no sadness. I'm done, warden.
My father Clark Edward Peoples, Jr. as
senselessly murdered by Quintin Jones in Fort Worth, Tx in 1999. Quintin has
been on death row for 20+ years and is to be executed this Wednesday by the
state of Texas. What he gruesomely did to my father is being omitted and it
makes me sick to my stomach. I have to let the full story by told.
VIDEO
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-8XmqdXE3s
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1968387296645965&id=1299628893521812
OTHER
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