AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas inmate convicted of beating his elderly great aunt to death more than two decades ago was executed Wednesday evening without media witnesses present, due to a miscommunication with prison officials.
Quintin Jones, 41, was the first state execution since July, due to the pandemic’s effect on the court system. He and his team had made last-minute appeals, but the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency.
As Texas could resume state executions, death penalty opponents protest
Jones was executed by lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville Unit and pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m., The Associated Press reports.
AP and local paper The Huntsville Item both say the execution was carried out without media witnesses present, because a phone call to notify Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials to bring reporters into the prison was never made. Media witnesses were waiting in an office across the street, AP says.
AP reports according to prison transcripts, Jones said in a brief statement, “I was so glad to leave this world a better, more positive place. It’s not an easy life with all of the negativity.”
“I hope I left everyone a plate of food full of happy memories, happiness and no sadness.”
Those opposed to Jones’ execution and the death penalty had gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion Tuesday evening in Austin to protest.