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Texas executes Willie Tyrone Trottie

Willie Tyrone Trottie
Willie Tyrone Trottie, condemned for the murder of his estranged wife and her brother, went to his death in Texas' execution chamber Wednesday offering apologies to his victims' family.

As relatives of Barbara Canada and Titus Canada embraced and sobbed, Trottie smiled faintly, called their names and said, "I hope this brings you some closure. Stay strong. I am going home to be with the Lord.

"Find it in your hearts to forgive me. I'm sorry," he continued. "Jesus take me home."

Trottie, 45, was declared dead at 6:35 p.m. - 30 minutes after the lethal injection of pentobarbital began flowing.

Later, relatives of the victims issued a statement saying they were "glad to see justice finally served all these years later. It is time for our family to end this chapter and move on."

Trottie's case gained national attention earlier this year when he shared his views concerning his crime, death row and capital punishment with the online publication, gawker.com. In his letter, Trottie denounced his pending execution as a "murdercution."

The former Houston security guard's death sentence grew out a romantic relationship that ended on May 3, 1993 in a bloody shootout at the Canada family home. Trottie insisted that he had fired his 9 mm semi-automatic "in the heat of passion," only after he had been wounded by shots fired by his estranged lover's brother. Trottie said he had gone to the residence to borrow a car.

Accounts of the fatal night included in court documents, though, indicate Trottie's appearance at the Canada home came after repeated threats that he would murder Barbara Canada if she failed to return to him. "Bitch, I told you I was going to kill you," he said as he pumped 11 bullets into the 24-year-old woman's body. Titus Canada, 29, was shot twice in the head, and the pair's mother and sister also were wounded.

Trial witnesses testified that Trottie frequently telephoned his former lover at home and work and that, on one occasion, he bumped her car with his vehicle at highway speeds.

In response to the threats and harassment, Barbara Canada obtained a restraining order barring further contact.

In state and federal appeals filed days before the scheduled execution, Trottie's lawyers argued that Canada - mother of Trottie's young son - continued their intimate relationship despite the court order. Arguing that Trottie had suffered from ineffective representation, they said that jurors in their client's first trial never heard such testimony - testimony that might have lent credence to his claims of passion and self-defense.

16 years passed, they told appeals courts, before prosecutors told Trottie's legal team that a trial witness had privately conceded that Canada "probably had messed with (Trottie's) mind."

According to court documents, Trottie and Canada began dating in 1989, later living together in a common-law marriage. They separated 3 years later.

In an 11th-hour filing Tuesday with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Trottie's lawyers questioned whether state prison officials were truthful when they asserted pentobarbital to be used in the execution would remain potent and pure. Lawyers asked the court to issue a stay and schedule oral arguments concerning the compounding pharmacy-produced drug.

Trottie becomes the 8th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas this year, and the 516th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on december 7, 1982. Trottie becomes the 277th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became Governor in 2001.

Trottie becomes the 29th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1388th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, Sept. 10, 2014

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