John Balentine Wiki – John Balentine Biography
A convicted murderer pleaded for mercy before being executed for killing three teenagers more than twenty years earlier. In the January 1998 shooting deaths of Edward Mark Caylor, 17, Kai Brooke Geyer, 15, and Steven Watson, 15, at a home in Amarillo, John Balentine, 54, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas.
Just hours after the state Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) reversed a district judge’s order to delay the execution, John Balentine, 54, was pronounced dead on Wednesday, February 8 at 6: 36 p.m. m. He apologized to the families of his victims in his last moments, Newsweek reported.
John Balentine Age
John Balentine is 98 years old.
Incident Detail
The Guardian reported that as witnesses entered the execution chamber, Balentine smiled and requested a foot massage. Balentine’s spiritual adviser rested his left foot on his right hand as he offered a short prayer, and then the prisoner delivered a short speech in which he thanked his followers for their support.
He apologized after turning to seven relatives of his three murder victims through a window. “I want to thank everyone,” Balentine said. “I love you for supporting me. “I want to apologize for the wrong I did to everyone. Forgive me, I’m ready, ma’am,” he added, according to Fox News. Balentine concluded: “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
As the lethal dose of the potent sedative pentobarbital began to flow, Balentine inhaled twice, exhaled sharply, yawned, and snored twice more. There were 11 snores, gradually softening before stopping. 15 minutes after the injection, at 6:36 p.m. m., a doctor pronounced him dead.
Balentine was 28 when he broke into a home in Amarillo, Texas, killing the brother of his ex-girlfriend, Edward Mark Caylor, 17, Kai Brooke Geyer, 15, and Steven Watson. , 15. At the time of his initial trial, the 54-year-old admitted to the murders but rejected a plea deal that included a life sentence because he feared he would be killed in prison over the case.
Witnesses for the victims who were present at the execution reportedly high-fived each other after Balentine’s death and refused to speak to the media. Due to the fact that Balentine is black and all three victims are white, Balentine’s lawyers asserted throughout the trial that the shooting was racially motivated because Caylor did not support his sister’s interracial relationship.
Although Balentine admitted to the murders, his current lawyers have always maintained that racial bias was present during his 1999 trial. Balentine’s legal team also claimed that the state’s attorneys disqualified potential black jurors and that Randall Sherrod, one of the trial lawyers, referred to the verdict as “justifiable lynching”, as well as stating that the foreman of the jury was an outright racist.
He got a fair trial,” Sherrod said of his former client. “I think we had a good jury… We tried to help John in any way we could.” Balentine was one of five inmates on Texas death row who filed a lawsuit against the government to demand that he stop using outdated and dangerous execution drugs.
Although Balentine is the third plaintiff in the case running while proceedings are ongoing, an Austin civil court preliminarily granted the detainees’ claims, reported The U.S. Sun. Last week, a state district judge recalled Balentine’s execution date and death warrant in a last-ditch effort after concluding that the inmate’s attorney had not received adequate advance notice of the proceedings. Ultimately, prosecutors filed an appeal with the CEC, which restored the date and order to the morning of Wednesday, February 8.
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