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Clydell COLEMAN

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Robbery - Drugs
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: February 24, 1989
Date of birth: October 1, 1936
Victim profile: Leetisha Joe (female, 88)
Method of murder: Strangulation with one of her own stockings
Location: McLennan County, Texas, USA
Status: Executed by lethal injection in Texas on May 5, 1999
 
 
 
 
 
 
clemency petition
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Last Statement:
This offender declined to make a last statement.

 

Clydell Coleman was tried and convicted for the Feb 24, 1989 murder of 88-year-old Leetisha Joe and was executed at the age of 62 on May 5, 1999, making him the oldest man ever executed in Texas. 

Coleman and his girlfriend Yolanda Phillips had both been smoking crack cocaine an hour before Coleman decided to burglarize Joe’s house.  Coleman and Phillips’ original intentions were to rob the woman and sell her possessions to buy more crack.  Joe who had been outside, walked in on them, began screaming, and attacked Phillips.  Coleman then threw a blanket over her head, hit her with a hammer, and proceeded to strangle her with one of her own stockings. Coleman then left Joe’s body in the bathtub.       

Coleman and Phillips ransacked Joe’s house for an hour and stole items they could sell to buy more drugs.  Coleman and Phillips were linked to the crime by a fingerprint Phillips left behind on a jewelry box in Joe’s home.

Coleman pleaded guilty to the murder charge, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.  Phillips pleaded guilty to burglary charges and was required to testify against Coleman in court.  In exchange for her testimony, Prosecutor Ralph Strother dismissed the capital murder charge, and Phillips received a 30-year prison sentence. 

While in prison Coleman repeatedly denied killing Joe and told a fellow inmate that he was innocent.  Coleman’s defense attorney Walter Reaves said he always believed that Coleman’s accomplice had something more to do with the murder than she admitted.  “Coleman was primarily responsible for the murder, but Phillips had a major part too,” Reaves said.  Coleman had letters written to Phillips by a fellow inmate named Johnny Long while they were in jail to convince her to marry him.  Long convinced Coleman to do this so Phillips could not testify against Coleman in court because of the law that does not allow spouses to testify against each other. 

Coleman had been a career criminal all his life. He had four prior convictions of  burglary and forgery, both of which kept him in and out of prison since the 1950’s.  “Before this murder, Coleman was primarily a non-violent thief. Coleman had been a model prisoner.  He functioned better in a structured society like prison, but didn’t do too well out in the real world,” Reaves said. 

Strother did not believe Coleman was as innocent as he made himself out to be.  “Coleman murdered the woman who fed and took care of him since he was a small child. Coleman looked her in the face as he killed her. Coleman murdering someone was just a matter of time.  It was going to happen eventually,” Strother said. 

Reeves said that Coleman’s appeal process was not unusual.  Coleman received an automatic appeal of his death sentence with the Court of Criminal Appeals.  Coleman’s appeals then went to the state court, and to the Supreme Court twice, but to no avail.

 
 

Clydell Coleman, 62, 99-05-05, Texas

In Huntsville, a 62-year-old cocaine addict whose lengthy criminal career began when he was 18 was executed Wednesday night for beating a Waco woman with a hammer and then strangling her during a burglary.

Clydell Coleman was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m., 8 minutes after an executioner started the flow of lethal drugs into his hands.

Coleman declined to make a final statement while strapped to the death chamber gurney.

As the injection was started, Coleman nodded toward his spiritual advisor, who watched through a window a few feet away, and glanced toward 5 members of his victim's family in another adjacent witness room. Then he closed his eyes tightly and took 2 quick breaths before he stopped moving.

Coleman was the oldest person executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982, the 2nd convicted killer put to death in the state in as many days and the 12th this year.

He was among the nation's oldest convicted killers executed. A 66-year- old Florida convict was put to death in 1984, and an Arkansas murderer was executed in 1995 at age 64.

Coleman, who worked as a janitor, was condemned for the Feb. 24, 1989, murder of 87-year-old Leetisha Joe at her Waco home. Coleman grew up in a house across the street.

Trial testimony showed Coleman and a female companion entered the house through a back door. When they unexpectedly found Ms. Joe at home, Coleman covered her head with a blanket, hit her repeatedly with a hammer and then strangled her with her own stocking.

The 2 fled with the woman's television, a clock radio, sheets, a cooler, fan and ladder. The fingerprints of Coleman's accomplice, Yolanda Phillips, were found at the home. She was arrested and implicated Coleman, telling authorities they both were high on cocaine and needed to steal items to sell so they could support their drug habits.

McLennan County District Attorney John Segrest said Coleman's crime was made for the death penalty.

"All murders are uncalled for, but there are certain murders that really meet the description," he said. "To take advantage of an old person and then take her property and kill her is an unbelievable act of gratuitous violence."

A witness at his trial said Coleman had bragged of robbing the same woman of $4,000 less than a year earlier and that he talked of planning to rob her again once she had a chance to rebuild her savings.

"Since the day of the sentencing, it's been on my mind," Ms. Joe's son, 73-year-old Arthur Joe of Dallas, told the Waco Tribune-Herald, adding he thought the more than 9 years Coleman spent on death row awaiting execution was appropriate.

"I wouldn't have wanted it to be the next day," he said of the punishment. "I wanted extensive time for him to suffer for what he did to my mother."

Coleman 1st served prison time in 1954 when he was given 5 years for a McLennan County burglary. He was paroled after 19 months. 2 years later, he was convicted in Dallas of another burglary, serving 28 months of a 5-year sentence.

He was back in prison in 1966, again for burglary in Dallas. He was released after serving 3 years of a 6-year sentence. In July 1974, he got 15 years for a McLennan County burglary and was paroled 6 years later. He also was accused, but not tried, for a burglary similar to the Joe case, where an 88-year-old woman was robbed after she had a blanket thrown over her head.

Ms. Phillips, 40, plea-bargained for a 30-year prison term in exchange for her testimony. Her criminal record has at least 15 convictions, including 9 for prostitution. She could be paroled in 2004.

(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)

  


 

Clydell Coleman has been on death row since October 1989. He was convicted in the strangulation death of his former neighbor, Leetisha Joe.

Yolanda Phillips, a former prostitute and girlfriend of Coleman's, testified that they were high on crack cocaine when they broke into Joe's house looking for things to steal to buy more drugs. 

Trial testimony showed Coleman and Phillips entered the house through a back door. When they unexpectedly found Ms. Joe at home, Phillips said Coleman threw a blanket over the elderly woman's head and beat her head in with a hammer, then ripped a stocking off her leg and choked her with it. 

Coleman, who worked as a janitor, was condemned for the Feb. 24, 1989, murder of 87-year-old Leetisha Joe at her Waco home. Coleman grew up in a house across the street.  The 2 fled with the woman's television, a clock radio, sheets, a cooler, fan and ladder. 

Phillips' fingerprints were found at the home. She was arrested and implicated Coleman, telling authorities they both were high on cocaine and needed to steal items to sell so they could support their drug habits. 

McLennan County District Attorney John Segrest said Coleman's crime was made for the death penalty.  "All murders are uncalled for, but there are certain murders that really meet the description," he said. "To take advantage of an old person and then take her property and kill her is an unbelievable act of gratuitous violence." 

A witness at his trial said Coleman had bragged of robbing the same woman of $4,000 less than a year earlier and that he talked of planning to rob her again once she had a chance to rebuild her savings. 

"Since the day of the sentencing, it's been on my mind," Ms. Joe's son, 73-year-old Arthur Joe of Dallas, told the Waco Tribune-Herald, adding he thought the more than 9 years Coleman spent on death row awaiting execution was appropriate.  "I wouldn't have wanted it to be the next day," he said of the punishment. "I wanted extensive time for him to suffer for what he did to my mother." 

Coleman 1st served prison time in 1954 when he was given 5 years for a McLennan County burglary. He was paroled after 19 months. 2 years later, he was convicted in Dallas of another burglary, serving 28 months of a 5-year sentence.  He was back in prison in 1966, again for burglary in Dallas. He was released after serving 3 years of a 6-year sentence.

In July 1974, he got 15 years for a McLennan County burglary and was paroled 6 years later. He also was accused, but not tried, for a burglary similar to the Joe case, where an 88-year-old woman was robbed after she had a blanket thrown over her head. 

Ms. Phillips, 40, plea-bargained for a 30-year prison term in exchange for her testimony. Her criminal record has at least 15 convictions, including 9 for prostitution. She could be paroled in 2004.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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