Bruce Charles Jacobs | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Bruce Charles JACOBS

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Stalker

Number of victims: 1

Date of murder: July 22, 1986

Date of arrest:

2 days after

Date of birth: October 13, 1946

Victim profile: Conrad Harris (male, 16)

Method of murder: Stabbing with knife 24 times

Location: Dallas County, Texas, USA

Status: Executed by lethal injection in Texas on May 15, 2003

Summary:

Jacobs broke into the Harris residence, and, after peering into the bedroom where Hugh Harris and his wife, Holly Kuper, lay sleeping, he retrieved a butcher knife from the kitchen, entered the room where Harris' son, Conrad, was sleeping, and stabbed him approximately 24 times, killing Conrad on his sixteenth birthday. Mr. Harris ran in and Jacobs fled out the back.

The police found the murder weapon outside the Harris home, but found no identifiable prints on the weapon. The police were able to identify five fingerprints belonging to Jacobs on one of the Harris' dinner knives.

Shortly after his arrest, Jacobs gave a voluntary written statement to the police and admitted to having been in the house that morning and being seen by Harris while holding a knife.

Jacobs' statement was not introduced at trial after the trial judge concluded in a pretrial hearing that Jacobs had not received adequate Miranda warnings prior to giving the statement. Mr. Harris provided the eyewitness identification at trial.

In May 1963, Jacobs assaulted a 12-year-old girl on her way to school, forcing her behind a nearby building and stabbing her in the back with a steak knife when she attempted to flee. Sent to Boys School. Also served 5 years in Oregon in 1967-72 for Assault With Intent to Commit Robbery.

Final Meal:

A whole fried chicken, 12 buttered bread slices, fried onion rings, fried okra, a six-pack of RC Cola, two tomatoes and a large bag of Fritos corn chips.

Final Words:

"Can you hear me, Chris? The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I want to thank you for being there with me all these years and supporting me and keeping me in the Word. Michael, you take care of her and thank you Father Don and Chris. And I want to thank the media for being nice to me all this time. Bye, Chris. I will see you. Take care of yourselves and you all stay strong. You keep doing your ministry."

ClarkProsecutor.org

Texas Attorney General

Media Advisory

Monday, May 12, 2003

Bruce Charles Jacobs Scheduled to be Executed.

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information on Bruce Charles Jacobs, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, 2003.

On July 2, 1987, Bruce Charles Jacobs was sentenced to die for the capital murder of 16-year-old Conrad Harris, which occurred in Dallas County on July 22, 1986. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows:

FACTS OF THE CRIME

At approximately 6:30 a.m. on July 22, 1986, Bruce Charles Jacobs broke into the Harris residence, and, after peering into the bedroom where Hugh Harris and his wife, Holly Kuper, lay sleeping, he retrieved a butcher knife from the kitchen, entered the room where Harris' son, Conrad, was sleeping, and stabbed him approximately 24 times, killing Conrad on his sixteenth birthday.

Conrad's father and stepmother awoke to Conrad's piercing screams. When Mr. Harris opened the door to Conrad's room, he saw his son lying butchered and bleeding on the floor and a man standing over him holding a large knife. As Harris backed out of the room and moved toward the front door, the assailant fled out the back.

Harris described the suspect to the police as a short, white male with a black beard, muscular arms and shoulders, and wearing a tank top and a Panama hat. Upon hearing her husband's description, Kuper told police that a man matching that description and wearing jeans had, the day before the murder, tried to break into their house, which was located near the college campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU).

Kuper explained that around 8:00 a.m. on the day prior to the murder, after her husband left, she was awakened by knocking at the front door. She answered the door and the man asked for directions to a street clearly visible from the Harris' home.

A few minutes later as Kuper opened the back door to let the dog out, the same man approached and tried to push his way into the house. Kuper managed to get the door closed and locked, and she called the police.

Harris and Kuper independently made composite drawings for the police, and one of the major newspapers ran Kuper's drawing along with a story about the murder. Various radio stations broadcast the description.

After hearing about the murder on the radio, a witness who worked at SMU and who was parked near the campus on the morning of the murder contacted the police. He told them that at about 6:45 a.m., on the day of the murder, a man with a beard and well-developed muscles wearing a Panama hat came out of a nearby alley and walked in front of his car at a fast pace.

He noticed the man because the man looked like a "circus worker," and he did not seem to belong in the area. The witness explained that when police sirens became audible the man "almost broke into a run" toward the west side of the campus. At trial, the witness testified that Jacobs looked like the man he saw coming out of the alley.

After seeing the composite drawing, another witness contacted the police and told them that at 7:00 on the morning of the murder, she saw a man wearing a Panama hat running toward her and getting into a taxi cab near the west side of the SMU campus. The witness identified the cab driver for the police, but she was unable to identify Jacobs at trial.

After the police showed the taxi driver Kuper's composite drawing, the taxi driver said that his first customer on the morning in question had a beard and a hat like those in the picture. He also said that the man entered the cab with his hat pulled down over his face and immediately lay down in the back seat.

Two days following the murder, the cab driver rode in an unmarked vehicle with two police officers and retraced the route he traveled with the suspect.

As they approached the location where the cab driver had dropped off the suspect, the driver pointed to a man walking down the street and said that he looked like the man he picked up, except that his beard was missing.

The officers independently determined that the man matched the other witnesses' descriptions. As the police watched the suspect enter a house, they began taking steps to put the house under surveillance and obtain a search warrant. But, after only a short while, the suspect left the house and went into a nearby 7-Eleven. The officers followed him inside and arrested him.

Jacobs gave the police written consent to search his apartment, and the police seized both damp blue jeans (with traces of human blood that were too small to be blood typed) and beard hair fibers.

The police also seized six $100 bills and other smaller bills totaling $800. Kuper had reported that on the morning Conrad was killed, the assailant dumped out the contents of Mrs. Kuper's purse and that a $100 bill was missing from her wallet.

The police found the murder weapon outside the Harris home, but found no identifiable prints on the weapon (most likely because it was covered with dirt and blood, the latter of which was identified as Conrad's). The police were able to identify five fingerprints belonging to Jacobs on one of the Harris' dinner knives.

Shortly after his arrest, Jacobs gave a voluntary written statement to the police and admitted to having been in the house that morning and being seen by Harris while holding a knife. Jacobs' statement was not introduced at trial after the trial judge concluded in a pretrial hearing that Jacobs had not received adequate Miranda warnings prior to giving the statement.

The medical examiner testified that Conrad died as a result of 24 to 26 stab and cut wounds to his left arm, left side, and back and that he lost one-half of his entire blood supply. Jacobs stabbed Conrad with such force that part of the knife broke off and became embedded, and the knife left irregular wounds after becoming deformed from hitting bone in Conrad's body. The medical examiner classified Conrad's injuries as "overkill" and as having "sexual overtones."

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Oct. 16, 1986 - A grand jury indicted Jacobs in the Criminal District Court No. 3 of Dallas County for the capital offense of murdering Conrad Harris during the course of committing a burglary, which occurred on July 22, 1986.
June 30, 1987 - A jury found Jacobs guilty of capital murder.
July 2, 1987 - Following a separate punishment hearing, the court assessed a sentence of death based on the jury's answers to the punishment issues.
March 23, 1994 - Jacobs' conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in an unpublished opinion.
Oct. 17, 1994 - The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review.
Oct. 7, 1996 - Jacobs filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the trial court.
Oct. 22, 1997 - The Court of Criminal Appeals denied habeas relief.
March 18, 1998 - Jacobs filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
Jan. 31, 2002 - The federal district court denied habeas relief.
March 21, 2002 - The federal district court denied permission to appeal.
June 20, 2002 - Jacobs requested permission to appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Oct. 29, 2002 - The Fifth Circuit denied permission to appeal in an unpublished per curiam opinion.
Jan. 24, 2003 - Jacobs petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari review.
Jan. 31, 2003 - The Dallas County Criminal District Court No. 3, Judge Robert W. Francis, scheduled Jacobs' execution for May 15, 2003.
March 31, 2003 - The Supreme Court denied certiorari review.
April 23, 2003 - Jacobs filed a clemency application with Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
April 29, 2003 - Jacobs filed a successive state habeas application in state trial court.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

In May 1963, Jacobs assaulted a 12-year-old girl on her way to school, forcing her behind a nearby building and stabbing her in the back with a steak knife when she attempted to flee.

As a student-inmate at the Mountain View School for Boys in 1965 to 1966, Jacobs was put in maximum security, a form of solitary confinement, after a particular incident when he became angry with a dorm-parent and "took the axe handle or the pick handle to [him]."

Jacobs was also placed in maximum security after another incident when he became jealous and angry with another student-inmate.

In 1967, Jacobs assaulted a teenaged girl as she passed through a covered tunnel on her way home from school. He held a razor blade to her neck and demanded her money, then released her when she complied. After the girl testified against him in court for that offense, Jacobs threatened to kill her. As an inmate in the Oregon State Penitentiary in 1970-1971, Jacobs was discovered with a razor-tipped broom in his cell.

Shirley Reynolds, Jacobs' estranged aunt, testified at his trial that Jacobs had called her on July 23, 1986, the day after Jacobs murdered Conrad Harris, asking her whether she worked, how old her daughters were, and what they did during the day.

The following day, Reynolds' 15-year-old daughter called her at work reporting that a suspicious looking person was hanging around outside their home; he had rung the doorbell several times, then went around to the back of the house.

Reynolds went home to check on her daughter and found that police had already arrived. She recognized the man they had detained as her nephew, Jacobs. He admitted to prying off two window screens and breaking a window but claimed he had no money to pay for the damage. He said he only wanted to see her before he left town for Houston. Reynolds took Jacobs to the bus station.

Another woman testified that Jacobs had harassed her on several occasions as she walked around downtown Dallas; she had become frightened of him and his increasingly suspicious and threatening behavior.

Several of Jacobs' co-workers testified that Jacobs had continually harassed and propositioned female employees, then threatened them when they rejected his advances.

An animal research technician at Dallas Zoo testified that one night after her name and picture had appeared in the Dallas Times Herald, Jacobs, a total stranger, showed up at her house claiming he wanted to talk to her about animals.

The woman had inadvertently left her keys in the front door, and Jacobs had taken the keys and entered her house without knocking. He said he wanted to talk to her, but she insisted he leave when he refused to tell her why he was there.

Served 5 years in Oregon in 1967-72 for Assault With Intent to Commit Robbery.

ProDeathPenalty.com

Bruce Jacobs was convicted of stabbing to death 16-year-old Conrad Harris in July of 1986. Jacobs broke into the teenager's home in Dallas during the early morning hours and stabbed Conrad repeatedly.

Conrad's parents heard his screams and ran into his room where they found Jacobs standing over the boy with a knife in his hand. Jacobs pointed the knife at the couple, then fled the house.

Jacobs fingerprints were found on a butter knife in the home and police found a pair of blood-stained blue jeans at his residence following his arrest. The family reported that $100 was missing from the home.

Mrs. Harris told police that Jacobs has tried to break into the home on the day before the murder. He ran off after she managed to close the door and lock it. Jacobs had previously served time for an assault conviction in the state of Oregon.

UPDATE:

Convicted killer Bruce Charles Jacobs was executed tonight for using a butcher knife to fatally hack a Dallas boy on the victim's 16th birthday almost 17 years ago. At 6:17 p.m., 6 minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing, he was pronounced dead. Jacobs, 56, was condemned for the slaying of Conrad Harris at the teenager's home near Southern Methodist University July 22, 1986.

"This is one of those cases, if there was ever a death penalty case, in my mind this is one," Day Haygood, one of the prosecutors at Jacobs' trial, recalled this week. "The most horrific part was his father heard the boy screaming and found Jacobs cutting him."

With Hugh Harris providing the eyewitness identification of Jacobs as his son's killer, a Dallas County jury convicted Jacobs of capital murder and decided he should be put to death. "He's a brutal murderer without a conscience," Harris told The Dallas Morning News in a story published Thursday. "I'll be satisfied to see the circle closed."

Jacobs, who worked mostly as a dishwasher and had a criminal history of violence with knives and razor blades, acknowledged he was in the Harris house at 6:30 that morning but said another intruder in the house at the same time was to blame for the killing. "I'm going to get executed for something I didn't do," he said recently from death row. "Somebody jumped me from behind... I left and went home. I didn't know there was a murder until 3 days later."

The victim's stepmother, Holly Kuper, told authorities a man matching Jacobs' description tried to push his way into her house the morning before the murder but she managed to get the door locked and called police. "Our theory was Bruce came back the next night and meant to assault her but the father was home and he just turned his attention to killing the boy," Haygood said.

Harris and his wife gave police information for a sketch of the suspect and a taxi driver told authorities the drawing looked like a customer he had the morning of the killing. Jacobs was remembered for his beard and a Panama hat that he wore. Jacobs, still wearing the hat but recently shaven, was arrested inside a convenience store.

At his Dallas apartment, police found a $100 bill identified as missing from Kuper's purse. Jacobs' fingerprints were found on other knives at the Harris home.

No late appeals to the courts were filed. Jacobs' lawyer said his client was mentally ill but couldn't prove he was mentally retarded, which would make him ineligible for execution under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year. "He has this fantasy that somehow he had this relationship with the victim's mother, which is simply not true," James Volberding said. "We have never been able to get at the bottom of how his mind works or fails to work. Although I'm convinced he's mentally ill, there's nothing I can do to prove that that's sufficient to stop his execution."

When he was 14, an intelligence test put Jacobs' IQ at 77 while subsequent testing over the years put his IQ somewhat higher. Someone with an IQ less than 70 generally is considered retarded. "People tell me I'm slow," Jacobs, a 10th-grade dropout, said from death row.

At his trial, jurors heard from witnesses who told of Jacobs at age 16 stabbing a 12-year-old girl with a steak knife during an assault. While in a juvenile lockup, he beat another person with an ax handle. In 1967, he was taken into custody after holding a razor blade to a girl's neck during a robbery. In the early 1970s, he served time in Oregon for assault and was caught with a razor-tipped broom in his cell.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson

Txexecutions.org

Bruce Charles Jacobs, 56, was executed by lethal injection on 15 May 2003 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a teenage boy during a home burglary.

At approximately 6:30 a.m. on 22 July 1986, an intruder broke into the residence of Hugh Harris and Holly Kuper. Peering into their bedroom and seeing that they were asleep, the intruder went into the kitchen and picked up a butcher knife. He then entered the bedroom where Mr. Harris's 16-year-old son, Conrad, was sleeping.

The intruder stabbed Conrad repeatedly. Hearing Conrad's screams, Hugh Harris went to his room and saw a man standing over him with the knife in his hand. The intruder pointed the knife at Mr. Harris, who backed away, and then he ran out the back door. Conrad died from more than 24 stab wounds.

Upon hearing Mr. Harris describe the suspect to the police, Kuper told police that a man matching that description had come to their house the previous day and tried to force his way into the back door, after she opened it to let the dog out.

She said that she managed to close and lock the door, and the intruder ran away. Kuper also told police that the intruder emptied her purse and that $100 was missing.

The murder weapon was recovered from outside the Harris home. It was covered in Conrad's blood, but had no useable fingerprints. However, police did take five fingerprints from a dinner knife in the kitchen.

Harris and Kuper independently made composite drawings for the police. They both said that the intruder wore a beard and a panama hat. The story of the murder and the suspect's description were broadcast by the local media.

Three witnesses came forward and told police that they saw a man matching the description -- including the beard and panama hat -- in the area of the murder between 6:45 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.

All three described the man's behavior as unusual and evasive. One of these witnesses was a cab driver who told police that he gave the man a ride that morning.

Two days after the murder, while the police and the cabbie were on a drive together, retracing the suspect's route, the cab driver pointed to a man who looked like the suspect, including the Panama hat, except that the beard was missing. The police followed the man briefly, then arrested him. This man was Bruce Jacobs, 39.

In Jacobs' home, police found beard hairs and a pair of blue jeans with traces of blood. They also found $800 in cash. The fingerprints taken from the dinner knife were matched to Jacobs.

Jacobs had a history of assaulting teenagers with blades, going back to his own teens. He stabbed a 12-year-old girl in 1963 with a steak knife.

He spent some time in a boys' reformatory school in 1965 and 1966 and was placed in maximum security twice for assaults. He robbed a teenage girl in 1967, using a razor blade as a weapon. Jacobs also had a conviction in Oregon for assault with intent to commit robbery and was in prison there from 1967 to 1972.

At his capital murder trial, Jacobs pleaded not guilty. He pointed out that the Harrises originally identified a different suspect, John Muldune, from a photographic lineup.

He said that the Harrises did not identify him as the murderer until the police arrested him, told them that they caught the murderer, and showed them his picture.

Numerous relatives, co-workers, and strangers testified that Jacobs had stalked or harassed them, had loitered around their homes, and/or had entered their homes without their consent.

Shirley Reynolds, Jacobs' aunt, testified that on the day after the murder, her estranged nephew had called her, asking where she worked, how old her daughters were, and what they did during the day.

The following day, Jacobs was detained by police after Reynolds' 15-year-old daughter reported that someone was loitering around her house and ringing the doorbell. He had pried off two window screens and broke a window, but he told police that he only wanted to visit his aunt and cousins.

A jury convicted Jacobs of capital murder in June 1987 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in March 1994.

All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied. "I'm going to get executed for something I didn't do," Jacobs said in an interview from death row. Jacobs admitted to breaking into the Harrises' house the morning that Conrad was murdered, but he said that a second, unknown intruder was responsible for the killing. "Somebody jumped me from behind ... I left and went home. I didn't know there was a murder until three days later."

Jacobs' lawyer claimed that his client was mentally ill and had a subnormal IQ, but he could not prove that he was mentally retarded. At his execution, Jacobs recited Psalm 23. He then expressed love and thanks to his friends. "I want to thank the media for being nice to me all this time," he also said. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m.

Man Who Hacked Up Teen in 1986 Executed

Houston Chronicle

AP 05/16/03

HUNTSVILLE -- Convicted killer Bruce Charles Jacobs was executed Thursday evening for hacking a Dallas boy to death with a butcher knife on the victim's 16th birthday. As his final statement, Jacobs recited the 23rd Psalm.

Raising his head off the gurney and turning to four friends watching from an adjacent room, Jacobs thanked them for "being there with me all these years and supporting me." He thanked the media for "being nice to me" and urged his friends to "take care of yourself and y'all stay strong." He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m., six minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing. His lethal injection was the 15th this year in Texas.

Jacobs, 56, was condemned for the slaying of Conrad Harris at the teenager's home near Southern Methodist University on July 22, 1986.

A medical examiner testified that Harris had been stabbed at least 24 times in an "overkill" and lost half of his blood supply. Part of the knife blade was broken off in the boy's body. "This is one of those cases, if there was ever a death penalty case, in my mind this is one," Day Haygood, one of the prosecutors at Jacobs' trial, said this week. "The most horrific part was his father heard the boy screaming and found Jacobs cutting him."

With Hugh Harris providing the identification of Jacobs, a Dallas County jury convicted Jacobs of capital murder and sentenced him to death. "He's a brutal murderer without a conscience," Harris said. "I'll be satisfied to see the circle closed."

Killer Who Stabbed Youth To Death in Bed Executed in Texas

By Robert Anthony Phillips

TheDeathHouse.com

May 15, 2003

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. - A man who broke into a Dallas home and then used a butcher knife to mindlessly kill a 16-year-old youth who was sleeping in his bed was executed by lethal injection Thursday night at the prison. Bruce Jacobs became the 15th condemned killer executed in Texas in 2003 - the culmination of a nightmarish case of murder.

Michelle Lyons, spokesman for the Texas Department of Corrections, said Jacobs had no last words, other than to recite a Psalm and thank friends who had come to watch him die.

He was still thanking them for their support when the lethal dose of chemicals began at 6:11 p.m. Jacobs was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m., Lyons said. Jacobs became the 304th condemned killer executed in Texas since 1982 - the highest number in the nation. For a history of Texas executions and lethal injections, read, Texas: 20 Years of Lethal Injections

Denies Murder

In an interview with the Associated Press before his execution, Jacobs, 56, denied the murder. "I'm going to get executed for something I didn't do," he told the AP. "Somebody jumped me from behind... I left and went home. I didn't know there was murder until three days later." Jacobs' lawyer had claimed that the condemned killer was mentally ill, with an IQ of 77.

Victim Murdered On Birthday

The victim was Conrad Harris, who was killed on his 16th birthday at around 6:30 a.m. The murder occurred on July 22, 1986. Harris' father later identified Jacobs as his son’s killer.

The Texas Attorney General’s office reported that Jacobs broke into the Dallas residence of Hugh Harris and his wife, Holly Kuper, who were both sleeping.

After getting a butcher knife from the kitchen, Jacobs entered the room of Conrad and stabbed him to death, lawmen said. "Conrad's father and stepmother awoke to Conrad's piercing screams," the AG’s office said in a prepared statement. "When Mr. Harris opened the door to Conrad's room, he saw his son lying butchered and bleeding on the floor and a man standing over him holding a large knife. As Harris backed out of the room and moved toward the front door, the assailant fled out the back."

Looked Like He Belonged In 'Circus'

Jacobs was apparently wearing a Panama hat at the time of the break-in and murder. Holly Kuper later told police that a man who matched Jacobs' description had, the day before, knocked on the door to ask for directions and, later tried to break into her house. Kuper said she managed to close and lock the door before the man could get in. She had called police to report the attempted break-in.

Two witnesses reported to police that they had seen a man - who later turned out to be Jacobs - in the area. One of the witnesses said he noticed the man because he looked like a "circus worker."

One of the witnesses reported that the man got in a cab. Police located Jacobs through the help of the cab driver, who said he had given a man matching Jacobs' description a ride on the morning of the murder. The cabbie later retraced the route with police. At the end of the route, with police with him, the cabbie spotted Jacobs again.

Key Admission Disallowed

After setting up surveillance of Jacobs' house, lawmen moved in and arrested him. The key evidence against Jacobs was a reported admission that he was in the Harris house the night of the murder.

In addition, Jacobs' fingerprints were found on dinner knives in the Harris home. However, Jacobs' statement on being in the house was not introduced at trial after the judge found that Jacobs had not received adequate Miranda warnings prior to giving the statement. Traces of blood found on Jacobs' jeans could not be identified.

Police also found six $100 bills. Kuper had reported that on the morning Conrad was killed, the assailant dumped out the contents of Kuper's purse and that a $100 bill was missing from her wallet.

The knife used to kill Conrad Harris was found outside the Harris home, but no identifiable prints were found on it. However the blood found on the knife was identified as Conrad Harris’

A Troubled History And Sexual Overtones

An autopsy revealed that Conrad Harris was killed as a result of 24 to 26 stab and cut wounds - wounds that resulted in losing one half of his entire blood supply, authorities said. "Jacobs stabbed Conrad with such force that part of the knife broke off and became embedded, and the knife left irregular wounds after becoming deformed from hitting bone in Conrad's body," the AG’s office reported in a prepared statement. The statement reported that the stabbing had "sexual overtones," but did not explain further. Jacobs had a troubled past dating back to the 60s. Before the murder, he had been arrested and imprisoned for stabbing a 12-year-old girl in the back with a steak knife and for holding a razor to the throat of another girl.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Bruce Jacobs (TX) - May 15, 2003 - 6:00 PM CST, 7:00 PM EST

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Bruce Jacobs, a white man, May 15 for the murder of Conrad Harris in Dallas. Jacobs allegedly stabbed the 16-year-old with a butcher knife after breaking into the Harris home on the morning of July 22, 1986.

He maintains his innocence, and claims the state used suggestive identification procedures to convince the victim’s father, Hugh Harris, that Jacobs was the man he saw standing over his son with a butcher knife.

Shortly after the crime, Hugh Harris, as well as his wife, Holly Kuper, identified a man named John Muldune from a photographic line-up as the man who murdered their son.

Police investigators later told Harris they caught the assailant, and showed him a picture of Jacobs. Harris then saw more pictures of Jacobs on television, and nine months after the crime, identified him as the murderer.

Defense attorneys have argued that the state’s identification procedures suggested that Jacobs was guilty, and thus led Harris to pin the crime on him. Aside from showing him the picture, the state also made Jacobs wear the type of hat Harris claimed he saw on the murderer so that he could better identify him.

Despite serious questions concerning identification issues, the trial court denied a request by Jacobs to have a forensic psychologist, Dr. Robert Powitzky, testify concerning the reliability of eyewitness accounts.

Jacobs also contends that the state violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brady v. Maryland (1963) decision in the process of pinning the murder on him. He claims they withheld potentially exculpatory evidence – the fact that Harris had identified another man in the photographic line-up – from the defense.

This information, of course, carries implications very damaging to the state’s case, and continues the dreadful history of prosecutorial misconduct that has plagued the Texas death penalty system over the past three decades.

Throughout his appeals, Jacobs also has argued that he was treated unfairly in the sentencing phase of his trial – both by the court and his defense attorneys. The trial court apparently gave insufficient instructions to the jurors regarding the weight of mitigating evidence, and there is doubt that they even knew they could factor such evidence into the sentencing decision.

Furthermore, his attorneys failed to investigate, discover, and present critical mitigating evidence, which would have likely led the jurors to assess his culpability from a different perspective.

Like so many death row inmates, Jacobs suffered an abusive upbringing, and has battled mental illness throughout his life as a tragic result. His attorneys have raised questions concerning whether or not he is even competent enough to be executed, but to this point, the courts have ignored them.

Despite serious doubts concerning his guilt and little regard for his personal history, Jacobs now finds himself facing a very serious execution date. Please write the state of Texas and protest the execution of Bruce Jacobs.

Texan Executed for Teen Stabbing

NZoom.com

Reuters - May 16, 2003

Texas on Thursday executed a man who killed a Dallas teenager on his 16th birthday, stabbing him repeatedly with a butcher knife during a 1986 burglary. Bruce Charles Jacobs, 56, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison in Huntsville, becoming the 15th killer put to death this year in Texas.

He was condemned for breaking into the home of Conrad Harris early on the morning of July 22, 1986, and stabbing the boy more than two dozen times with a butcher knife he had taken from the kitchen.

The boy's parents were roused by his screams, and father Hugh Harris burst into the bedroom to find Jacobs standing over Conrad with the bloody knife in his hand. Jacobs fled out the back door.

A medical examiner at Jacobs' trial testified that the boy lost more than half his blood, and that part of the knife broke off inside him. Jacobs had tried to force his way into the home the day before the killing.

A high school dropout who worked at menial jobs, he had been convicted of assault in Oregon and had a history of harassing women and violence with knives.

Asked for a final statement, Jacobs quoted Biblical scripture. He thanked a few supporters who watched from a nearby observation room and said "Take care of yourselves and y'all stay strong."

For his final meal, Jacobs requested a whole fried chicken, 12 buttered bread slices, fried onion rings, fried okra, a six-pack of RC Cola, two tomatoes and a large bag of Fritos corn chips.

Jacobs was the 304th inmate executed by Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982, six years after the US Supreme Court lifted a nationwide death penalty ban. There are two executions scheduled for next month in Texas, by far the nation's busiest death penalty state.

Fight the Death Penalty in the USA

Bruce Charles Jacobs, 56, 2003-05-15, Texas

Convicted killer Bruce Charles Jacobs was executed tonight for using a butcher knife to fatally hack a Dallas boy on the victim's 16th birthday almost 17 years ago.

Jacobs recited by memory as his last statement the 23rd Psalm that begins "The Lord is my shepherd" and ends with "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Raising his head off the gurney and turning to four friends watching from an adjacent room, Jacobs thanked them for "being there with me all these years and supporting me."

He also thanked the media for "being nice to me," then urged his friends to "take care of yourself and y'all stay strong." At 6:17 p.m., 6 minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing, he was pronounced dead.

Jacobs, 56, was condemned for the slaying of Conrad Harris at the teenager's home near Southern Methodist University July 22, 1986.

A medical examiner testified Harris had been stabbed at least 24 times in an "overkill" and lost half of his blood supply in the attack. Part of the knife blade was broken in the frenzy and was imbedded in the boy's body. "This is one of those cases, if there was ever a death penalty case, in my mind this is one," Day Haygood, one of the prosecutors at Jacobs' trial, recalled this week. "The most horrific part was his father heard the boy screaming and found Jacobs cutting him." With Hugh Harris providing the eyewitness identification of Jacobs as his son's killer, a Dallas County jury convicted Jacobs of capital murder and decided he should be put to death.

"He's a brutal murderer without a conscience," Harris told The Dallas Morning News in a story published Thursday. "I'll be satisfied to see the circle closed." Jacobs, who worked mostly as a dishwasher and had a criminal history of violence with knives and razor blades, acknowledged he was in the Harris house at 6:30 that morning but said another intruder in the house at the same time was to blame for the killing. "I'm going to get executed for something I didn't do," he said recently from death row. "Somebody jumped me from behind... I left and went home. I didn't know there was a murder until 3 days later."

Jacobs, still wearing the hat but recently shaven, was arrested inside a convenience store. At his Dallas apartment, police found a $100 bill identified as missing from Kuper's purse. Jacobs' fingerprints were found on other knives at the Harris home.

(sources: Associated Press)