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Status: Executed
by lethal injection in Texas on February 11,
2004
Summary:
Pamela Lloyd first met Lagrone in 1985, and the two were involved in
a relationship for approximately six months.
After their breakup,
however, the Lloyd family maintained contact with Lagrone because he
would intermittently visit the children at home.
In 1991, Pamela Lloyd took her 10 year old daughter, Shakeisha, to
the hospital for an examination after she noticed physical changes
in her body.
She was 17 weeks pregnant. Pamela called Lagrone, who
offered to pay for the abortion and give her $500 cash. Pamela
called the police.
On May 30, 1991, Lagrone entered the home of Pamela Lloyd with a
shotgun he had purchased the day earlier.
He shot Dempsey Lloyd,
then went to the bedroom and shot 76 year old Carolina Lloyd, then
shot 83 year old Zenobia Lloyd in the kitchen. Shakiesha was found
dead on the floor later with her face blown away. Dempsey Lloyd
survived.
DNA tests later confirmed Lagrone was the father of Shakiesha's
unborn child.
In 1977, Lagrone was convicted and sentenced to 20 years for murder,
and was paroled in 1984.
Citations:
Lagrone v. State, 942 S.W.2d 602 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997) (Direct
Appeal) Lagrone v. Texas, 522 U.S. 917 (1997) (Cert. Denied).
Final Meal:
Five pieces of fried chicken and assorted soft drinks.
Final Words:
"I just want to say I am not sad or bitter with anybody. Like I said
from day one, I didn't go in there and kill them, but I'm no better
than the people that did. Jesus is Lord. That's all I have to say."
ClarkProsecutor.org
Texas Attorney General
Media Advisory
Friday, February 6, 2004
Edward Lewis Lagrone Scheduled For Execution
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbottoffers
the following information on Edward Lewis Lagrone, who is scheduled
to be executed after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 11, 2004. In May
1993, a Tarrant County jury sentenced Lagrone to death for having
murdered three people during the same criminal transaction in May
1991.
FACTS OF THE CRIME
The State presented evidence that Lagrone
impregnated ten-year-old Shakeisha Lloyd. In an attempt to prevent
Shakeisha and her mother, Pamela Lloyd, from pursuing sexual assault
charges against him, Lagrone went to their residence and shot and
killed Shakeisha and two of her elderly great aunts, seventy-six-year-old
Carolina “Caola” Lloyd and eighty-three-year-old Zenobia Anderson.
The evidence at trial established that in May
1991, the Lloyd family was living at 2004 Amanda Street in Fort
Worth. The Lloyd family included eight people: three homicide
victims (Shakeisha Lloyd, Caola Lloyd, and Zenobia Anderson), as
well as five survivors of the homicidal incident -- Pamela Lloyd (Shakeisha’s
mother), Shakeisha’s three siblings, and Dempsey Lloyd (Shakeisha’s
uncle).
Pamela Lloyd first met Lagrone in 1985, and the
two were involved in a relationship for approximately six months.
After their breakup, however, the Lloyd family maintained contact
with Lagrone because he would intermittently visit the children at
home.
On May 26, 1991, Pamela Lloyd noticed that
Shakeisha’s body was changing and that her breasts were getting
bigger. Because this seemed unnatural, Pamela Lloyd took Shakeisha
to the local hospital for an examination where she learned Shakeisha
was pregnant. Pamela Lloyd then contacted the police about Lagrone’s
rape of her daughter.
In response to the rape charges, the police
took Pamela Lloyd to Lagrone’s Arlington apartment where she asked
Lagrone’s sister to have Lagrone contact her. When Lagrone called
her, Pamela Lloyd asked him how he could have “messed” with
Shakeisha.
Lagrone denied having sexual relations with Shakeisha so
Pamela Lloyd hung up the telephone. Later that day, however, Lagrone
called Pamela Lloyd back to tell her that he was sorry for what he
had done to Shakeisha and that he would take care of the baby.
Pamela Lloyd responded with outrage because Lagrone had molested
Shakeisha nine times, and threatened to press charges.
The next day, Shakeisha contacted Lagrone via his
beeper, and Pamela Lloyd used the opportunity to inform him that
Shakeisha wanted an abortion which would cost approximately $895
dollars. Lagrone responded by assuring Pamela Lloyd that he would
provide the abortion money.
On Wednesday, May 29, 1991, Lagrone
attempted to get Pamela Lloyd to drop her complaint by offering to
give her $1,000 dollars for the abortion and $500 dollars for
herself. Pamela Lloyd, however, refused to withdraw the complaint.
Lagrone called later that day and told Pamela Lloyd that he would
deliver the money on Thursday.
That same Wednesday, Lagrone went to the
Winchester Gun Store with his friend, Anetta Daniel. After supplying
Daniel with the purchase money, Lagrone asked her to purchase a
double-barrel, pistol-grip shotgun.
Daniel purchased a Winchester
slide-action shotgun which Lagrone put in the trunk of his car. At
trial, Robert Wilshire, an employee of the gun store, testified that
this shotgun qualifies as a deadly weapon.
On Thursday, May 30, 1991, Pamela Lloyd got up
around 4:00 a.m. to get some water from the kitchen because she was
having trouble sleeping. After she had left the kitchen and entered
the bathroom, somebody knocked at the front door and demanded that
one of the Lloyds “open the door.”
Shakeisha’s brother, Charles,
identified the voice as Lagrone’s, and Dempsey Lloyd answered the
door. After allowing Dempsey Lloyd to open the door and ask him what
he wanted at such an early hour, Lagrone shot Dempsey Lloyd with the
aforementioned shotgun. Dempsey Lloyd subsequently grappled with
Lagrone over the gun.
Following this struggle, Lagrone went into the
front bedroom where Caola Lloyd was sleeping and fired a shot.
Lagrone then went into the kitchen where Zenobia Lloyd was washing
clothes and fired another shot. As Pamela Lloyd and Shakeisha
attempted to collect and hide the other children, several more shots
were fired. Pamela Lloyd then discovered Shakeisha lying on the
floor with “half of her face blown off.”
Although Dempsey Lloyd pled
for mercy, Lagrone shot him a second time before leaving. Dempsey
Lloyd was still able to go next door and call for emergency “911”
assistance despite his severe wounds.
Following the above homicidal incident, the
Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office performed autopsies on
Caola Lloyd, Zenobia Anderson, and Shakeisha Lloyd.
The medical
examiner determined the cause of death for all three of the deceased
victims to be a single homicidal incident. The medical examiner also
recovered a four-to-five month-old female fetus, which was preserved
for blood and DNA testing.
Dr. Arthur Eisenberg, a forensic
pathologist, compared Lagrone’s blood samples with those recovered
from Shakeisha Lloyd, and conducted DNA testing to establish
paternity.
Based upon this examination, Dr. Eisenberg concluded that
Lagrone’s paternity of Shakeisha Lloyd’s unborn child was 99.999%
certain; and testified that, with the exception of having an
identical twin brother, Lagrone was the father of that child.
EVIDENCE ADMITTED DURING PUNISHMENT
During the punishment phase of the trial, the
State introduced evidence that Lagrone had been convicted of murder
in 1977, and received a twenty-year sentence. The State also
produced numerous reputation witnesses who testified that Lagrone
had a bad reputation for being peaceable and lawabiding.
Finally, the State introduced evidence of several
extraneous offenses committed by appellant. For example, on March 3,
1991, Officer Keith McGuire of the Fort Worth Police Department
witnessed Lagrone flagging down cars in a manner consistent with
drug dealing.
The officer subsequently observed Lagrone toss a black
pouch to the ground which was later determined to contain a quantity
of crack cocaine.
On October 14, 1990, Officer Greg Abernathy of the
Fort Worth Police department was involved in a routine investigation
of potential drug trafficking, and received a tip about a local drug
trafficker from one of the suspects.
The tip led Officer Abernathy
to a nearby apartment complex where he found a man matching the
suspected drug trafficker’s description--Lagrone. After being
confronted by the police, Lagrone ran up some stairs and attempted
to jettison a brown bag. The police laboratory later confirmed that
the bag contained a quantity of cocaine.
Finally, on February 23, 1986, fifteen year-old
sisters were returning home from a nearby Dairy Queen. While they
were crossing the grounds of a local elementary school, Lagrone
approached them and threatened them with a gun.
Lagrone took the
sisters’ money, forced them to remove their clothing, tied them up,
and proceeded to force one girl to perform oral sex and molest her
sister. After threatening to burn down the girls’ home if they went
to the police, the girls did not contact the authorities at that
time.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
May 1993 A Tarrant County jury convicts Lagrone
of murder and assesses a punishment of death.
02/05/97 On direct appeal, the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals affirms Lagrone’s conviction and sentence.
04/09/97 The Court of Criminal Appeals denies
rehearing.
10/14/97 The United States Supreme Court denies
certiorari review.
04/09/97 The Court of Criminal Appeals denies
rehearing.
10/14/97 The United States Supreme Court denies
certiorari review.
State habeas proceedings
10/15/98 Lagrone files an application for state
writ of habeas corpus raising thirty-eight grounds for relief.
03/12/99 The state habeas court issues findings
and conclusions recommending that relief be denied.
06/23/99 The Court of Criminal Appeals
independently reviews the record, and denies relief.
Federal habeas proceedings
12/07/99 Lagrone files writ of habeas corpus
petition in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Texas.
08/29/02 United States District Judge A. Joe Fish
denies habeas relief.
10/18/02 The district court denied Lagrone’s
subsequent application for a certificate of appealability (“COA”).
01/23/03 Lagrone applies for a COA from the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals raising nineteen claims.
09/02/03 The Fifth Circuit denies the request in
an unpublished opinion.
10/21/03 The District Court of Tarrant County
sets Lagrone’s execution for February 11, 2004.
12/01/03 Lagrone petitions the United States
Supreme Court for certiorari review.
02/04/04 Lagrone applied to the United States
Supreme Court for a stay of execution.
ProDeathPenalty.com
The man who fatally shot the 10-year-old girl he
had impregnated and killed her two elderly great-aunts during a
bloody Stop Six rampage in 1991 will be put to death in February
unless the courts, the governor or parole officials intervene.
Edward Lewis LaGrone, who had a history of murder and drug dealing,
was convicted in a case in which he burst into an east Fort Worth
home occupied by the extended family of Shakeisha Lloyd before dawn
May 30, 1991, the day after Shakeisha completed the fourth grade.
According to police records and news accounts,
LaGrone and as many as three companions were greeted around 5 a.m.
at the front door by Dempsey Lloyd, Shakeisha's 48-year-old uncle.
Lloyd was hit in the arm by a shotgun blast and begged the intruders
not to kill him.
The men then opened fire on Zenobia Anderson, 83,
and Caola Lloyd, 76, who was blind and bedridden with cancer. Both
died of wounds to the neck and head.
Shakeisha, who had recently learned that she was
17 weeks pregnant, was running for the door when she paused to grab
her 19-month-old sister and shield her behind some boxes.
She was
warning her mother to hide when she was mortally wounded by a shot
in the head. The mother and her teen-age son, the seventh occupant
of the home, were not harmed in the melee. Dempsey Lloyd's wounds
were not fatal.
Steve Conder, a Tarrant County assistant district
attorney who has handled LaGrone's case during the appeals process,
said the murders are among the most chilling in Fort Worth history.
No other suspects were arrested. "If I hadn't worked on the case, it
would be hard to imagine anything like this ever happening," he said.
LaGrone, now 46, had been dating Shakeisha's mother, Pamela Lloyd,
while he was on parole from a 1977 murder conviction. During that
time, he had been molesting and assaulting Shakeisha. Five days
before the shootings, Lloyd noticed that her daughter's stomach had
expanded.
A hospital examination confirmed that the girl was
pregnant. Lloyd notified police that LaGrone had assaulted her
daughter. After the shootings, Lloyd said LaGrone had promised to
pay $1,500 for an abortion for Shakeisha and to compensate the
family. LaGrone's execution is scheduled to take place after 6 p.m.
Feb. 11 in Huntsville.
Six and a half years after her daughter's slaying,
Pamela Lloyd was arrested in the shooting death of Gene Anthony Tutt,
36, whom she had married in June 1993. She was convicted of Tutt's
murder in July 1999 and is serving a five-year prison sentence.
Man Who Killed Child He Impregnated Executed
in Texas
TheDeathHouse.com
February 11, 2004
HUNTSVILLE, Tex. - Edward Lagrone killed a 10-year-old
child he had impregnated. He also murdered two elderly relatives of
the child, including a great aunt who was blind and bedridden with
cancer. One prosecutor called him a "poster boy" for the death
penalty.
Tonight, the poster boy was executed, but claimed he was
innocent of the murders. Lagrone, 46, was executed by lethal
injection at the state prison here Wednesday night. He was put to
death for the 1991 triple slaying in Fort Worth. At the time of the
murders, Lagrone was on parole for another Tarrant County slaying in
which he had received 20 years in prison. He had been released in
1984.
Fried Chicken, Soda And Death
"As I said from day one, I didn't go in there and
kill them, but I'm no better than the people that did," Lagrone said
in his last statement form the execution chamber. "Jesus is Lord."
With those words, the lethal dose began at 6:11 p.m. and Lagrone was
declared dead at 6:18 p.m., the fifth condemned killer executed in
Texas in 2004.
A spokeswoman for the Texas prison system, Michelle
Lyons, said Lagrone had requested five pieces of fried chicken and
assorted soft drinks for his last meal. Although several members of
the victims' family witnessed his execution, Lagrone had no member
of his family in attendance.
Sexually Assaults Child
Prosecutors say Lagrone had been dating Pamela
Lloyd. At the same time, he was sexually assaulting her daughter,
Shakiesha, prosecutors charged. When Pamela Lloyd found out that
Shakiesha was pregnant and Lagrone had been sexually assaulting the
child, she was going to call police.
Lagrone decided to kill them to
prevent Pamela Lloyd from pressing charges, prosecutors stated.
Prosecutors say Lagrone came into the Lloyd's Fort Worth home on May
30, 1991 at about 5 a.m. He wounded a member of the family, Dempsey
Lloyd, 48, with a blast from a shotgun. He then shot and killed
Zenobia Anderson, 83, and Caola Lloyd, 76, who had cancer and was
blind, court documents stated.
Shot In Head
Meanwhile, Shakeisah was trying to run away when
she was grabbed and shot in the head. The child had just completed
the fourth grade. Two other men who were in the house, Charles and
Dempsey Lloyd, identified Lagrone as the shooter.
A girlfriend of
Lagrone also testified that she purchased the shotgun for Lagrone
that was used as the murder weapon. Lagrone claimed that other men
did the shooting and he was innocent. He claimed Pamela Lloyd was a
crack addict, later convicted and sentenced to jail for the slaying
of Shakeisah's father. His lawyers claim that the murders were drug
related and committed by others.
Mother Imprisoned For Slaying
Lagrone had claimed that in their original
statements to police, witnesses said that "several men came into the
house" and no witness identified Lagrone as one of them. He claims
the witnesses changed their statements at trial. Pamela Loyd, now
imprisoned for the slaying of the girl's father, requested
permission to witness the execution of Lagrone. However, Texas
Department of Criminal Justice policy forbids inmates form
witnessing executions, a spokeswoman for the department stated.
Texas Execution Information Center by David
Carson
Txexecutions.org
Edward Lewis Lagrone, 47, was executed by lethal
injection on 11 February 2004 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of
three people in their home.
On 26 May 1991, Pamela Lloyd, 30, of Fort Worth,
discovered that her 10-year-old daughter, Shakeisha, was pregnant.
Shakeisha told her that she had been raped by Edward Lagrone, then
34. Lagrone and Lloyd had a relationship for six months in 1985.
Lagrone continued to make visits to the Lloyd home after their
breakup.
Lloyd went to the police and filed a rape
complaint against Lagrone. She also confronted him on the telephone.
At first, Lagrone denied having sex with Shakeisha, but later that
day, he called Lloyd back and confessed to molesting Shakeisha on
numerous occasions. He apologized to Lloyd and offered to support
the baby. The next day, Lloyd called Lagrone and told him that
Shakeisha wanted an abortion, which would cost $895.
At the time, Lagrone was on parole for a previous
murder conviction. If Lloyd pursued rape charges against him, his
parole could have been revoked. On 29 May, Lagrone offered to give
Lloyd $1,500 if she would drop the rape complaint. Lloyd refused to
withdraw the complaint. Later that day, Lagrone gave a friend,
Anetta Daniel, money to buy a double-barreled, pistol-grip shotgun
for him.
On 30 May 1991, before dawn, Pamela Lloyd, heard
a knock at her front door, along with a demand to "open the door."
Lloyd's son, Charles, recognized the voice as Lagrone's. When
Lloyd's brother, Dempsey, 48, opened the door, Lagrone shot him with
the shotgun, hitting him in the arm.
Lagrone then went into the
front bedroom and shot Pamela's aunt, Carolina Lloyd, 76, who was
sleeping. Next, Lagrone went into the kitchen and shot another aunt,
Zenobia Anderson, 83, who was washing clothes. His next victim was
Shakeisha, who was shot while trying to protect her 19-month-old
sister. As Dempsey Lloyd pleaded for mercy, Lagrone shot him a
second time, then he left the house.
Zenobia Anderson, Carolina
Lloyd, and Shakeisha Lloyd were all shot in the neck or head and
died in the attack. Dempsey Lloyd, though wounded, went next door
and called for emergency assistance, while Pamela stayed in the
house with her three surviving children.
Shakeisha's autopsy showed that she was seventeen
weeks pregnant. DNA testing showed conclusively that Lagrone was the
father. Lagrone had a previous conviction for murder.
He served
seven years of a 20-year prison sentence from 1977 to 1984.
According to trial testimony, he was a well-known drug dealer. Two
of his sisters testified that he sexually assaulted them at gunpoint
in 1986.
A jury convicted Lagrone of capital murder in May
1993 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
affirmed the conviction and sentence in February 1997. All of his
subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied. "Like
I've said from day one, I didn't kill them," Lagrone said in his
last statement. "But I'm no better than the people that did." He
concluded by saying, "Jesus is Lord. That's all I have to say." He
was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.
The execution was witnessed by several of
Shakeisha's relatives, but Pamela Lloyd could not attend because she
was incarcerated. Pamela Rochelle Lloyd has also had a lengthy
criminal history. She was convicted of petty larceny in 1981 and of
aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon in 1987. She served seven
months of a five-year sentence before being paroled.
In November
1991, she was charged with the murder of her husband, Gene Tutt, 36.
While out on bond, she was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
She was later convicted of murder and sentenced to five years in
prison. She is scheduled to be discharged on 16 July 2004.
National Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty
Edward Lagrone, TX - Feb. 11, 6 PM CST
The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Edward
Lagrone, a black man, Feb. 11 for the 1991 shooting deaths of
Shakiesha Lloyd, Zenobia Anderson, and Caroline Lloyd in Tarrant
county.
The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST. Shakiesha Lloyd,
who was ten years old, was 17 weeks pregnant with Lagrone’s child.
Lagrone argues that his right to due process, equal protection of
the law, and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment
was violated because Texas does not offer the sentence of life
without parole.
When Pamela Lloyd, who had been involved with Mr.
Lagrone in the past, discovered that her daughter Shakiesha was
pregnant, she contacted the police to report Mr. Lagrone for the
sexual assault of a minor. Mr. Lagrone’s paternity was later
established through DNA testing.
Mr. Lagrone offered to pay for an
abortion and give the family $500 if Pamela Lloyd dropped the
charges. She refused. Mr. Lagrone’s girlfriend testified that he
asked her to buy him a shotgun, and with this gun he shot Dempsey
Lloyd, Pamela Lloyd’s brother, and shot and killed Shakiesha and her
two aunts.
The defense presented testimony that another man,
Steven McKnight, had bragged to others that he had committed the
murders. They also presented testimony that the murders were linked
to Pamela Lloyd’s addiction to crack cocaine. However, several
eyewitnesses testified that Mr. Lagrone had indeed committed the
murders.
The psychologist who testified at trial
emphasized that Lagrone would better himself in prison and that his
capacity for violence would be reduced in such a controlled setting.
Lagrone appealed his sentence on the grounds that the Texas
statutory scheme allows the state to systematically prove that
virtually all capital defendants constitute a future danger as a
result of the state’s failure to provide a sentence of life without
parole, and because of the state’s record of releasing convicted
felons after they have served only a very small portion of their
sentences.
At the time of his conviction, had Mr. Lagrone been
sentenced to life in prison he would have been eligible for parole
in 15 years. Thus, in the case of heinous crimes, juries at the time
were left with no other option than death.
Furthermore, Mr. Lagrone’s court-appointed lawyer,
Paul Alley, had been publicly reprimanded by the State Bar of Texas
for unprofessional and unethical conduct. If the judge had been
aware of this disciplinary action, Mr. Alley would not have been
assigned to the case.
Texas has been responsible for over a third of
all executions since 1976, and for 24 of the 65 people executed in
2003. Please contact Gov. Perry and urge him to declare a moratorium
on executions, endorse legislation allowing the sentence of life
without parole, and commute the death sentence of Mr. Lagrone.
Killer executed for shooting 10-year-old he
impregnated
By Michael Graczyk -
Houston Chronicle
AP Feb. 11, 2004
HUNTSVILLE -- Maintaining his innocence, twice-convicted
killer Edward Lagrone was executed Wednesday evening for a triple
slaying in Fort Worth where one of the victims was a 10-year-old
girl pregnant with his child. "I just want to say I am not sad or
bitter with anybody," Lagrone said in a brief final statement. "Like
I've said from day one, I didn't kill them. But I'm no better than
the people that did."
He concluded by saying: "Jesus is Lord. That's
all I have to say." Lagrone was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m., seven
minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing into the veins of his
arms. Lagrone, 46, was the fifth Texas inmate executed this year.
Another execution is set for tonight.
Evidence showed Shakeisha Lloyd was 17 weeks
pregnant when Lagrone, who was released in 1984 after serving seven
years of a 20-year prison term for murder, barged into her family's
home about 4 a.m. on May 30, 1991, and began shooting with a double-barreled
pistol-grip shotgun he had a girlfriend buy for him one day earlier.
Two of the girl's great-aunts, Zenobia Anderson, 83, and Caolo Lloyd,
74, deaf, blind and bedridden with cancer, also were killed. An
uncle was wounded.
"This is one of the uglier ones," said Steve
Conder, a Tarrant County assistant prosecutor handling responses to
Lagrone's appeals. "Just a cold-blooded murderer," said David
Montague, the district attorney who prosecuted the case. "DNA
evidence immediately linked him to the fetus of the girl who was
killed."
Authorities believed Lagrone was enraged because
Shakeisha's mother, Pamela Lloyd, wouldn't drop a sexual assault
complaint she filed against him for impregnating her daughter even
though he offered to pay her and pay for an abortion. Lloyd once
dated Lagrone.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon,
acting on an appeal filed by Lagrone's lawyers, refused to review
his case and stop the punishment. Lagrone lived in Arlington and had
worked as a cook but was known in Fort Worth's Stop Six area as a
drug dealer. He denied impregnating the girl, who completed the
fourth grade the day before she was killed. DNA evidence, however,
excluded 99.99 percent of other men as the father. Eight genetic
tests could not exclude him, a DNA expert testified.
Pamela Lloyd testified that Shakeisha was
concealing her 19-month-old sister behind some boxes and shouting at
her mother to hide when she was shot. The woman fled to a closet.
Omar Anderson, Lagrone's son, serving a life
prison term for a 1992 murder, testified at his father's trial that
another man was responsible for the killings. Montague, however,
said relatives who survived the shooting spree identified Lagrone. "We
had a lock-tight case as far as we were concerned," Montague said.
During the punishment phase, two of Lagrone's sisters testified that
he had terrorized and sexually assaulted them at gunpoint in 1986.
Mother Recalls Murder of Girl
By John Moritz - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Sun, February 08, 2004
LOCKHART - Pamela Lloyd Tutt had awakened before
dawn to use the restroom when she heard a knock at the door that was
followed quickly by shouting and a violent struggle. Then came a
blast of gunfire, and another.
Lloyd Tutt screamed to her 10-year-old daughter
to run, to hide and to find her baby sister, Mytyl. As the little
girl screamed the same warnings to her mother in the home in Fort
Worth's Stop Six neighborhood, Edward Lewis LaGrone leveled his
shotgun and shot ShaKeisha Lloyd dead.
Before he fled from the house
in the 2000 block of Amanda Avenue on the morning of May 30, 1991,
LaGrone also killed 83-year-old Zenobia Anderson and her sister,
Caola Lloyd, who was 76, blind and ravaged by terminal cancer.
Dempsey Lloyd, 48, who had challenged LaGrone as he burst through
the door that morning, was seriously wounded by two shots but would
survive his injuries.
Pamela Lloyd Tutt, whose life unraveled after the
killings, recalled those horrible moments as she discussed
Wednesday's scheduled execution of LaGrone -- the man she had once
dated, the man who had supplied her with crack cocaine, the man who
had impregnated ShaKeisha, and the man who had killed without
remorse. "Executing him won't bring back my baby and it won't bring
back my aunts," she said quietly during an interview in a Lockhart
prison unit last week where she is serving the last year of a five-year
sentence for murder. "But I don't even want to think about what I
wanted to do to that man if I ever had the chance."
Lloyd Tutt escaped death that morning by hiding
in a back room as the gunfire raged, she said. Her son, Charles,
then 13, also hid. The life of baby Mytyl was spared by ShaKeisha's
final act: she scooped up the 19-month-old and flung her behind some
boxes just before LaGrone opened fire. "ShaKeisha was a very loving,
very supportive young lady," recalled her mother. "She was my best
friend. She was an A student, she loved church and she loved meeting
people."
Billy Lloyd, Pamela's uncle, recalls warning his
niece to steer clear of LaGrone in the late 1980s. On the streets of
Stop Six, LaGrone was well-known and much-feared, Billy Lloyd said.
LaGrone was selling drugs, he had served time for murder and he was
mean. "I told Pamela that she didn't want nothing to do with this
man," said Lloyd, who still lives in Stop Six. "He was a horrible,
horrible man and everybody knew it."
Looking back, Lloyd Tutt now agrees. She said she
had known it all along, really, but the constant use of crack
cocaine clouded her judgment, and she was charmed by the flamboyant
LaGrone. "I had just got out of prison [where she was serving a
sentence for armed robbery], and Ed starting coming around," she
said. "He had this way of getting in good with the children of the
people he was selling drugs to. He'd be nice to them and buy them
presents and stuff."
What Lloyd Tutt said she did not know until just
days before the killings was that LaGrone was doing much more than
charming her children. One evening at bath time, she noticed that
ShaKeisha's midsection and breasts had grown. "She said, 'Mommy,
there's something moving around inside of me,' " Lloyd Tutt recalled.
A visit to the doctor confirmed that the fourth-grader was 17 weeks
pregnant. And ShaKeisha told her mother of the assaults by LaGrone
that had begun two years earlier.
According to news accounts, court
testimony and the prison interview, Lloyd Tutt called LaGrone and
demanded that he pay to have ShaKeisha's pregnancy terminated. She
also threatened to bring assault charges against him. LaGrone agreed
to pay $1,000 for an abortion and $500 more for her to keep quiet
about the assaults. But when he arrived at the family's home the
next morning, LaGrone had no intention of handing over any money.
Billy Lloyd's wife, Beverly, said that despite
her niece's chronic dependence on drugs and her questionable
judgment in men, Lloyd Tutt loved her children and encouraged their
success. Beverly Lloyd said that the extended family would often get
together on weekends and holidays, and that her own daughter, Kendra,
and ShaKeisha were the same age and were best friends. "I just want
people to know that we're a good family," Beverly Lloyd said. "It
was just that that generation got off track with the drugs and
everything else. "Nothing good ever comes from drugs."
Lloyd Tutt, now 43, said that her drug use
continued after the Stop Six murders. In 1993, she married Gene
Anthony Tutt, even though the relationship had become abusive. "He
was the father of my baby," Lloyd Tutt said. "I had never been
married before, and this time I wanted to have a father figure in my
children's life. I thought that was important." But on the night of
Nov. 10, 1997, Pamela and Gene Tutt had a violent argument, Lloyd
Tutt recalled. She said she feared for her life when she found a gun
and shot him to death. "It was self-defense," she said. "I had
reported him before. That's why they only gave me five years."
LaGrone, who turns 47 in less than a month, has
not filed an application for clemency or a sentence commutation from
the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Calls to his lawyer with the
federal public defender's office in Fort Worth were not returned.
During his trial, LaGrone was described by family members as a man
beset by a lifetime of misfortune.
Older brother Joe LaGrone told
how Edward had grown up in a southeast Fort Worth housing project,
dropped out of school in the 10th grade and was convicted of murder
at age 19. The defense presented a set of drawings LaGrone had done
in jail of flowers, hummingbirds and landscapes. A colorful drawing
of a flower and several bees was captioned, "Busy as a bee." Another
was titled "Total Harmony."
Lloyd Tutt, whose son, Charles, died at age 22
from a drug overdose in 2000, said she is looking forward to being
released after completing her sentence this year. A 10th-grade
dropout, Lloyd Tutt said she hopes to complete the course work for a
high school general equivalency diploma and get a job when she is
freed from the privately run lockup about 45 miles south of Austin.
"I know now that I don't need a man in my life and I don't need
drugs," she said. "I am determined to stay off drugs this time." Her
uncle and aunt, who plan to attend LaGrone's execution in Huntsville,
said they will be supportive of Pamela's effort, but they still
grieve for the family members who were slain.
In a sometimes tearful telephone interview, Billy
Lloyd recalled his great-niece as a bright and cheerful 10-year-old
who had a penchant for singing children's songs. "She had one I
never will forget that she would sing for me. It went, 'Mighty,
mighty tiger. Mighty, mighty tiger,' " Lloyd said, first breaking
into song, then breaking into tears.
His wife marveled at the time
that has passed since the killings, saying it still seems like only
yesterday. "Kendra is 24 now," Beverly Lloyd said, referring to her
daughter. "That means Keisha would have been 24 this June. It's hard
to believe."
Because she is in prison, Lloyd Tutt has
forfeited her right to witness the execution of her daughter's
killer. She said the day will flood her with emotions. "I have
forgiven him and I have asked God to forgive him, but it's hard,"
Lloyd Tutt said. "I am trying to forgive myself."
Fort Worth man executed for killing pregnant 10-year-old
By Tori Rowe - The Huntsville Item
February 12, 2004
A Fort Worth man was executed Wednesday night for
the 1991 murder of 10-year-old Shakeisha Lloyd, who was 17 weeks
pregnant with his child. Edward Lagrone, 46, was executed by lethal
injection for the murder of Lloyd and her two great-aunts, Zenobia
Anderson, 83, and Caolo Lloyd, 74.
A relative, Dempsey Lloyd, was
also wounded during the attack. Twice convicted of murder, Lagrone's
attorneys had asked state and federal courts to review the case and
stop the execution, but all appeals were denied.
For his final statement, Lagrone said, "I just
want to say I'm not sad today. "I'm not bitter with anyone. As I've
said from day one, I didn't go in there and kill them, but I'm no
better than the people that did," he said. "Jesus is Lord. That's
all I have to say." Lagrone then gave a long gasp and sputtered. He
was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. - seven minutes after a lethal
mixture of chemicals began flowing into his arms.
In a press conference after the execution,
members of the Lloyd family were upset that Lagrone never said he
was sorry. "I feel sorry for him," said Kendra Lloyd, Shakeisha's
cousin. "It's not right to hate a person, but he took my cousin away.
He could have said he was sorry." Shakeisha's uncle, Billy Ray Lloyd,
said he felt satisfied after witnessing the execution. "It made me
feel good, real good," he said. "I know now that he can't hurt
another mother, father, niece. He's gone. "It seemed like he had
made peace with God," he said. "He was a terrible person, but I
believe he made peace with God."
At the time of the murders, Lagrone lived in
Arlington and worked as a cook. He was known as a drug dealer in
Fort Worth's Stop Six area and already had a murder conviction and
prison term on his record. Shakeisha's mother, Pamela, had dated
Lagrone before the murders and filed a sexual assault complaint
against him after discovering her daughter was pregnant and had been
assaulted by Lagrone. Pamela refused to accept money for her silence
and an abortion for Shakeisha, and prosecutors speculated this may
have been what drove Lagrone to murder Shakeisha.
Although Lagrone denied being the father of
Shakeisha's child, DNA tests excluded 99.99 percent of other men.
Witnesses testified that Lagrone broke into the home at 4 a.m.,
shooting Dempsey Lloyd, then Shakeisha before moving through the
house. Bobby Ray Hopkins is scheduled to be executed tonight for the
1993 stabbing deaths of two Johnson County women.
Edward Lagrone Homepage
For the many or few who would take their precious
time to read these words of mine. I pray that you be most attentive
to my words. Truly they are a plea for support in every conceivable
aspect. For whatever it's worth, I find it necessary to state that
I'm no eloquent speaker or writer If I was, I would need fewer words
to say what is on my mind. I am an inmate on death row. My name,
number and address is as stated below.
Edward LaGrone #999083
Polunsky Unit D.R.
12002 FM 350 South
Livingston, Texas 77351 USA
My hope is that the basic essence of this letter
will bring about a positive response. If I could get just one
response, such would be greatly appreciated and encouragement and
support that would allow me to keep on pushing and know that my
words haven't fell upon death ears so to speak.
I am a victim as many who have fallen victim to
the American Justice System. The same Arnerican Justice System who
seek to Police the entire world in the right sense or understanding.
The system is unfair, hypocritical, and constantly practice inhumane
methods of punishment in prisons throughout the country, but, all
such practices in the name of Justice. The American Justice System
is a farce to say the least !
It's a horror and an atrocity the way the Justice
System misuse and abuse its power. I was falsely accused of a crime
that sent me here to death row. Like many others here waiting to die.
If I had a voice or the money to buy a voice that would be heard,
then and only then would I have a half a chance to get retried in
some court. As I sit here on death row and faced with the ultimate
reality that one day I will receive an execution date and be put to
death for something I know I didn't do. It makes me mad as hell ! !
There was a time when I had much faith in the Justice System, but
such was a time when I wasn't charge with a crime that I didn't do
and was faced with the possibility of being put to death. Well, the
Justice System doesn't work ! And what of my Constitutional Rights
to a fair trial ? ! I don't see any fair in falsely accusing someone
of a crime, then send him in a courtroom with a Lawyer who isn't
versed in Capital Punishment Law Plus, drag some criminals in the
courtroom and promise them deals to regain their freedom if they
testify against you, and say exactly what they were coerced to. Even
as I sat in the county jail waiting my day in court.
There was an investigator who received word from
some caller saying words to the effect, "The wrong man is being
accused of those crimes and said the true killers were still out on
the streets and have killed more people." Even the surviving victims,
gave an on-camera interview and stated, and I quote them word for
word - verbatim! "Four (4) men kicked in their door and started to
shoot and left three of the seven (7) occunants of that home dead."
There was a guy who came forth as a witness to
testify that he knew of these four men and called them all by name -
as well as their aliases ! But, no one pursued these leads. It would
have meant that they would have had to acknowledge that they had the
wrong man and face the embarrassment of falsely accusing me of this
heinous crime. They rather kill a innocent man than to admit to
their inadequate ability to apprehend the proper suspects. The words
of one the arresting officers seems echo so clearly in my mind to
this day as he stated ,"We know you may not have committed the crime
but you might know who did it." My photo was presented to the guy
who reportedly had wrestled with one of the four assailants or
killers, he stated, I wasn't one of them !
I sat in the county jail for a period of three
(3) years awaiting trial, during which time, many people called
reporting that they have the names of the guys who committed the
crime. What kind of authorities will not investigate or pursue a
lead that would aide them in the capture of the individuals who were
guilty of such a crime ?! Such are the authorities who are too proud
to admit they made a mistake !! They rather see the wrong person die
before they admit to their wrongly accusing me. Now, I sit and wait
to die unless some miracle happens and my case is overturned in the
higher courts and I get a new trial.
Please, take time to consider my situation
because such could happen to you as well. Yeah, it was hard for me
to imagine myself being in this situation. And I never paid much
attention to the many others I read about and saw on TV who insist
they were wrongly accused of a crime. But, here I stand in the same
shoes at a different time, and I can feel now the pain and anguish
that engulf or blanket their entire being. My life is a nightmare
and it's hard to call this living. But, I must keep my mind and cope
with my situation and pray for the best. I used to take life and all
it had to offer for granted, how foolish I was then. These days I
would be satisfied just to roam the streets, aimlessly with no place
to go, just as long as I would have my freedom. I truly think, if I
wasn't a self-taught artist, I would surely have lost my sanity by
now.
Thanks to all who took time to read these words.
I am an African American male. All letters will be welcomed. Again,
I will state that I need support in every conceivable aspect,
friendship for encouragement, spiritual guidance and advice,
financial support for stamps and writing material to correspond and
do legal work as well. Support of any form and fashion would be
greatly appreciated. Hope to hear from concerned readers soon!
Thanks!!
Defendant was convicted in the District Court,
Tarrant County, Frank Douthitt, J., of three counts of capital
murder, and was sentenced to death. On automatic appeal, the Court
of Criminal Appeal, Keller, J., held that: (1) trial court did not
abuse its discretion in restricting questioning of venire members;
(2) trial court may order criminal defendant to submit to state-
sponsored psychiatric exam on future dangerousness when defense
introduces, or plans to introduce, its own future dangerousness
expert testimony; (3) exclusion of defense counsel from independent
examination did not violate right to counsel; (4) evidence of
witness's inchoate drug use was not admissible for impeachment
purposes; (5) denial of challenge for cause to juror was proper; (6)
psychiatrist could testify as expert regarding future dangerousness
of defendant in prison context; (7) reference to prison violence in
closing argument was proper; and (8) improper reference to prison
drug use during closing argument was harmless. Affirmed.
In May, 1993, appellant was tried and convicted
of three counts of capital murder pursuant to Section 19.03(a)(6)(A)
of the Texas Penal Code for the murder of more than one person in
the same criminal transaction. [FN1] Tex. Penal Code Ann. §
19.03(a)(6)(A) (Vernon's 1993). The jury answered the statutorily
required special issues submitted under Article 37.071 of the Texas
Code of Criminal Procedure in a manner consistent with imposing the
death penalty. [FN2] Tex.Code Crim. Pro. Ann. art. 37.071(b) (Vernon's
1990). Accordingly, the trial court followed its statutory mandate
to sentence appellant to death. Tex.Code Crim. Pro. Ann. art.
37.071(e) (Vernon's 1990). Appeal to this court is automatic.
Tex.Code Crim. Pro. Ann. art. 37.071(h) (Vernon's 1990).
FN1. Article 19.03(a)(6)(A) of the 1993 Texas
Code of Criminal Procedure has been recodified under Article
19.03(a)(7)(A) of the 1995 Code.
FN2. Texas capital sentencing procedure has
undergone several important changes during the interim between the
commission of the instant capital offense in May of 1991 and the
handing down of this opinion. On September 1, 1991, the Legislature
added a statutory mitigation special issue for the jury's
consideration, but specifically provided that this new procedure was
not to be applied retroactively--to cases arising before September
1, 1991. The Legislature in effect created two separate capital
sentencing procedures: (1) defendants whose crime was committed
prior to September 1, 1991 were to be sentenced under the 1990
version of Article 37.071 without a statutory mitigation special
issue; and (2) defendants whose crime was committed after September
1, 1991 were to be sentenced under the 1991, et. seq., versions of
Article 37.071 which includes a statutory mitigation special issue.
On August 30, 1993, however, the Legislature
again changed capital sentencing by specifically requiring the
submission of a statutory mitigation special issue for all cases.
Thus, the Legislature essentially abolished the procedural dichotomy
created by the 1991 session by eliminating the central procedural
difference between pre and post 1991 capital sentencing--the
mandatory submission of a statutory mitigation special issue. The
1990 version of Article 37.071 , however, still had some minor
procedural differences with the 1991, et seq., versions of the
statute which the Legislature resolved by formally splitting the
statute: (1) Article 37.071 controlled all cases arising after
September 1, 1991; and (2) Article 37.0711 governed all cases
arising before September 1, 1991. This basic framework is still
intact today.
In keeping with these somewhat complex guidelines,
the defendant was sentenced under the controlling law at his May,
1993 sentencing. In May of 1993, Texas capital sentencing law
required the defendant to be sentenced under the 1990 version of
Article 37.071 .Although the defendant would now be sentenced under
Article 37.0711, Article 37.0711 did not become effective until
after the defendant's sentencing. Therefore, we must review the
sentencing as it existed in May of 1993 under the 1990 version of
Article 37.071 . At that time, Article 37.071 of the Texas Code of
Criminal Procedure
Appellant raises twenty-six points or error, but does
not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence at either the guilt-innocence
or punishment stage of the trial. Because several of appellant's
points are fact-intensive, however, we will proceed with a brief
recitation of pertinent facts. Our review of the briefs *607 and
record indicates that the following facts were established at trial.
In May 1991, the Lloyd family was living at 2004
Amanda Street in Fort Worth. The Lloyd family included eight people:
three homicide victims--ten year-old Shakeisha Lloyd, and
Shakeisha's two great aunts, eighty-three year-old Zenobia Anderson
and seventy-six year-old Caola Lloyd, as well as five survivors of
the homicidal incident--Pamela Lloyd (Shakeisha's mother),
Shakeisha's three siblings, and Dempsey Lloyd (Shakeisha's uncle).
That same Wednesday, appellant went
to the Winchester Gun Store with his friend, Anetta Daniel. After
supplying Daniel with the purchase money, appellant asked her to
purchase a double-barrel, pistol-grip shotgun. Daniel purchased a
Winchester slide-action shotgun which appellant put in the trunk of
the his car. At trial, Robert Wilshire, an employee of the gun
store, testified that this shotgun qualifies as a deadly weapon.
On Thursday, May 30, 1991, Pamela Lloyd got up
around 4:00 a.m. to get some water from the kitchen because she was
having trouble sleeping. After she had left the kitchen and entered
the bathroom, somebody knocked at the front door and demanded that
one of the Lloyds "open the door." Shakeisha's brother, Charles,
identified the voice as appellant's, but Dempsey Lloyd answered the
door. After allowing Dempsey Lloyd to open the door and ask him what
he wanted at such an early hour, appellant shot Dempsey Lloyd with
the aforementioned shotgun. Dempsey Lloyd subsequently grappled with
appellant over the gun.
Following this struggle, appellant went into the
front bedroom where Caola Lloyd was sleeping and fired a shot.
Appellant then went into the kitchen where Zenobia Lloyd was washing
clothes and fired another shot. As Pamela Lloyd and Shakeisha
attempted to collect and hide the other children, several more shots
were fired. Pamela Lloyd then discovered Shakeisha lying on the
floor with "half of her face blown off." Although Dempsey Lloyd pled
for mercy, appellant shot him a second time before leaving. Dempsey
Lloyd was still able to go next door and call for emergency "911"
assistance despite his severe wounds.
Following the above homicidal
incident, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office performed
autopsies on Caola Lloyd, Zenobia Anderson, and Shakeisha Lloyd. The
medical examiner determined the cause of death for all three of the
deceased victims to be a single homicidal incident. Caola Lloyd
suffered an entry wound caused by a shotgun in the anterior portion
of her neck going through the left side of her throat.
She also had
a defensive injury to her right hand resulting in the dismemberment
of her index finger, which was consistent with her right hand being
in front of her face when the gun shot was fired. Zenobia Anderson
had an entry wound caused by a shotgun to the back of her neck.
Shakeisha Lloyd had an entry wound caused by a shotgun to her left
cheek and a corresponding exit wound just below the rim of the right
mandible jaw bone. She also had an injury to her right hand, causing
the total dismemberment of her ring finger. The medical examiner
determined there were most likely two gun shots.
In addition, the medical examiner recovered a
four-to-five month-old female fetus, which was preserved for blood
and DNA testing. Dr. Arthur Eisenberg, a forensic pathologist,
compared appellant's blood samples with those recovered from
Shakeisha Lloyd, and conducted DNA testing to establish paternity.
[FN3] Based upon this examination, Dr. Eisenberg concluded that
appellant's paternity of Shakeisha Lloyd's unborn child was 99.999%
certain; and testified that, with the exception of having an
identical twin brother, appellant was the father of that child.
FN3. The DNA testing revealed that appellant's
DNA was included in all eight regions where chromosomes were matched.
During the punishment phase of the trial,
moreover, the State produced a fairly imposing catalog of relevant
punishment evidence. First, the State introduced evidence that
appellant had been convicted of murder in 1977, and received a
twenty-year sentence. The State also produced numerous reputation
witnesses who testified that appellant had a bad reputation for
being peaceable and lawabiding.
Finally, the State introduced
evidence of several extraneous offenses committed by appellant. On
March 3, 1991, Officer Keith McGuire of the Fort Worth Police
Department witnessed appellant flagging down cars in a manner
consistent with drug dealing. The officer subsequently observed
appellant toss a black pouch to the ground which was later
determined to contain a quantity of crack cocaine.
On October 14, 1990, Officer Greg Abernathy of
the Fort Worth Police department was involved in a routine
investigation of potential drug trafficking, and received a tip
about a local drug trafficker from one of the suspects. The tip led
Officer Abernathy to a nearby apartment complex where he found a man
matching the suspected drug trafficker's description-- appellant.
After being confronted by the police, appellant ran up some stairs
and attempted to jettison a brown bag. The police laboratory later
confirmed that the bag contained a quantity of cocaine.
On February 23, 1986, fifteen year-old sisters
were returning home from a nearby Dairy Queen. While they were
crossing the grounds of a local elementary school, appellant
approached them and threatened them with a gun. Appellant took the
sisters' money, forced them to remove their clothing, tied them up,
and proceeded to force one girl to perform oral sex and molest her
sister. After threatening to burn down the girls' home if they went
to the police, the girls did not contact the authorities at that
time.
* * *
In light of our careful consideration and
rejection of appellant's twenty-six points of error, we affirm the
judgment of the trial court.
