Killer apologizes before his execution

Gary Sterling addresses sons and daughters of man he beat to death during a robbery

By Michael Graczyk - Houston Chronicle

August 10, 2005

HUNTSVILLE - An apologetic former farm worker from Central Texas was executed Wednesday evening for using a car bumper jack to fatally beat and rob a man during a violent spree 17 years ago that authorities said left three other people dead.

"I wish I could do something to replace your father, your loved one," Gary Sterling said as two daughters and three sons of his victim stood a few feet away watching through a window. "But I can't. I know this was a heinous crime. I just wish I could get him back." Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Sterling said he wanted the chaplain to say a prayer. "I can only say I'm sorry," Sterling said.

As Larry Hart, a prison chaplain, finished his brief prayer, Sterling smiled broadly and said as the drugs began flowing, "I'll put in a good word for everybody." He gasped several times and slipped into unconsciousness and seven minutes later at 6:16 p.m. he was pronounced dead. Sterling, 38, was the 11th condemned prisoner executed this year in Texas.

Sterling was condemned for the beating death of John Carty, 72, killed in May 1988 at his home in Navarro County near Corsicana. Prosecutors also had evidence tying him to the slaying of Delores Smith, 52, a friend of Carty's whose purse and glasses were found at Sterling's home, although he was not tried for the woman's death.

Sterling led police to their bodies after he was arrested for the slayings of William Porter, 72, and Porter's brother, Leroy, 71, at their home in Hill County, about 35 miles northeast of Waco. He pleaded guilty to their slayings and received two life prison terms. Authorities said Sterling knew the four victims, who all were fatally beaten. Evidence showed Sterling, who was 20 at the time, took Carty's car, a TV, shotgun and a lantern. Police said he sold the car for cash he needed to buy crack cocaine.

Sterling's execution came about an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant a stay. Lawyers argued in appeals that Navarro County jurors were given flawed instructions when they decided in 1989 Sterling should be put to death.

Sterling had managed to elude police the night the Porter brothers were killed when they spotted him stripping Leroy Porter's car. Acting on a tip, he was arrested the following day as he hid in the attic of his home in Blooming Grove, a town 15 miles west of Corsicana.

While in jail in Hillsboro, Button said Sterling gained notoriety for trashing his cell, tearing up steel jail fixtures officials had been told were indestructible. Sterling, who declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his scheduled lethal injection, also was remembered for a physical training regimen where he would do push-ups for hours.

ProDeathPenalty.com

A former farm worker from central Texas was executed this evening for using a car bumper jack to fatally beat and rob a man during a violent spree 17 years ago that authorities said left three other people dead.

Gary Sterling, 38, was condemned for the beating death of John Carty, 72, killed in May 1988 at his home in Navarro County near Corsicana. Prosecutors also had evidence tying him to the slaying of Delores Smith, 52, a friend of Carty's whose purse and glasses were found at Sterling's home, although he was not tried for the woman's death.

Sterling led police to their bodies after he was arrested for the slayings of William Porter, 72, and Porter's brother, Leroy, 71, at their home in Hill County, about 35 miles northeast of Waco. He pleaded guilty to their slayings and received two life prison terms. Authorities said Sterling knew the four victims, who all were fatally beaten.

Evidence showed Sterling, who was 20 at the time, took Carty's car, a TV, shotgun and a lantern. Police said he sold the car for cash he needed to buy crack cocaine. "He was looking for enough to just buy some rocks," Hill County Sheriff Brent Button said.

Sterling's lawyers were in the courts in the hours before his scheduled execution trying to block the punishment, arguing in appeals that Navarro County jurors were given flawed instructions when they decided in 1989 Sterling should be put to death. Sterling had managed to elude police the night the Porter brothers were killed when they spotted him stripping Leroy Porter's car. Acting on a tip, he was arrested the following day as he hid in the attic of his home in Blooming Grove, a town of about 800 some 15 miles west of Corsicana.

While in jail in Hillsboro, Button said Sterling gained notoriety for trashing his cell, tearing up steel jail fixtures officials had been told were indestructible. Sterling, who declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his scheduled lethal injection, also was remembered for a physical training regimen where he would do push-ups for hours.

"I've prosecuted a number of capital case, but this guy really scared me," Pat Batchelor, the former Navarro County district attorney who prosecuted Sterling's capital murder case, said. In earlier appeals, he argued unsuccessfully his intent to kill Carty wasn't clear because he didn't bring a deadly weapon with him and that he only struck Carty once. State lawyers responded that if Sterling only wanted to rob Carty, there wasn't any need to bash in the man's head with the jack. Another previous appeal focused on comments from a juror at his trial who was portrayed as racist for using an epithet to describe black people. The juror was white. Sterling is black. At a later hearing, the juror said use of the racially insensitive term didn't make him a racist and he didn't consider himself a racist. Federal appeals courts agreed and denied the appeal.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson

Txexecutions.org

Gary Lynn Sterling, 38, was executed by lethal injection on 10 August 2005 in Huntsville, Texas for the abduction, murder, and robbery of a man from his home.

In May 1988, Sterling, then 20, was spotted stripping a car. The car belonged to William Porter, 72, who, along with his brother, Leroy, 70, had been beaten to death earlier that night. Sterling eluded capture that night, but was arrested the next day, hiding in his attic.

While in jail for the Porter murders, Sterling stated that he wanted to confess to another crime. He led authorities to the bodies of John Carty, 72, and Deloris Smith, 52, in Navarro County. Sterling confessed that he abducted Carty and Smith from Carty's home, drove them to an isolated field, and beat them to death with a car bumper jack. He stole a car, a television, a shotgun, and a lantern from the home.

Evidence at Sterling's trial indicated that he knew all four of his victims. He sold Carty's car to buy crack cocaine. A jury found Sterling guilty of the capital murder of John Carty in February 1989 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in April 1992. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Sterling also pleaded guilty to the Porter murders and received life sentences for both of those convictions. He was not tried for Deloris Smith's murder.

"I wish I could do something to replace your father, your loved one, but I can't." Sterling told Carty's sons in his last statement. "I know this was a heinous crime. I just wish I could get him back." Sterling also asked the chaplain to say a prayer. After the chaplain prayed, the lethal injection was started. "I'll put in a good word for everybody," Sterling said before losing consciousness. He was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Gary Lynn Sterling - Texas - Aug. 10, 2005 6:00 p.m. CST

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute 38-year-old Gary Lynn Sterling, a black man, on Aug. 10, 2005 for the May 31, 1988 murder of 72-year-old John Wesley Carty, a white man, in Navarro County.

While in jail in Hill County, Texas, Sterling informed law enforcement officials of the locations of two bodies in neighboring Navarro County. After directing authorities to the bodies, Sterling produced a written statement in which he admitted to the killings. He was subsequently arrested and charged with Carty’s murder. A jury found Sterling guilty of capital murder in the death of Carty and decided that he should die for the crime.

Sterling possessed a strong ineffective assistance of counsel claim. During questioning of prospective jurors, one of Sterling’s attorneys, Robert Dunn, failed to inquire into the racial views of a prospective juror that he knew to harbor prejudicial feelings towards African-Americans.

Evidence of the prospective juror’s racism is found in a post-trial affidavit in which he used a highly inflammatory racial epithet in reference to African-Americans. Dunn possessed knowledge of the prospective jurors’ racism well before trial, for the two were long-time acquaintances. Yet Dunn neither asked the prospective juror about his racial views nor took efforts to remove him from the jury pool. The unfortunate result of this inaction was that the prospective juror was seated on the jury for Sterling’s trial. And there exists good chance that he was not the only racist juror. Dunn admits that he did not inquire into the possible racial biases of any of the members of the jury pool. The presence of a racially prejudicial juror on Sterling’s jury, and the possible presence of others, might have impacted the verdict and sentence.

An additional point of concern in Sterling’s trial is the court’s decision to appoint Dr. James Grigson to aid in Sterling’s defense. Sterling’s attorneys desired to have their client’s mental state evaluated prior to trial. Therefore, they asked the court for access to a psychiatric expert. The court appointed Dr. Grigson, a psychiatrist whose reputation for being sympathetic to the prosecution in capital cases had become so notorious that he had earned the nickname “Dr. Death.” Well aware of this dubious reputation, Sterling’s attorneys declined his assistance. Had Sterling been afforded a proper evaluation by an unbiased, psychiatric professional, findings might have been yielded that would have reduced Sterling’s degree of culpability in Carthey’s murder.

The fairness of Sterling’s trial is clearly in doubt. Not only was Sterling convicted and sentenced to death by a jury tainted with racial prejudice, he was not provided access to an unbiased psychiatric evaluation.

Please contact Gov. Rick Perry and request that he stop the execution of Gary Lynn Sterling.