Summary:

On July 15, 1983, a lone gunman robbed the Greenberg Jewelry Store, located in Corpus Christi. The store's clerk, Christine Sanchez, was killed in the robbery by one gunshot to the head.

With no further evidence and no leads, the investigation went nowhere until 1988 when Arnold, then imprisoned in California for Bank Robbery, wrote letters to the District Attorney and to the media confessing to the crime.

Arnold admitted that he cased the jewelry store and entered as it opened for business. He pulled a .32 revolver and told the clerk that this was a robbery and if she didn't give him any problems, she wouldn't get hurt. After filling a bag with jewelry, Arnold told her that he wanted cash.

According to Arnold, Sanchez then grabbed a gun from the desk and attempted to point it at him. He struggled with Sanchez, took the gun away from her, and shot her in the head with it.

Arnold was extradited from California, convicted and sentenced to death. He testified at his trial, demanding that he be given the death penalty.

In April 1995 while on Death Row, Arnold murdered another inmate, Maurice Andrews, by driving a sharpened bolt through his temple, then dancing around him in celebration, all of which was caught on videotape.

Final Meal:

None.

Final Words:

"I'm taking responsibility for the death of your daughter in 1983," Arnold told the victim's family at his execution. "I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your loved one ... I cannot explain and can't give you answers. I can give you one thing, and I'm going to give that today. I give a life for a life. I pray you will have no ill will or animosity. You have the right to see this, I am glad you are here. All I can do is ask the Lord for forgiveness. I am not saying this to be facetious. I am giving my life. I hope you find comfort in my execution. As for me, I am happy, that is why you see me smiling. I am glad I am leaving this world. I am going to a better place. I have made peace with God, I am born again." He continued with his last statement in the same vein, repeating that he took responsibility for the killing and that he hoped the Sanchez family would find peace. After he signaled the warden to begin the lethal injection, he began singing "Amazing Grace" and kept singing as the chemicals coursed into his veins.

ClarkProsecutor.org

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

MEDIA ADVISORY: - Jermarr Carlos Arnold Scheduled to be Executed - Wednesday, January 7, 2002, after 6:00 p.m.

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Jermarr Carlos Arnold .

On Dec. 19, 1990, Jermarr Carlos Arnold was sentenced to death for the capital murder of Christine Sanchez, while committing a robbery in Corpus Christi, Texas, on July 15, 1983. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows:

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On July 15, 1983, a lone gunman robbed the Greenberg Jewelry Store, located in Corpus Christi. The store's clerk, Christine Sanchez, was killed in the robbery by one gunshot to the head. Investigation of the robbery/murder focused on a possible suspect, a "Troy Alexander."

Further investigation revealed an eyewitness, Joe Morano. Mr. Morano later testified that he had observed and had a short conversation with a male in the Greenberg Jewelry store after 10:30 a.m., but before 11:00 a.m., on July 15, 1983. Morano later identified a photo of Arnold as the person he had seen in the store.

The investigation into the robbery/murder was delayed for five years because police lacked information to pursue it further. The local district attorney then received a letter from Arnold, who was in a California prison at the time, in which he claimed to have information about the Greenberg Jewelry store robbery/murder and about Troy Alexander.

Further investigation revealed that Arnold had written several letters to the news media, namely to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Investigation into the contents of Arnold's letters to the district attorney and the news media resulted in Arnold making various confessions to this crime.

The Texas Rangers interviewed Arnold on Sept. 22, 1988 in the California Men's Colony State Prison where Arnold was serving time for several crimes committed in that state. During the interview, Arnold told the Rangers that he had monitored the store for several days before the robbery.

On the morning of the robbery/murder, Arnold said he watched the store as it opened for business. After the man he described as the owner/manager left, he went into the store and told the clerk, Christine Sanchez, that he was interested in purchasing a ring.

Shortly after he entered the store, Arnold recounted that a "young, Spanish" man came in and left five or 10 minutes later. At that point, Arnold brandished a .32-caliber revolver and told Sanchez that this was a robbery and if she didn't give him any problems, she wouldn't get hurt. Sanchez began taking merchandise from the jewelry cases and putting them into a bag that Arnold had tucked into his pants.

Once the bag was full, Arnold told her that he wanted cash. Sanchez walked toward the desk where Arnold believed the cash was stored. According to Arnold, Sanchez grabbed a gun from the desk and attempted to point it at him. He struggled with Sanchez, took the gun away from her, and shot her in the head with it. Arnold fled the scene in a car that he had parked near the store.

He had stolen the car several days earlier from a man at the post office. He drove the car to the railroad tracks where he abandoned it and bought a bus ticket to San Antonio under the name Troy Alexander. Shortly after leaving Texas, Arnold was arrested in California on unrelated armed robbery charges and incarcerated there.

During the punishment phase, the jury heard testimony about Arnold's past criminal history and propensity for dangerousness. Among other crimes, Arnold had committed armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a deadly weapon by a state prisoner, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a concealed weapon, two more counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and another count of possession of a deadly weapon by a state prisoner.

Additionally, a Nueces County jail officer testified that while Arnold was being held there, he saw Arnold beating another inmate by using a ball point pen to inflict puncture wounds.

A California prison psychiatrist, Dr. Sheppard, who had daily contact with Arnold in 1987 and 1988, testified that he believed Arnold was one of the most dangerous people he had come across.

He also testified that Arnold would be an ongoing threat of physical harm to others, whether outside or inside prison. After the State closed, Arnold chose to testify, stating that he was satisfied with the jury's decisions, the court's conduct, and the representation of his attorneys. He also made the following statements:

That he had committed the murder and deserved to die.

That "there are some people that aren't fit to live in society [and] aren't fit to live, and I think I belong in the latter."

"I'm no longer fit to live because I can't live in a moral, law-abiding society."

"I think it would be a moral decision for you to make by sentencing me to die."

"I have taken a life, so therefore, I deserve to have my own life forfeited."

"If [my life is] not taken at this point--if you miss this opportunity, there's a good chance that I will kill again."

Arnold also read two poems he had written. When questioned by the State as to why he read poetry, Arnold only responded that everything in the news articles in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times was fair and accurate. When the State attempted a further question, Arnold left the stand.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• August 2, 1990 - Arnold was indicted in the District Court of Nueces County, Texas, for the capital offense of murdering Christine Sanchez in the course of committing the offense of robbery on July 15, 1983.

• December 18, 1990 - A jury found Arnold guilty of the capital offense.

• December 19, 1990 - Following a separate punishment hearing, the court sentenced Arnold to death.

• November 10, 1993 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence.

• October 3, 1994 - Arnold's petition for writ of certiorari in the United State Supreme Court was denied.

• December 30, 1996 - Arnold filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the trial court.

• December 13, 1999 - Court of Criminal Appeals denied the application in an unpublished order.

• February 1, 2000 - Arnold filed a federal habeas petition in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

• January 12, 2001 - The federal district court denied habeas relief and granted permission to appeal.

• August 28, 2001 - The Fifth Circuit affirmed the Federal District Court's decision on appeal. Thereafter, Arnold filed a petition for certiorari in the United State Supreme Court. That petition is currently pending.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

During the trial, the State proved that Arnold had several prior convictions for which he served time in a California prison.

In February 1984, Arnold was convicted for robbery in Los Angeles County. While imprisoned in California, he was convicted for possession of a deadly weapon by a state prisoner in 1985, and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon by a state prisoner in 1986.

In September 1988, Arnold was convicted for possession of a concealed weapon and three counts of assault. Then, in 1990, he was again convicted of possession of a deadly weapon by a state prisoner.

Finally, on May 31, 1990, Arnold was convicted of aggravated assault.

Texas Executions Information Center by David Carson

Txexecutions.org

Jermarr Carlos Arnold, 43, was executed by lethal injection on 16 January in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a store employee during a robbery.

On 15 July 1983, a gunman robbed the Greenberg Jewelry store in Corpus Christi. The clerk, Christine Sanchez, was killed by one shot to the head.

Investigators found an eyewitness, Joe Morano, who said he had a short conversation with a man in the jewelry store between 10:30 and 11:00 on 15 July. What little other evidence the police had pointed to a transient named Troy Alexander. Lacking any other leads, the police were unable to carry the investigation of the case any further and the case lay unsolved for five years.

In 1988, the Nueces county district attorney received a letter from an inmate in a California prison who claimed to have information about the Greenberg Jewelry robbery/murder and Troy Alexander.

The same man, Jermarr Arnold, also wrote several letters to the Corpus Christi newspaper about the crime. Jermarr Arnold had been convicted in California in February 1984 for bank robbery and was sentenced to five years in prison.

While in prison, he was convicted of possession of a deadly weapon (1985), two counts of assault with a deadly weapon (1986), possession of a concealed weapon (1988), three counts of assault (1988), another count of possession of a deadly weapon (1990), and aggravated assault (1990). His original sentence of five years was extended because of these other convictions.

In September 1988, Texas Rangers interviewed Arnold in California. Arnold confessed to the Greenberg Jewelry robbery and the murder of Christine Sanchez. He said that he had monitored the store for several days. On the day of the robbery, he watched the store as it opened for business.

After the owner/manager left, he went into the store and told the clerk that he was interested in buying a ring. He said that a "young, Spanish" man came into the store and left after five or ten minutes.

At that point, Arnold brandished a .32-caliber revolver and told Sanchez that he was robbing the store. On his orders, Sanchez filled a bag with jewelry from the display cases. Arnold then told her that he wanted cash. Sanchez then opened a drawer and pulled out a gun. Arnold wrestled Sanchez's gun from her and shot her in the head with it.

He then fled the scene in a car he had stolen several days earlier. After that, he abandoned the car and rode a bus to San Antonio, using a ticket he bought under the name Troy Alexander. He eventually went to Los Angeles and was arrested there for an unrelated robbery.

Investigators believed that Arnold knew details about the case that could only be known by someone who was there. For example, he correctly described the color of the dress Christine Sanchez was wearing.

Also, back in Corpus Christi, Joe Morano identified a photo of Arnold as the man he had seen in the Greenberg Jewelry store on 15 July 1983. Arnold was brought to Texas to stand trial. While he was awaiting trial in county jail, he injured a cellmate with a ball point pen.

At his trial, Arnold insisted, often loudly, on directing his own defense, over the objections of his lawyer. For example, he demanded that law enforcement employees and death penalty supporters be put on his jury, he would not allow prosecution witnesses to be cross-examined, and he insisted on taking the witness stand. He testified that he committed the murder and urged the jury to sentence him to death. "If [my life is] not taken at this point - if you miss this opportunity - there's a good chance that I will kill again. That's just the way I am."

In December 1990, a jury found him guilty of capital murder and sentenced him to death. His conviction and sentence were upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in November 1993, in the automatic appeal that is required by Texas law for all cases that carry a death sentence.

Arnold's criminal history went as far back as 1977, when he was sent to prison for rape in Colorado. Also in Colorado, he was diagnosed with acute schizophrenia. In 1983, he escaped from the hospital and embarked on a crime spree through Texas, Las Vegas, and southern California.

While on death row, Arnold wrote numerous letters to news agencies and anti-death-penalty organizations. His early letters, such as one featured on "60 Minutes" in 1991, reaffirmed the stance he took at his trial, which was that he was guilty, dangerous, and deserved to be executed.

Some time during his first few years on death row, however, Arnold apparently reconsidered his position. In October 1994, he filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, which was denied. He filed at least six more petitions in state and federal court, all of which were denied.

The basis of his appeals was that he was denied effective counsel at trial, because his lawyer let him override his advice and let him direct his own defense.

While these appeals were being considered, Arnold killed another prisoner on death row. In April 1995, Arnold and fellow inmate Maurice Andrews were involved in a fight that was observed by about a dozen other death row inmates. Andrews was unarmed.

Prison videotape showed Arnold stabbing Andrews in the temple with a sharpened bolt, then picking him up and slamming him horizontally into his knee, snapping his spine. He stomped on the bolt, imbedding it deeper in Andrews' head. Finally, he danced in celebration over Andrews' body.

Prosecutors were not planning to try the already-condemned killer for the crime, but at his own insistence, Arnold was put on trial in October 1998. (Information concerning the outcome of that trial was unavailable.)

Arnold kept up his letter-writing activities throughout his stay on death row. In a July 2001 letter to the Socialist Worker, he wrote, "in a month or two when they give me a date, I might be next, since tragically and unbelievably, Texas’ governor [Rick Perry] just vetoed legislation banning the execution of the mentally retarded."

In another letter from about the same time, he wrote, "I was convicted in a sham trial. I was given an incompetent court appointed attorney who essentially collaborated to railroad me. ... There was no physical evidence introduced during the trial of my guilt. There were no eyewitnesses. None of my fingerprints were found. No DNA. There was not even a murder weapon. This was a long ago murder robbery that had happened July 1983 and the police had not solved or made any arrests in over 6 or 7 years when I came along and they seen a perfect chance to 'solve' their case."

He called his case "one of the most egregious examples on Texas's already long and growing list of travesties symbolizing the dark cloud of corruption of power and racism long hanging over this state and tainting its entire legal System." Arnold wrote that his confession to Texas Rangers in California was invalid because he was "psychotic, depressed, and suicidal" at the time and was being treated with anti-psychotic drugs. He also attributed his record of prison violence to his mental illness. His letter ended with a plea for funds for a DNA test.

Grant Jones, the prosecutor in the case, said that he would not have pursued Arnold as the suspect if his confession were the only evidence. "We proved without a doubt he was in town; we proved he was at the store the day of the robbery; we connected to him, or had in his possession, some of the jewelry," Jones said, adding that Arnold also provided details only the killer could have known. "You had to ask yourself: How can a guy in California come up with all the details of a robbery in Corpus Christi? How could he know about it unless he was here?"

Despite his claims of innocence, Arnold still admitted to plenty of wrongdoing. He acknowledged more than two dozen rapes, at least two murders (including Maurice Andrews), and numerous robberies. "I can accept I did bad things," he said in an interview the week before his execution. "I'm not very good with people. Sometimes I feel paranoid and threatened and I strike out ... I start hurting myself or other people." But Arnold said that he has mellowed in recent years, describing himself as "level, calm, and peace-loving." Of the Sanchez killing, he said, "I do care and I'm sorry and I wish none of this had happened."

On Monday, 14 January, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Arnold's final appeal and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously to deny his request for a stay of execution. On Tuesday, former Nueces county assistant district attorney Bill May asked Governor Perry to grant Arnold an emergency 30-day stay of execution.

May said that he believed Christine Sanchez may have been murdered because of her role as an informer in drug investigations, and that the jewelry store robbery was faked to cover the real motive behind her murder. Perry declined the stay request Wednesday afternoon. A spokesman said that the governor's office investigated May's comments and found that they were not supported in the trial record.

"I'm taking responsibility for the death of your daughter in 1983," Arnold told the victim's family at his execution. "I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your loved one ... I cannot explain and can't give you answers. I can give you one thing, and I'm going to give that today. I give a life for a life. I pray you will have no ill will or animosity. You have the right to see this, I am glad you are here. All I can do is ask the Lord for forgiveness. I am not saying this to be facetious. I am giving my life. I hope you find comfort in my execution. As for me, I am happy, that is why you see me smiling. I am glad I am leaving this world. I am going to a better place. I have made peace with God, I am born again." He continued with his last statement in the same vein, repeating that he took responsibility for the killing and that he hoped the Sanchez family would find peace. After he signaled the warden to begin the lethal injection, he began singing "Amazing Grace" and kept singing as the chemicals coursed into his veins. He was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m.

ProDeathPenalty.com

Jermarr Arnold, known as the meanest man on Texas' death row by prison officials, was sentenced to death for the 1983 murder of 21-year-old Christina Sanchez during a robbery of Greenberg's Jewelers on Leopard Street in Corpus Christi.

He also was convicted in the slaying of a fellow condemned inmate who had a sharpened bolt rammed through his left temple. Prosecutors in Huntsville said they had not planned on prosecuting Arnold in the April 1995 stabbing death of fellow death row inmate Maurice Andrews, but Arnold asked that the pending matter be taken to a jury trial.

Rather than dismissing the capital murder charge, the prosecutors agreed to grant his request for trial, but in an effort to keep costs down for a man already condemned to die, they did not seek the death penalty, said Latham Boone, the chief prosecutor for the prison prosecution unit in Walker County. "We'd indicted him for insurance purposes, in case something happened (on appeal) to the case he's on death row for," Boone said. "This will ensure he'll remain in prison for the rest of his life."

Arnold - a 6-foot-1, 250-pound man with a history of escaping from maximum-security facilities and brutally attacking other inmates - drew Andrews into a fight in the death row recreation area as about a dozen other death row inmates stood around. It is not clear what started the altercation, but it ended with the unarmed Andrews lying on the ground with a sharpened bolt embedded in his temple, prosecutors said. They showed a videotape that showed Arnold dancing in celebration over the body.

Andrews had received five stays of his scheduled execution - the last one less than a month before his death. He was sentenced to die in 1982 for the fatal shooting of the owner and an employee of Granado's Jewelry Store in downtown Beaumont. A California prison psychiatrist who had daily contact with Arnold in 1987 and 1988 testified that he believed Arnold was one of the most dangerous people he had come across. He also testified that Arnold would be an ongoing threat of physical harm to others, whether outside or inside prison.

At trial, after the State closed, Arnold chose to testify, stating that he was satisfied with the jury's decisions, the court's conduct, and the representation of his attorneys. He also made the following statements: That he had committed the murder and deserved to die. That "there are some people that aren't fit to live in society [and] aren't fit to live, and I think I belong in the latter category. I'm no longer fit to live because I can't live in a moral, law-abiding society. I think it would be a moral decision for you to make by sentencing me to die. I have taken a life, so therefore, I deserve to have my own life forfeited. If it's not taken at this point--if you miss this opportunity, there's a good chance that I will kill again. That's just the way I am."

Arnold also read two poems he had written. When questioned by the State as to why he read poetry, Arnold only responded that everything in the news articles in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times was fair and accurate. When the State attempted a further question, Arnold left the stand.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Jermarr Arnold - Scheduled Execution Date and Time: 1/16/02 7:00 PM EST.

On Jan. 16 Jermarr Arnold is scheduled to become Texas’ second execution of the new year. To the best of his recollection, Arnold has been behind bars for all but fifteen months of his adult life. His last crime, the murder of Christine Sanchez during a robbery, landed him on death row almost 20 years ago.

Two months after escaping from the Colorado State Hospital where he was being treated for severe schizophrenia, Arnold committed murder. While the facts of the case are not in doubt, his “legal sanity” certainly is.

Arnold had been documented as schizophrenic in 1978 and again in 1983, months before his crime. However, when the State of Texas attempted to rebut his insanity plea, prosecutors used expert testimony about his mental health taken in 1987, nearly four years after the crime. Ignoring evidence indicating his inability to know right from wrong, a jury quickly convicted and sentenced him to death. About this conviction, Arnold’s attorney said, “[His doctors] have told me that he is insane. My view is based to a great extent on what they told me. The jury just didn’t buy it.” Even a credible claim of insanity isn’t enough to keep a person off death row in Texas.

Jermarr Arnold’s case highlights a disturbing trend in Texas and the rest of the nation. Already in Texas this year a death penalty case against Andrea Yates is likely to go forward, in spite of her apparent psychosis during the time of the murders. Furthermore, the man charged with killing two Capitol police officers in Washington, DC in 1998 will likely be forced to take antipsychotic medication allowing him to stand trial for capital murder. These cases are all similar in their apparent insensitivity to mental health issues. For people suffering from mental illness, the death penalty is particularly inappropriate.