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Clydell COLEMAN
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Robbery
- Drugs
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
February 24,
1989
Date of birth:
October 1,
1936
Victim profile: Leetisha
Joe (female, 88)
Method of murder: Strangulation
with one of her own
stockings
Location: McLennan County, Texas, USA
Status:
Executed
by lethal injection in Texas on May 5,
1999
Clydell Coleman was tried
and convicted for the Feb 24, 1989 murder of 88-year-old Leetisha
Joe and was executed at the age of 62 on May 5, 1999, making him the
oldest man ever executed in Texas.
Coleman and his girlfriend Yolanda Phillips had both
been smoking crack cocaine an hour before Coleman decided to
burglarize Joe’s house. Coleman and Phillips’ original intentions
were to rob the woman and sell her possessions to buy more crack.
Joe who had been outside, walked in on them, began screaming, and
attacked Phillips. Coleman then threw a blanket over her head, hit
her with a hammer, and proceeded to strangle her with one of her own
stockings. Coleman then left Joe’s body in the bathtub.
Coleman and Phillips ransacked Joe’s house for an
hour and stole items they could sell to buy more drugs. Coleman and
Phillips were linked to the crime by a fingerprint Phillips left
behind on a jewelry box in Joe’s home.
Coleman pleaded guilty to the murder charge, was
tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. Phillips pleaded guilty
to burglary charges and was required to testify against Coleman in
court. In exchange for her testimony, Prosecutor Ralph Strother
dismissed the capital murder charge, and Phillips received a 30-year
prison sentence.
While in prison Coleman repeatedly denied killing Joe
and told a fellow inmate that he was innocent. Coleman’s defense
attorney Walter Reaves said he always believed that Coleman’s
accomplice had something more to do with the murder than she
admitted. “Coleman was primarily responsible for the murder, but
Phillips had a major part too,” Reaves said. Coleman had letters
written to Phillips by a fellow inmate named Johnny Long while they
were in jail to convince her to marry him. Long convinced Coleman
to do this so Phillips could not testify against Coleman in court
because of the law that does not allow spouses to testify against
each other.
Coleman had been a career criminal all his life. He
had four prior convictions of burglary and forgery, both of which
kept him in and out of prison since the 1950’s. “Before this murder,
Coleman was primarily a non-violent thief. Coleman had been a model
prisoner. He functioned better in a structured society like prison,
but didn’t do too well out in the real world,” Reaves said.
Strother did not believe Coleman was as innocent as
he made himself out to be. “Coleman murdered the woman who fed and
took care of him since he was a small child. Coleman looked her in
the face as he killed her. Coleman murdering someone was just a
matter of time. It was going to happen eventually,” Strother said.
Reeves said that Coleman’s appeal process was not
unusual. Coleman received an automatic appeal of his death sentence
with the Court of Criminal Appeals. Coleman’s appeals then went to
the state court, and to the Supreme Court twice, but to no avail.
Clydell Coleman, 62, 99-05-05, Texas
In Huntsville, a 62-year-old cocaine addict whose lengthy criminal
career began when he was 18 was executed Wednesday night for beating
a Waco woman with a hammer and then strangling her during a burglary.
Clydell Coleman was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m., 8 minutes after an
executioner started the flow of lethal drugs into his hands.
Coleman declined to make a final statement while strapped to the
death chamber gurney.
As the injection was started, Coleman nodded toward his spiritual
advisor, who watched through a window a few feet away, and glanced
toward 5 members of his victim's family in another adjacent witness
room. Then he closed his eyes tightly and took 2 quick breaths
before he stopped moving.
Coleman was the oldest person executed in Texas since the state
resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982, the 2nd convicted
killer put to death in the state in as many days and the 12th this
year.
He was among the nation's oldest convicted killers executed. A 66-year-
old Florida convict was put to death in 1984, and an Arkansas
murderer was executed in 1995 at age 64.
Coleman, who worked as a janitor, was condemned for the Feb. 24,
1989, murder of 87-year-old Leetisha Joe at her Waco home. Coleman
grew up in a house across the street.
Trial testimony showed Coleman and a female companion entered the
house through a back door. When they unexpectedly found Ms. Joe at
home, Coleman covered her head with a blanket, hit her repeatedly
with a hammer and then strangled her with her own stocking.
The 2 fled with the woman's television, a clock radio, sheets, a
cooler, fan and ladder. The fingerprints of Coleman's accomplice,
Yolanda Phillips, were found at the home. She was arrested and
implicated Coleman, telling authorities they both were high on
cocaine and needed to steal items to sell so they could support
their drug habits.
McLennan County District Attorney John Segrest said Coleman's crime
was made for the death penalty.
"All murders are uncalled for, but there are certain murders that
really meet the description," he said. "To take advantage of an old
person and then take her property and kill her is an unbelievable
act of gratuitous violence."
A witness at his trial said Coleman had bragged of robbing the same
woman of $4,000 less than a year earlier and that he talked of
planning to rob her again once she had a chance to rebuild her
savings.
"Since the day of the sentencing, it's been on my mind," Ms. Joe's
son, 73-year-old Arthur Joe of Dallas, told the Waco Tribune-Herald,
adding he thought the more than 9 years Coleman spent on death row
awaiting execution was appropriate.
"I wouldn't have wanted it to be the next day," he said of the
punishment. "I wanted extensive time for him to suffer for what he
did to my mother."
Coleman 1st served prison time in 1954 when he was given 5 years for
a McLennan County burglary. He was paroled after 19 months. 2 years
later, he was convicted in Dallas of another burglary, serving 28
months of a 5-year sentence.
He was back in prison in 1966, again for burglary in Dallas. He was
released after serving 3 years of a 6-year sentence. In July 1974,
he got 15 years for a McLennan County burglary and was paroled 6
years later. He also was accused, but not tried, for a burglary
similar to the Joe case, where an 88-year-old woman was robbed after
she had a blanket thrown over her head.
Ms. Phillips, 40, plea-bargained for a 30-year prison term in
exchange for her testimony. Her criminal record has at least 15
convictions, including 9 for prostitution. She could be paroled in
2004.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
Clydell Coleman has been
on death row since October 1989. He was convicted in the
strangulation death of his former neighbor, Leetisha Joe.
Yolanda Phillips, a former
prostitute and girlfriend of Coleman's, testified that they were
high on crack cocaine when they broke into Joe's house looking for
things to steal to buy more drugs.
Trial testimony showed Coleman
and Phillips entered the house through a back door. When they
unexpectedly found Ms. Joe at home, Phillips said Coleman threw a
blanket over the elderly woman's head and beat her head in with a
hammer, then ripped a stocking off her leg and choked her with it.
Coleman, who worked as a
janitor, was condemned for the Feb. 24, 1989, murder of 87-year-old
Leetisha Joe at her Waco home. Coleman grew up in a house across the
street. The 2 fled with the woman's television, a clock radio,
sheets, a cooler, fan and ladder.
Phillips' fingerprints were
found at the home. She was arrested and implicated Coleman, telling
authorities they both were high on cocaine and needed to steal items
to sell so they could support their drug habits.
McLennan County District
Attorney John Segrest said Coleman's crime was made for the death
penalty. "All murders are uncalled for, but there are certain
murders that really meet the description," he said. "To take
advantage of an old person and then take her property and kill her
is an unbelievable act of gratuitous violence."
A witness at his trial said
Coleman had bragged of robbing the same woman of $4,000 less than a
year earlier and that he talked of planning to rob her again once
she had a chance to rebuild her savings.
"Since the day of the
sentencing, it's been on my mind," Ms. Joe's son, 73-year-old Arthur
Joe of Dallas, told the Waco Tribune-Herald, adding he thought the
more than 9 years Coleman spent on death row awaiting execution was
appropriate. "I wouldn't have wanted it to be the next day," he
said of the punishment. "I wanted extensive time for him to suffer
for what he did to my mother."
Coleman 1st served prison time
in 1954 when he was given 5 years for a McLennan County burglary. He
was paroled after 19 months. 2 years later, he was convicted in
Dallas of another burglary, serving 28 months of a 5-year sentence.
He was back in prison in 1966, again for burglary in Dallas. He was
released after serving 3 years of a 6-year sentence.
In July 1974, he got 15 years
for a McLennan County burglary and was paroled 6 years later. He
also was accused, but not tried, for a burglary similar to the Joe
case, where an 88-year-old woman was robbed after she had a blanket
thrown over her head.
Ms. Phillips, 40, plea-bargained
for a 30-year prison term in exchange for her testimony. Her
criminal record has at least 15 convictions, including 9 for
prostitution. She could be paroled in 2004.
