For the drug-related murders of four individuals more than 30 years ago, a Texas prisoner will be put to death on Thursday.
The fatalities that occurred in a Houston residence in June 1992 during a narcotics robbery were blamed on Arthur Brown Jr. Investigators claimed that Brown purchased cocaine from Jose Tovar and his wife Rachel as part of a conspiracy that transported drugs from Texas to Alabama.
Jose Tovar, 32, Frank Farias, 17, his wife Rachel Tovar’s other son’s girlfriend Jessica Quiones, 19, and their next-door neighbour Audrey Brown, 21, were all killed during the drug robbery. Each of the four had been handcuffed and shot in the head. Both Rachel Tovar and the second victim of the shooting lived.
“I don’t understand how someone could have killed a pregnant woman and then subjected her to such suffering. The older sister of Jessica Quiones, Maricella Quiones, remarked, “It’s just beyond words. Jessica Quiones called her unborn child Alyssa when she was nine months pregnant.
Marion Dudley, one of Brown’s shooting partners, was put to death in 2006. A third partner received a life sentence.
The Associated Press also covered the news on Twitter:
A Texas inmate is facing execution for the drug-related killings of four people more than 30 years ago. Arthur Brown Jr. is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. https://t.co/hvIydeWVsd
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 9, 2023
Social Media Algorithms amplified Internet Interest In Ms. Bulley’s Case
Brown, 52, a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has long insisted that someone else was responsible for the killings.
The execution was set to take place on Thursday night at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas, and his counsel has petitioned the US Supreme Court to end it. They contend Brown has intellectual disabilities.
The high court has outlawed the death penalty for people with intellectual disabilities.
In their appeal to the Supreme Court, Mr. Brown’s attorneys stated that his friends and relatives were aware of his intellectual limitations and that he was routinely referred to as “slow” by those who knew him.
Lower courts denied previous appeals submitted by Brown’s counsel. They contend that he is innocent and that a witness implicated another suspect. Additionally, they argue that a juror’s decision to condemn Brown was influenced by racial prejudice and that Brown’s conviction was, therefore, invalid. Brown is a man of color.
On Tuesday, a Houston court rejected Brown’s attorneys’ request for DNA testing of evidence that they claimed may clear their client.
Brown’s last-minute appeals were referred to as a delay strategy by Josh Reiss, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston’s Post-Conviction Writs Division chief.
Reiss testified that although the inmate’s potential intellectual disability was first suspected in the third grade, school records shown at Brown’s trial proved that by the ninth grade, it was no longer the case. The prosecution added that Brown’s claims of innocence are troublesome because detectives discovered that the second suspect, who was allegedly the murderer, was not in Houston at the time.
Reiss declared, “It was an utterly horrible mass murder. These families deserve justice.
Maricela Quiones, 52, said her sister was a victim who didn’t know the Tovars were operating a drug business out of the house. She claimed that her mother held the Tovars accountable for what occurred.
Maricella Quiones remarked, “After my sister died, my mother isn’t the same.
According to Maricella Quiones, her sister was a “charming, caring person” who had eagerly anticipated becoming a mother. She predicted that there would be no resolution for her family.
“Two people died. She said, “Alyssa never had a chance at life.
The second of two executions this week in Texas is that of Brown. Gary Green, another prisoner, was executed on Tuesday for killing his ex-wife with a knife and drowning her 6-year-old daughter in a bathtub. Brown would be the ninth prisoner executed in the United States this year and the fifth in Texas.
Brown is one of six death row convicts in Texas who have joined a lawsuit to prevent the use of allegedly hazardous and outdated execution medications by the state’s prison system. Four of the prisoners were executed this year, notwithstanding the preliminary agreement of the claims by an Austin civil court judge.
We will keep you updated with more such news. Until then, keep a watch on updatebulletin.com.
Read the post below if you’re interested in learning more news:
