2016-06-30
HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Aug. 30 (AP)--A paroled burglar was executed Wednesday for beating and stabbing his parents and sister to death with a hammer and butcher knife 12 years ago.

Jeffery Henry Caldwell, 37, was the sixth Texas inmate given a lethal injection this month and the 32nd this year. In a lengthy final statement, he expressed love for his family, including two brothers who had testified against him. "I can forgive you all but you must ask for forgiveness from God," Caldwell said. "I leave now to join my parents and my only sister."

Caldwell's lawyers had argued that he was incompetent to stand trial. He had told police who interviewed him after the bodies were found that his parents, Henry and Gwendolyn Caldwell, and his 19-year-old sister, Kimberly, had run into his knife during an argument in their Dallas home. In his statement to police, he said he had been arguing with his father over money and was upset because his father would give money to his sister but not to him.

Caldwell had previous convictions for burglary and robbery and had been on parole for about four months when the killings occurred.

Years later, in an interview on death row, Caldwell blamed the fatal attacks on a Jamaican mob angry because he had stolen some of their drugs. On Wednesday, he again declared he was innocent.

Prosecutors said Caldwell's brothers had helped persuade them to seek the death penalty. The two testified during the punishment phase of the trial saying they believed Caldwell would be a continuing threat to society. One of the brothers, Henry Caldwell III, told The Dallas Morning News earlier this week: "I don't want my brother to die. But nevertheless, he committed a wrong. He has to face judgment for this."

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