Family Asks for Clemency for Timothy Adams in Texas Execution Set for Feb 22

Timothy Adams’ parents, Columbus and Wilma Adams, and his brother Chadrick, are among those asking the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to intercede, something the board has only done twice during Gov. Rick Perry’s tenure.

From the Houston Chronicle:

In a session fraught with emotion and tears, family and friends of killer Timothy Wayne Adams on Tuesday publicly called on the state’s pardons board to spare the life of the one-time security guard who is to be executed later this month for the murder of his 19-month-old son.

The public plea came one day after the Texas Defender Service formally asked the board to recommend that Gov. Rick Perrycommute the 42-year-old man’s sentence to life in prison. During Perry’s tenure, the board only twice has recommended commutation, and the governor on both occasions allowed the executions to proceed.

Defender Service lawyer Katherine Black said Adams has exhausted his court appeals.

“My grandson meant the world to me,” said the killer’s father, careerHouston firefighter Columbus Adams. “The family and I have been suffering tremendously from that day to this day. In dealing with my son, I told him I would be with him to the end. He has been remorseful from day one.”

Both the elder Adams and his wife, Wilma, said they have forgiven their son.

“I would ask the governor and the board to, just for a moment, try to put themselves in my place and see how they would feel,” Wilma Adams said. “We all make terrible mistakes, but God is a forgiving God and we all need to learn to forgive. Taking Timothy’s life is not going to bring back my grandson.”

The condemned man’s parents said they visit him as often as once a week, and as relatives, church colleagues and friends gathered at the Adams’ northeast Houston home, a death row photo of the killer stood in a place of honor on a living room table.

Adams is set to die Feb. 22 for the Feb. 20, 2002 murder of Timothy Adams Jr., whom he shot during a standoff with police at his home. The police siege grew out of a dispute between Adams and his wife, Emma, who was in the process of moving out of the couple’s residence. During the episode, Adams also threatened to commit suicide.