Denard Manns was executed tonight in Texas, becoming the 422nd person executed in Texas since 1982.
From the Houston Chronicle:
“From Allah he came and from Allah he shall return,” Denard Manns said from the death chamber gurney.
He criticized by name his trial attorneys for what he said was an unfair trial, criticized an appeals lawyer for “purposely bringing up claims that did not exist,” and thanked another lawyer for taking on his appeal after he was supposed to be off the case.
Manns expressed love to friends and then said, “I’m ready for the transition.”
He uttered what appeared to be a brief prayer three times and was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. CST, 10 minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.
Manns, 42, who came to Texas after a second prison sentence in New York for armed robbery, was condemned for the murder 10 years ago of Michelle Robson, 26.
Manns was the 17th convicted killer executed this year in the nation’s most active death penalty state and the second in as many days. Another three lethal injections are scheduled for next week in Texas.
Manns’ appeals in the courts were exhausted and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, acting Wednesday on a petition filed by his lawyer, refused to commute his sentence to life in prison.
