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#Post#: 409--------------------------------------------------
~ Travis Runnels, 11Dec19, (TX) ~
By: BuzzC Date: November 15, 2019, 7:21 pm
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Local death row inmate set with execution date--
August 8, 2019
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) -District Attorney Randall Sims came
forward with an official execution date for the ongoing death
penalty case for Travis Runnels.
Runnels has been on death row for 13 years for the murder of a
prison supervisor of a shoe-making shop in Amarillo’s Clements
unit.
Today, the 47th District Attorney announced the date of his
execution is set for December 11, 2019.
Runnels criminal history started in 1993, where he was convicted
of second-degree felony of burglary. He would go on the
accumulate two more felony charges.
His second felony charge of aggravated robbery included carrying
a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 70 years in prison and
would be eligible for parole in 2025.
His final felony charge while in prison in Amarillo would later
lead to his death penalty.
In 2003, Runnels was working on the cleaning staff in the
Clements unit boot shop, and had disputes because he wanted to
work in the prison’s barbershop. On the day of the murder,
Runnels asked another inmate for his boot knife where he would
later walk behind the shop’s supervisor, Stanley Wiley, and slit
his throat.
He was charged with murder after pleading guilty.
In 2005, the charge then turned into a Capital murder
conviction, and two days later he was sentenced with the death
penalty.
After many appeals were denied, on August 8th 2019, the 47th
District Attorney announced Runnels execution date is set for
December 11, 2019.
At the news conference, NewsChannel10 asked the District
Attorney why the courts decided to pursue the death penalty when
many prosecutors have been shying away due to expense.
“I’m not going to let expense or politics ever interfere with
the decision about what I’m going to do on that. I’ve got office
policies, I’ve got five things in it, the very first one is
always do the right thing,” explained 47th District Attorney
Randall C. Sims.
The District Attorney also explained how inmates came forward
with no reward on behalf of Wiley.
“There were eight inmates that testified against Travis Runnels
and the reason they did it, I’ll sum it up as 'he’s the nicest
man out there, he treated us as equals and was very nice to
everybody out there, including the inmates. The inmate that gave
the boot knife to Mr. Runnels, while he was the stand, he cried
just nearly the whole time,” said Sims.
There are 219 inmates currently on Texas’ death row. Texas,
which reinstated the death penalty in 1976, has the most active
execution chamber in the nation
#Post#: 412--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Travis Runnels, 11Dec19, (TX) ~
By: BuzzC Date: December 10, 2019, 9:48 pm
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Inmate set to be executed for killing prison guard--
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Travis Runnels is set to receive a lethal injection Wednesday
evening at the Huntsville “Walls” Unit for the Jan. 29, 2003
murder of Stanley Wiley. Court records show that Runnels was
serving a 70-year sentence for armed robbery when the crime
occurred.
On the morning of the murder, Runnels was working at the boot
factory in the Clements Unit. Arriving at the factory, Runnels
took a knife used for trimming leather, slipped up behind Wiley
and slit his throat. Following the murder, wittnesses say that
he told another inmate, "It could have been any offender or
inmate, you know, as long as they was white."
#Post#: 413--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Travis Runnels, 11Dec19, (TX) ~
By: BuzzC Date: December 13, 2019, 12:26 am
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Travis Runnels
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Execution
Sent to death row in 2005 after confessing to the murder of a
prison supervisor of a shoe-making shop in Amarillo’s Clements
unit. Runnell’s legal team has filed appeals criticizing his
trial lawyer for failing to investigate mitigating factors that
might have spared his life. Among the things they might have
uncovered were the results of mental health testing and evidence
of a chaotic and damaging childhood.
#Post#: 414--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Travis Runnels, 11Dec19, (TX) ~
By: Moonbeam Date: December 20, 2019, 4:29 am
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So, do you think he should have had consideration given to
childhood and mental health?
#Post#: 416--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Travis Runnels, 11Dec19, (TX) ~
By: BuzzC Date: January 16, 2020, 5:46 pm
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I must have been very stoned to post that garbage about Runnels.
Mitigation? WTF??? No mam, Moonbeam. The prick died as he needed
to...
Texas executes Travis Runnels for killing prison supervisor in
2003--
December 11, 2019
A black Texas inmate who hated white people was executed by
lethal injection Wednesday evening for killing a supervisor at a
state prison shoe factory in Amarillo nearly 17 years ago.
Travis Runnels, 46, was convicted of slashing the throat of
38-year-old Stanley Wiley on January 29, 2003. Runnels was
executed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
Prosecutors say Runnels killed Wiley at the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice Clements Unit in Amarillo because he didn't
like working as a janitor at the shoe factory. They said Runnels
had wanted to transfer to a job at the prison barber shop and
was angry at Wiley because that hadn't happened.
Runnels, belted to the death chamber gurney, responded "No" when
the warden asked if he had a final statement. As the lethal dose
of the powerful sedative pentobarbital was administered, he
smiled and mouthed words and a kiss toward three female friends
and two of his attorneys who watched through a window a few feet
from him. He then blurted out "Woof, woof!" just before taking
four quick breaths and snoring four times before all movement
stopped.
He never looked at the sister and brother-in-law of his victim,
who watched through a window in an adjacent witness room.
Runnels was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. CST, 22 minutes after
the drug began flowing into his arms, making him the 22nd inmate
put to death this year in the U.S. and the ninth in Texas.
Runnels is the final execution scheduled in Texas for 2019.
Outside the Huntsville Unit prison, several hundred Texas
corrections officers stood in formation. Wiley's sister,
Margaret Robertson, hugged or shook the hands of many of them as
she and her husband left the prison.
Runnels had been serving a 70-year sentence for an aggravated
robbery conviction from Dallas when he killed Wiley with a knife
used to trim shoes. The factory makes shoes for inmates in the
state prison system.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down an appeal
by Runnels' attorneys.
Lower courts and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had also
turned down Runnels' attorneys' requests to stop his execution.
Four inmates who were convicted in the deaths of state
correctional officers or other prison employees have been put to
death since 1974, while three others remain on death row,
according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
At the factory, Runnels approached Wiley from behind, pulled his
head back and used enough force for the knife to go through his
trachea and cut Wiley's spinal cord.
"It was cowardly," prosecutor Randall Sims told jurors at
Runnels' trial.
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