Lamont Reese, Executed
deb...@comcast.net
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU
HUNTSVILLE -- Lamont Reese, a Fort Worth drug dealer and gang member
who led an assault-rifle rampage sparked by flirtatious remarks toward
his girlfriend, went to his death Tuesday evening as his mother
screamed and kicked two holes in the wall in a room adjacent to the
execution chamber.
Reese, who was 21 when the triple murder was committed in 1999,
protested his innocence before the lethal dose was administered and
appeared to boast that he had to be carried by prison guards to the
gurney in Huntsville's Walls Unit.
"I want everyone to know that I did not walk to [the death chamber]
because this is straight-up murder," said Reese, who was strapped to
the gurney and covered to the chest with a white sheet.
"I am not going to play a part in my own murder."
In a room separated from the death chamber by reinforced glass, the
condemned man's mother squealed and sobbed loudly, and she pounded on
both the window and the wall.
"Please, Jesus, please," said Brenda Reese, who was comforted by others
in the witness room and later collapsed on the prison grounds. "Oh,
God! They killed my baby."
Reese, who gave a lengthy final statement, choked out his last words,
which were cut short by the lethal drugs.
"This is some nasty," he said, not finishing the sentence. He was
pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m.
Reese, 28, was convicted of the March 1, 1999, shootings outside the
Stop & Shop convenience store at 2601 S. Riverside Drive. Three men
were killed, and a fourth man and a teenage boy were wounded. Police
said the shooting started because men hanging out at the store made
flirtatious remarks to Reese's girlfriend.
Killed were Riki Jackson, 17, Alonzo Stewart, 26, and Anthony Roney,
25.
According to testimony at his capital murder trial, Reese went to the
Stop & Shop with his girlfriend, Kareema Kimbrough. Outside was a group
of men drinking and shooting dice. When Kimbrough, 18, went outside,
she exchanged words with the men, who were said to be members of a gang
that was a rival to Reese's.
Hearing that the men had flirted with Kimbrough, the 21-year-old Reese
went home to gather up friends and firearms and returned. Kimbrough
drove, and her 2-year-old son was brought along for the ride, according
to testimony.
Kimbrough was also convicted of capital murder and is serving a life
sentence. Jason Leadley, Brian Johnson and Steven Kindred pleaded
guilty and are serving sentences ranging from 35 years to 50 years in
prison.
Reese spent his final day in a holding cell outside Huntsville's death
chamber. There, he packed up his personal belongings, showered and read
before visiting with his family and friends, officials said.
Prison officials described his mood as upbeat. He requested a bountiful
last meal that included fajitas with cheese, jalapeños and sour cream.
He also asked for enchiladas, soft beef tacos with salsa, a bacon
cheeseburger, fried chicken, pizza and chicken salad with ranch
dressing.
The U.S. Supreme Court and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
rejected Reese's final appeals earlier in the day. The appeals were
based on claims that he was mentally retarded and that Texas'
application of the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment
prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
In addition to his mother, Reese invited four friends and his spiritual
adviser to witness his execution.
In the chamber on behalf of the victims were LaBarbara Smith and
Fredrick Smith, the sister and brother-in-law of Roney; and Betty Sue
Nelson and Harold Eugene Nelson, mother and stepfather of Stewart.
Addressing them, Reese insisted that he had no part in the killings.
"I don't know how you feel about me," Reese said. "And whether you
believe it or not, I did not kill them. I want you all to have peace.
"You have to move past it. It's time to move on."
They offered no reaction to the condemned man's final words or the
mother's outburst, and they declined to speak with reporters afterward.