EXECUTION FACT SHEET: RANSOM

[FERRANTE]

This is for your continued edification.

MArk Ferrante

FACT SHEET ON KENNETH RAY RANSOM

Texas Attorney General Dan Morales offers the following
information on Kenneth
Ray Ransom, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m.,
Tuesday, October
28, 1997.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

Kenneth Ray Ransom was convicted for the capital murder of
Arnold Pequeno
during the course of committing and attempting to commit
robbery in Houston, Texas.

Ransom was with his girlfriend, Wanda Phillips, at her home for
most of the day on
June 30, 1983. After 7 p.m., James Randle, a friend of
Ransom's, came to Phillips'
home to talk with him. Ransom and Randle went outside -- away
from Phillips and
her small daughter. The two talked for about 15 minutes. Randle
left and Ransom
came back into the home. Later, Randle returned to the home for
a second time. He
and Ransom went outside again to talk for about 15 minutes.
Randle left, but
between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m., he returned to the home and for a
third time he and
Ransom went outside to talk. Both men went into the kitchen
after this third
discussion. While there, they removed a butcher knife from the
dish drainer. Randle
told Ransom, "Oh man, here's one that we can use."

As they started to leave with the knife, Phillips asked Ransom
where he was going
and said that she needed her knife. Ransom responded that they
were going to pick
up Randle's cousin's paycheck. Randle told her, "Hold on you're
going to get your
knife back. We'll bring that knife back."

Between 9:30 and 10 p.m., Randle's mother saw Randle with
Richard James
Wilkerson, Randle's cousin, and "another boy" at her home.
Randle's younger brother,
Jessie, saw Ransom leave with Randle and Wilkerson at some time
before midnight.
Earlier that day, Randle's mother had borrowed a butcher knife
from one of her
neighbors but was later unable to find it.

At approximately 10 p.m., Wilkerson's sister saw Ransom
standing outside her home
when she unlocked the screen door to let her brother inside.
Wilkerson went into the
kitchen and rummaged through the drawer where the family kept
the butcher knives.
Randle waited in the kitchen doorway. After going through the
drawer, Wilkerson
went into the bedroom with Randle. The two went outside five or
10 minutes after
they had arrived at the home. When Wilkerson's sister locked
the door behind them
she saw Ransom speaking with Wilkerson and Randle. The three
left together.

Anil Varughese, Rod Harris, Arnold Pequeno, and Joerene Pequeno
were employees
of the Malibu Grand Prix Race Center in Houston. The race
center, which had video
games inside and a racetrack for go-carts outside, was open for
business from 10
a.m. until midnight. Richard James Wilkerson had also been
employed by the race
center but his employment was terminated on June 20, 1983.
Wilkerson could not
pick up his last paycheck until June 30, 1983 -- the day that
Ransom told Phillips that
he was going to pick up Randle's cousin's paycheck. Before
Wilkerson could get the
check he had to appear in person at the race center and sign
his time card indicating
that he had received it. As of 2:30 p.m. on June 30, 1983,
Wilkerson had not picked
up his check.

At 3 a.m. on July 1, 1983, Ransom, with Randle and Wilkerson,
returned to Phillips'
home. Wilkerson was carrying a black satchel. Ransom went into
the bathroom and
the other two men went into the bedroom. All three men had
blood on their clothing.
Ransom, while in the bathroom, tended to a severe cut on the
inside of his right hand.

Inside the bedroom, Wilkerson poured the contents of the black
satchel -- currency, a
wallet, a calculator, and a watch -- onto the bed. Some of the
money was bloody.
The three men counted it together after which Randle gave
Ransom a share. Phillips
estimated Ransom's share to be around $325. Ransom counted the
money, put it into
his pocket, and began watching television with the two other
men. Wilkerson and
Randle talked of how they had "slashed" somebody's throat and
"put the knife in
someone['s] temple." Phillips, while the men watched
television, began cleaning her
kitchen. She discovered that a billfold, some credit cards, and
a driver's license had
been discarded in the garbage. The driver's license had the
name "Roddy Harris" on
it. Randle took the billfold, the credit card, and the license
away from Phillips and
threw them into the dumpster.

When Phillips asked Ransom where the money had come from, he
replied, "We just
went and got some money." Phillips and Ransom, the next day,
used the money to
purchase clothing for themselves.

At around 8 a.m. on July 1,1983, the bodies of Anil Varughese,
Rod Harris, Joerene
Pequeno, and Arnold Pequeno were discovered at the race center
by a friend of
Varughese's. Anil Varughese's body was discovered in the
manager's office. He had
been stabbed at least eight times -- five times in the chest
and three times in the
abdomen.

The other three bodies were found in one of the race center's
bathrooms. Rod
Harris' body was found in one of the stalls. He had been
stabbed at least seven times
in the chest. Joerene Pequeno's body was found in the other
stall. He had been
stabbed eleven times -- once in the chest, once in the neck,
once in the back, and
once in the right hand. He had been stabbed seven times in the
neck area with one
cut severing his jugular vein. Arnold Pequeno's body was in a
corner with his head
under one of the urinals. He had been stabbed and cut
twenty-two times in the neck,
chest, abdomen, back, and right hand. One of the cuts to his
neck severed his jugular
vein. Arnold's watch and class ring were missing along with a
black satchel in which
he carried his school books.

The three victims' blood covered the bathroom floor and was
splattered on the walls
and ceiling. There was blood not matching that of the victims
on the sink's counter,
on a paper towel, and on the bathroom door. A trail of blood
led out of the bathroom,
through the race center, and into the parking lot area.
Analysis revealed that this
blood could not have come from any of the victims or from
either Randle or
Wilkerson. Only Ransom's blood was genetically compatible to
it.

A fingerprint lifted from the door to the bathroom stall where
Harris' body was found
matched Ransom's left index finger. The print was discovered on
the inside of the
door at the top. A fingerprint lifted from the inside of the
door to the bathroom stall
where Joerene Pequeno's body was found matched Randle's.

More than $1,300 was missing from the race center's safe and
petty cash drawers.
Wilkerson's last paycheck was also missing. His time card had
been signed and was
found lying on the manager's desk.

The knife that was taken from Phillips' home was discovered in
an area near the
racetrack. The knife was broken into two pieces.

Late on the evening of the day the bodies were discovered,
Ransom was with Phillips
watching television. A news story about the murders was
broadcast. Upon seeing the
story, Ransom became visibly upset. At around 7 p.m., Ransom
told Phillips that he
was going to Wharton, Texas. The last time Phillips saw Ransom,
he was wearing a
high school class ring and a watch both of which were identical
to the ones that
Arnold Pequeno had been wearing before his murder. Phillips had
never seen
Ransom wear the ring or the watch prior to that day. Also, the
calculator that was in
the satchel along with the satchel itself were identified at
trial as belonging to Arnold
Pequeno.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Ransom is in custody pursuant to the judgment and sentence of
the 176th District
Court of Harris County, Texas, in Cause No. 384,336. Ransom was
indicted on July
11, 1983, for the capital murder of Arnold Pequeno. Ransom was
tried before a jury
following his plea of not guilty. On June 14, 1984, the jury
found Ransom guilty of the
capital offense. A separate sentencing hearing ensued, and the
following day, the
same jury answered affirmatively the two special issues
submitted pursuant to the
former provisions of article 37.071(b) of the Texas Code of
Criminal Procedure. In
accordance with Texas law, the trial court sentenced Ransom to
death.

Ransom directly appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals, which affirmed
the conviction and sentence on June 14, 1989. Ransom v. State,
789 S.W.2d 572
(Tex. Crim. App. 1989). Ransom's petition for writ of
certiorari was denied by the
Supreme Court on June 25, 1990. Ransom v. Texas, 497 U.S. 1010
(1990).

Ransom, through counsel, filed an application for writ of
habeas corpus in the state
trial court on March 16, 1992. Ex parte Ransom, No. 29,820-01
(Tex. Crim. App.
Nov. 8, 1995). On September 29, 1992, the State responded to
Ransom's application.
The trial court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law
recommending that
relief be denied on August 30, 1995. On the same day, the trial
court scheduled
Ransom's execution for February 6, 1996. On November 8, 1995,
the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals denied habeas relief on the basis of the trial
court's findings of fact
and conclusions of law.

On January 24, 1996, less than two weeks prior to Ransom's
scheduled execution,
Ransom, through his current counsel, notified the state trial
court that Ransom's state
habeas counsel could not represent Ransom on federal habeas
review and sought a
modification of the execution date. The state trial court
agreed to the modification
and rescheduled Ransom's execution for May 7, 1996. One week
later, on February
1, 1996, Ransom, again through current counsel, filed in the
federal district court a
request for a stay of the May 7, 1996, execution date and a
request for the
appointment of counsel. The district court granted both
requests. On April 22, 1996,
Ransom filed his federal habeas application. On June 17, 1996,
Ransom amended his
petition. The Director answered Ransom's claims and moved for
summary judgment
on July 25, 1996.

On March 5, 1997, the district court, in a 60-page memorandum
and order, granted
the Director's motion for summary judgment and denied all
relief requested by
Ransom. In a separate order, the district court entered final
judgment on the same
day.

On March 20, 1997, Ransom moved to alter or amend the judgment
of the district
court pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e), and his motion was
denied on April 25, 1997.
On May 23, 1997, Ransom filed a notice of appeal and a request
for a certificate of
appealability ("COA"). Ransom's request for COA was denied by
the district court
on June 4, 1997.

On June 26, 1997, the trial court scheduled Ransom's execution
for October 28, 1997.
Ransom moved for a stay of execution in the Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals on
August 20, 1997. On September 26, 1997, Ransom filed his
application for certificate
of probable cause to appeal ("CPC") in the Fifth Circuit. On
October 21, 1997, the
Fifth Circuit denied both Ransom's request for CPC and his
request for a stay of
execution.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Ransom had prior convictions for burglary and unauthorized use
of a motor vehicle.
At the punishment phase of trial, the state also presented
Michael Lee, who testified
that he was the victim of an attempted aggravated robbery
committed by Ransom
only days prior to the murders at Malibu Grand Prix.