This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Jedidiah Murphy.
AP
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man who unsuccessfully challenged the safety of the state’s lethal injection drugs and raised questions about evidence used to persuade a jury to sentence him to death for killing an elderly woman decades ago was executed late Tuesday.
Jedidiah Murphy, 48, was pronounced dead after an injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the October 2000 fatal shooting of 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham of the Dallas suburb of Garland. Cunningham was killed during a carjacking.
“To the family of the victim, I sincerely apologize for all of it,” Murphy said while strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber and after a Christian pastor, his right hand on Murphy’s chest, prayed for the victim’s family, Murphy’s family and friends and the inmate.
“I hope this helps, if possible, give you closure,” Murphy said.
He then began a lengthy recitation of Psalm 34, ending with: “The Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who trust in him shall be condemned.”
After telling the warden he was ready, Murphy turned his head toward a friend watching through a window a few feet from him, telling her, “God bless all of y’all. It’s OK. Tell my babies I love them.”
Then he shouted out: “Bella is my wife!”
As the lethal dose of pentobarbital took effect, he took two barely audible breaths and appeared to go to sleep, The pastor stood over him, his left hand over Murphy’s heart, until a physician entered the room about 20 minutes later to examine Murphy and pronounce him dead at 10:15 p.m., 25…
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