Garcia Glenn White becomes 6th man executed in the United States in 11 days

Garcia Glenn White was executed by lethal injection Tuesday in Texas for the murder of 16-year-old identical twin sisters 35 years ago. The execution makes him the sixth death row inmate killed in the United States in the past 11 days, an unusually large number.

White, who became the fifth man executed in Texas this year, confessed to killing five people over a six-year period, but prosecutors brought charges only against the teenage girls. He was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m.

“I apologize and pray that you find peace, comfort and closure in your heart for the harm I have done and the pain I have caused you and anyone else I ’caused pain,” White said while he was tied up. at the execution table, apologizing to some of his victims’ family members. “I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused.”

White’s attorney of 26 years, Patrick McCann, said he was “devastated by this loss but at the same time it is even more devastating for Glenn’s family.”

Even though Glenn could have had five relatives in the room during the execution, he asked them not to come, McCann said. “I think he was trying to spare people the pain of seeing him die, and that’s the man they killed, and unfortunately it’s a waste,” he said.

Meanwhile, at least two family members of White’s victims planned to attend the execution in hopes of finding closure and seeking justice. Dewanta Washington, a 60-year-old Houston teacher whose beloved sister, Greta Williams, was beaten to death by White in 1989, told USA TODAY: “My sister will not truly be free until he is not executed until he has paid his debt. »

Here’s what you need to know about the execution, including White’s final words.

Garcia Glenn White’s final words and moments

White’s final words were filled with apologies, thanks and prayers, including prayers for the prison administration, guards and his fellow inmates.

“To all my incarcerated brothers and sisters, keep moving forward, keep loving one another,” he said. “To the administration again and to the guards, thank you for treating us like human beings.”

He thanked his family and friends “for all the love and comfort” and told them: “Keep your heads up, stay strong.”

“Again, I’m sorry for any pain I’ve caused anyone,” he said. “I just ask you to find comfort and close your heart.”

He then sang “I Trust in God.”

Who is Garcia Glenn White?

White, 61, grew up in a loving home with his six siblings and was a football star until an injury derailed his career during his freshman year at Lubbock Christian College. His girlfriend became pregnant, and White dropped out of school to work and support his new family, according to court records.

White eventually had two more children and was working full time when another injury cost him his job and he discovered crack cocaine, which eventually took over his life.

“He had no structure in his life,” a friend named Howard Gordon said in court records. “I could see him changing, and when I saw the guys he was hanging out with, I knew nothing good would come of it.”

After White’s crimes became known, Gordon said he couldn’t believe it. “Until he got addicted to drugs, there was nothing in him that could have done that.”

Before the drugs, White’s family described him as a gentle man who wouldn’t hurt anyone. His younger sister, Monica Garrett, said that “it didn’t take long for Glen to start crying,” according to court records. And his older brother, Alfred White Jr., said, “He was the biggest wimp you could find.”

After White had been imprisoned for a time, he and Gordon began a correspondence. Gordon observed: “He went back to that lovely guy I knew before he did drugs. »

His lawyer, McCann, said White even saved the life of a fellow inmate. Years ago, one inmate was going to throw the other off a third-story platform before White intervened and saved him.

“It’s just proof that we’re often wrong when we think people will never change, and I think there has to be room for that, and that’s not the case in Governor’s Texas (Greg) Abbott,” McCann said. “But I hope that will be the case one day.”

What was Garcia Glen White convicted of?

In total, White confessed to killing five people in three separate attacks. The first was Greta Williams, a 27-year-old who was beaten to death in 1989, just months after leaving Chicago for Houston for a fresh start. A few months later, White killed a Houston mother named Bonita Edwards and her identical twin daughters, Annette and Bernette Edwards, just a day after their 16th birthday and a few weeks before Christmas 1989.

The Edwards’ bodies were riddled with stab wounds in various states of undress, and strong evidence showed that Bernette had been sexually assaulted, according to court records. Their murders remained unsolved for six years.

And then, in 1995, White beat to death a convenience store employee and father of seven named Hai Pham. White was being held for Pham’s murder when one of his close friends told police that White admitted to killing the Edwards family. In addition to White’s eventual confession, his DNA was a 99.9999 percent match to the semen found on Bernette, according to court records.

White told police he and Edwards started fighting while they were using crack cocaine.

“She grabbed a knife, and I grabbed it and stabbed her,” he said, according to court records. “Some kids are coming out. I went into the room after them. … I stabbed one in the bedroom and one in the living room.”

Prosecutors only filed charges in the Edwards case, and White was convicted of murdering Annette and Bernette.

Who were Garcia Glenn White’s victims?

Dewanta Washington told USA TODAY that her sister, Greta Williams, was beaten so “beyond recognition” that the family could not have an open casket.

Washington said she and Williams were only two years apart, growing up as best friends who did everything together and dreamed of one day getting married and having children. Williams never got the chance before his murder.

Washington said she plans to return to where her family is from in Chicago to finally spread her sister’s ashes and let her rest now that White has been executed.

Little is known about Bonita Edwards and her identical twin daughters, Annette and Bernette. But the day before they were killed, the girls had turned 16 and begged their grandmother to let them come live with her, Harris County District Attorney Josh Reiss told USA TODAY.

“Two deceased 16-year-old girls speak for themselves about the savagery of these crimes,” he said.

The fifth victim, Hai Pham, had moved his wife and four youngest children to the United States in September 1994. Nine months later, White killed him in broad daylight in the convenience store where he worked while his 14-year-old son His son was taking a nap nearby, according to one of Pham’s other sons, Hiep Pham.

Hiep Pham, who was 17 at the time of the killing, told USA TODAY that his father taught his children English before they even left Vietnam and that his big dream was that his other adult children would eventually be reunited family in Vietnam. United States – a dream that never came true.

While Hiep Pham grew up in Houston without his father, struggling to learn English, dropping out of school to work two jobs and help put food on the table, he said he eventually realized how much the Father’s Day was important here. It made him miss his own father even more.

“I still feel angry,” Pham said, fighting back tears. “We never celebrated Father’s Day for my dad. And I always dreamed of it, having a beer with my dad.”

When will the next execution take place in the country?

Two inmates are scheduled to be executed on October 17.

Texas moves to execute Robert Leslie Roberson despite what the Innocence Project says is “new evidence that he was an innocent man wrongly convicted under the now-debunked Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) hypothesis.” . » Roberson was convicted in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki.

At almost the same time as Roberson’s execution, Alabama is preparing to execute Derrick Ryan Dearman, responsible for the murders of five people, including a pregnant woman, in 2016.

White is the 19th inmate to be executed in the United States this year, and Roberson and Dearman will become the 20th and 21st.

Since September 20, six men have been executed in Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Missouri and South Carolina.

“This number of executions in a short period of time is extraordinary, in part because it is at odds with the decisive, long-term trend away from the use of the death penalty in the United States,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death association. Penalty Information Center, said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Garcia Glenn White executed in Texas for murder of teenage twins