TEXAS LAST MEAL
ROBERT HENRY
November 20, 2003

..."Here I go"....

Last Meal: Henry made no final meal request.

The skinny: He was executed for the fatal beating and stabbing of an 83 year-old woman, and her 57 year-old daughter.

Confession...for a while: Henry, a family acquaintance, confessed to the slaying to a police officer some two months after the killings over the Labor Day weekend but subsequently denied involvement in the deaths.

However, details of his confession were substantiated by DNA evidence. One of the victim's blood was found in Henry's car and his blood was found on the victims' washing machine. Henry admitted he used a knife and had worn work boots with knobby soles. His work boots matched bloody footprints found at the crime scene.

In an interview last week, Henry stated, "I kind of got suckered through the whole system. I'm getting a bum rap. You can't avoid it. ... I'm stuck.''

Last month, the Supreme Court refused to review his case.

Last words and such: Henry replied, “No sir,” when asked by a warden if he had a final statement.

In the seconds before the drugs began taking effect, he smiled and nodded toward some friends and relatives watching nearby through a window, then mouthed, “Bye-bye. I love you. Here I go.”

Then he blew them a kiss and immediately snorted and gasped as the drugs took effect.

He did not look at relatives of his two victims, who were watching through another window.

Factoids: The 83 year-old grandmother's tombstone carries the engraved image of a clown face. She had spent decades bringing joy to people as "Jollypop," a professional clown well known around her hometown of Portland, just across the bay from Corpus Christi.

Henry was the first Texas execution in about 2 1/2 months. It was the state's longest hiatus for executions in seven years. Five more Texas inmates are scheduled to die next month.

Henry was the...
62nd murderer executed in U.S. in 2003
882nd murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
22nd murderer executed in Texas in 2003
311th murderer executed in Texas since 1976