Wednesday, May 30, 2007

TEXAS LAST MEAL
DONALD MILLER
February 27, 2007


Last Meal: Miller, 44, had a final meal request of one piece of fried chicken, one BLT sandwich, two enchiladas, ketchup, cinnamon roll and iced tea.


The skinny: Miller was executed for the robbery and shooting deaths of two men twenty-five years ago.

More skinny: On February 3, 1982, a fisherman found two bodies on the side of a road near Lake Houston. Both men had been shot to death. The hands of both victims were tied in front of their bodies, with one body stretched out face down, the other in a fetal position. Bloody footprints were visible near the bodies and the forestock of a shotgun was found in the heavily wooded area. The victims appeared to have been killed at the scene. The two victims, who were in the furniture business, traveled to different parts of the country to resell furniture. At the time of the murders, one victim was driving an 18-wheel tractor-trailer loaded with furniture, and he was carrying between $5,000 and $6,000 in cash.

The crime: Donald Miller and companions Danny Woods and Eddie Segura lured the two furniture salesmen from North Carolina to Segura's house for a delivery. When the two men, one 29, the other 19 they were confronted by Miller, armed with a handgun, and Woods, who pulled out a shotgun. The two men were robbed, gagged and bound with electrical tape, then taken to the lake.

Miller, a paroled car and truck thief, was arrested about two weeks after the slayings.

Accomplice Segura pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery charges, was sentenced to two 25-year prison terms and was the key prosecution witness against Miller. He was released from prison last October. Accomplice Danny Ray Woods received two life sentences after a guilty plea in 1982. He's next eligible for parole in April 2008.

Last words and such: Strapped to the gurney and with needles in each arm, Miller was asked by the warden if he had a final statement. His reply was a single shake of his head. Six minutes later, Miller was pronounced dead.

Miller had no friends or relatives witness his execution and had no visitors in the three days preceding the punishment. Also, no relatives of the victims in the case were present to see him die.

Miller was "very quiet, very subdued and very polite," said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons.

Factoids: Miller was the...

7th murderer executed in U.S. in 2007
1064th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
6th murderer executed in Texas in 2007
385th murderer executed in Texas since 1976


Miller, who was 19 when he was arrested, arrived on death row in 1982, making him among the longest serving of almost 400 Texas prisoners awaiting lethal injection.