The so-called Ice Pick Killer, Danny Paul Bible, convicted of a slew of killings and rapes, was executed by the state of Texas via lethal injection, and officials ignored his request to be killed by firing squad or nitrogen gas.
Bible was executed Wednesday night after unsuccessful appeals argued that this health issues made it likely that the execution would be botched and cause him more pain than necessary.
The 66-year-old was blamed for four murders and nine rapes. In May 1979, in Harris County, Bible attacked and sexually assaulted a woman who came to his residence to use the phone; he then stabbed the victim multiple times, resulting in her death. He killed three other people in the 1980s. In 1998, according to the Houston Chronicle, police picked him up in Florida, and he confessed.
“Danny Paul Bible is as vile and evil a person that has ever drawn breath,” said Larry Lance, as reported by Click2Houston.com. Bible killed Lance’s sister Pam Hudgins.
Lance noted, “We’re glad to have witnessed him draw his last breath. I know he will burn in hell for eternity.”
When asked about his final statement, Bible said, “No, sir.” When he was given a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital, he began shaking his head slightly. CNN reported that Bible muttered that “It hurts” and what sounded like “burning.”
“Danny Paul Bible is as vile and evil a person who has ever drawn breath, we’re glad to have witnessed him draw his last breath.” Larry Lance, brother of Pamela Hudgins. pic.twitter.com/0LrLjyeqn1
— Robert Arnold (@KPRC2Robert) June 28, 2018
His lawyers argued that Bible had a “galaxy of medical issues” that raised the possibility that his execution by lethal injection would be botched, saying it would violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. “Texas will almost certainly join Alabama and Ohio and add itself to the unconscionable list of botched executions in America,” attorney Jeremy Schepers said before the execution, according to the Chronicle.
Reports said that Bible’s lawyers asked for death by firing squad or gas, which aren’t offered in Texas. Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah allow inmates to choose the firing squad, although lethal injection is the primary method, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Six states offer gas, but lethal injection is the primary method.
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