June 28 (UPI) — A Texas inmate on death row for killing a Houston woman asked to be executed by firing squad or gas Wednesday, saying he’s too ill for lethal injection.
Danny Bible, 66, faces execution Wednesday night for the 1979 death of 20-year-old Inez Deaton. Her murder went unsolved for nearly 20 years, but after police arrested Bible in Florida in 1998, he confessed to raping her and stabbing her 10 times with an ice pick.
He became known as the “ice pick killer.”
Bible, who was injured during a prison transport crash, has several health problems — he uses a wheelchair, has Parkinson’s, bad veins, and heart and lung issues. His legal team said he was too ill to execute and that lethal injection could be prolonged and painful, constituting 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.
Bible’s lawyers have asked for him to be spared the execution, or for the state to use a firing squad or lethal gas.
“He is deeply remorseful for his crime and has been a model prisoner, dedicating his time on death row to strengthening his Christian faith,” his lawyers wrote in a motion.
After killing Deaton in 1979, Bible moved to Montana where he physically abused his girlfriend. In 1983, back in Texas, he killed his sister-in-law, Tracy Powers, her 4-month-old son Justin, and Powers’ roommate, Pam Hudgins.
Back in Montana, he kidnapped a woman and raped an 11-year-old girl.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for Hudgins’ murder and was released on parole after eight years.
He then moved to Louisiana, where he kidnapped and raped a woman, who led police to Bible. He confessed to Deaton’s murder in exchange for a pack of cigarettes and a promise to be spared the death penalty.
