Post by CCADP on Aug 24, 2005 6:57:27 GMT -5
Families watch execution of woman's killer
By Scott E. Williams
The Daily News
Published August 24, 2005
HUNTSVILLE — Robert Alan Shields Jr. kept his silence until the end, and the mother of the woman he killed noticed.
“He looks pretty calm,” Jan Ross said on the other side of a two-way mirror. Shields, 30, was strapped onto a gurney, right arm extended. Paula Stiner’s mother, father and husband wore purple, Stiner’s favorite color.
In another viewing room, on the opposite side of Shields, his parents and sister watched. Both families cried for much of Shields’ last 10 minutes of life.
Shields did not testify on his own behalf during his 1995 capital murder trial. He declined an interview request from The Daily News two months ago. Tuesday evening, he declined to make a final statement before the release of the chemicals that would stop his bodily functions.
At 6:07 p.m., officials at Huntsville’s Walls prison unit administered the lethal injection, carrying out the death sentence a Galveston County jury called for nine years and 10 months ago. Eight minutes after it started, a doctor pronounced Shields dead.
Shields was 19 on Sept. 21, 1994, when he broke into the Friendswood home of neighbors Tracey and Paula Stiner in the 400 block of Castle Harbor. Both Stiners were at work, but Shields was willing to wait. Paula Stiner got off work early that day and came home from a hair appointment shortly after 4:30 p.m.
More than an hour later, Tracey Stiner came home from work to find his wife’s bloody body lying on the laundry room floor.
Former Precinct 8 Constable Daniel Cooper arrested Shields three days later in The Woodlands, 45 miles north of Houston. Shields was driving Stiner’s car and wearing bloody clothes at the time of his capture.
In a way, Shields will have the last word on the subject. September’s issue of the monthly magazine Christian Network Journal features the only interview to which Shields would consent before his death. The magazine’s editor said Shields said he did not kill Stiner, although he admitted to being in the house when she died. The story also reportedly contains an account of Shields’ Christian conversion.
Shields’ words also survived him in the form of a Web site that showed a copy of a letter Shields had sent to Gov. Rick Perry, inviting him to attend the execution.
“I think it is important that you see with your own eyes that this is lives and devastation, not just another political stepping stone,” Shields wrote.
The entire letter and other Shields writings are online at www1prison.com/shields .html.
Gov. Perry did not attend the execution.
First Assistant District Attorney Mo Ibrahim, who prosecuted the case with then-District Attorney Michael J. Guarino, did not attend the execution, but said he hoped it would allow the family to take the next step in healing their heartache.
“This has been an unimaginable 11 years for them,” Ibrahim said.
Paula Stiner’s father, John A. Ross, entered the viewing area in a wheelchair, but stood up and leaned against the glass to watch Shields die.
After the execution, Ross read a prepared statement, which asserted that the process that took Shields from death sentence to death was “offensive” to Stiner’s loved ones.
“As the offender is entitled to a speedy trial, the victim and the victim’s family should be entitled to see a speedy administration of justice.”
Shields’ father appeared to see only injustice Tuesday night, however. Seconds after the younger Shields stopped gurgling and became totally still, his father said, “Murdered by the state,” while the dying man’s mother and sister prayed and sobbed quietly.
Seconds of silence followed, after which, the elder Shields added, “Bastards.”
When the gurgling stopped, Shields lay on the gurney, with his eyes barely open and his mouth just open enough for his upper teeth to show.
He did not move again.
By Scott E. Williams
The Daily News
Published August 24, 2005
HUNTSVILLE — Robert Alan Shields Jr. kept his silence until the end, and the mother of the woman he killed noticed.
“He looks pretty calm,” Jan Ross said on the other side of a two-way mirror. Shields, 30, was strapped onto a gurney, right arm extended. Paula Stiner’s mother, father and husband wore purple, Stiner’s favorite color.
In another viewing room, on the opposite side of Shields, his parents and sister watched. Both families cried for much of Shields’ last 10 minutes of life.
Shields did not testify on his own behalf during his 1995 capital murder trial. He declined an interview request from The Daily News two months ago. Tuesday evening, he declined to make a final statement before the release of the chemicals that would stop his bodily functions.
At 6:07 p.m., officials at Huntsville’s Walls prison unit administered the lethal injection, carrying out the death sentence a Galveston County jury called for nine years and 10 months ago. Eight minutes after it started, a doctor pronounced Shields dead.
Shields was 19 on Sept. 21, 1994, when he broke into the Friendswood home of neighbors Tracey and Paula Stiner in the 400 block of Castle Harbor. Both Stiners were at work, but Shields was willing to wait. Paula Stiner got off work early that day and came home from a hair appointment shortly after 4:30 p.m.
More than an hour later, Tracey Stiner came home from work to find his wife’s bloody body lying on the laundry room floor.
Former Precinct 8 Constable Daniel Cooper arrested Shields three days later in The Woodlands, 45 miles north of Houston. Shields was driving Stiner’s car and wearing bloody clothes at the time of his capture.
In a way, Shields will have the last word on the subject. September’s issue of the monthly magazine Christian Network Journal features the only interview to which Shields would consent before his death. The magazine’s editor said Shields said he did not kill Stiner, although he admitted to being in the house when she died. The story also reportedly contains an account of Shields’ Christian conversion.
Shields’ words also survived him in the form of a Web site that showed a copy of a letter Shields had sent to Gov. Rick Perry, inviting him to attend the execution.
“I think it is important that you see with your own eyes that this is lives and devastation, not just another political stepping stone,” Shields wrote.
The entire letter and other Shields writings are online at www1prison.com/shields .html.
Gov. Perry did not attend the execution.
First Assistant District Attorney Mo Ibrahim, who prosecuted the case with then-District Attorney Michael J. Guarino, did not attend the execution, but said he hoped it would allow the family to take the next step in healing their heartache.
“This has been an unimaginable 11 years for them,” Ibrahim said.
Paula Stiner’s father, John A. Ross, entered the viewing area in a wheelchair, but stood up and leaned against the glass to watch Shields die.
After the execution, Ross read a prepared statement, which asserted that the process that took Shields from death sentence to death was “offensive” to Stiner’s loved ones.
“As the offender is entitled to a speedy trial, the victim and the victim’s family should be entitled to see a speedy administration of justice.”
Shields’ father appeared to see only injustice Tuesday night, however. Seconds after the younger Shields stopped gurgling and became totally still, his father said, “Murdered by the state,” while the dying man’s mother and sister prayed and sobbed quietly.
Seconds of silence followed, after which, the elder Shields added, “Bastards.”
When the gurgling stopped, Shields lay on the gurney, with his eyes barely open and his mouth just open enough for his upper teeth to show.
He did not move again.