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The state of Texas executed a man on Tuesday who was convicted of fatally stabbing his estranged wife in 2009, as well as drowning her daughter.
Gary Green, 51, received a lethal injection on Tuesday night at 7:07 p.m. in relation to the September 2009 killings of Lovetta Armstead, 32, as well as her 6-year-old daughter, Jazzmen Montgomery, at their Dallas home. Green stabbed Armstead more than two dozen times and Jazzmen was drowned in the bathtub.
He addressed the family of the people he killed in his final words.
“Vetta, Jared, Ray I’m sorry, no I’m not sorry, I apologize for all the harm I have caused you and your family. We ate together, we broke bread together, we laughed and cried together as a family. I’m sorry I failed you, there’s nothing I can do. I’m not just saying that because I’m laying on this gurney. We were all one and I broke that bond right or wrong I took not one, but two people that we all loved, and I had to live with that while I was here. I ask that you forgive me, not for me but for y’all. I’m fixing to go home and y’all are going to be here. I want to make sure you don’t suffer. You have to forgive me to heal and move on. Sorry JT, I always loved you and I told you I will never say goodbye, but this is goodbye. There’s nothing I can do to bring your mom and sister back. One thing about the man I used to be, is that I never stopped loving y’all. See y’all on the other side. God bless you. I’m done Warden,” Green said.
TX MAN FACES EXECUTION FOR FATALLY STABBING ESTRANGED WIFE, DROWNING HER 6-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
Ray Montgomery, the father of Montgomery, said that he isn’t cheering for Green’s execution but views it as the justice system in work.
“It’s justice for the way my daughter was tortured. It’s justice for the way that Lovetta was murdered,” Montgomery said.
Green’s attorneys had previously claimed that the convicted killer was intellectually disabled and had a history of psychiatric disorders.
“These impairments likely rendered (Green) unable to form the requisite intent to commit capital murder,” Green’s attorneys wrote in a 2018 appeal.
Efforts from Green’s lawyers failed, as the appeals were rejected by appeals courts as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has banned the death penalty for people who are intellectually disabled, not for those with serious mental illnesses.
Green killed his estranged wife and her daughter after Armstead wanted to end their marriage.
Armstead wrote two letters to Green on the day he killed her, expressing that she loved him, but also said she had to “do what’s best for me.”
Green also wrote a letter, accusing Armstead and her daughter of plotting against him.
“You asked to see the monster so here he is the monster you made me … They will be 5 lives taken today me being the 5th,” Green wrote.
Police said that Green also intended to kill Armstead’s other two children, who were ages 9 and 12 at the time. Green stabbed the 9-year-old, but he survived.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.