Post by Anja on Jun 7, 2006 1:35:52 GMT -5
TEXAS----execution
Man executed in killing of girlfriend with ax
A former crack cocaine user who was on probation for auto theft when he
was arrested for capital murder apologized profusely today before he was
executed for the ax slaying of his girlfriend almost 14 years ago.
"There are no words to describe the pain and suffering you went through
all the years I've had. All these years, that is something that I cannot
take back from you all," Timothy Titsworth said as he was strapped to the
death chamber gurney. "Today, I hope you get peace and joy. I'm sorry it's
taken 14 years to bring closure."
"If it would have brought closure or brought her back, I would have done
this many years ago," he said.
Titsworth, 34, said he prayed that his victim "was safe in heaven" and
said that his family was praying for the victim's family.
"If these words can ever touch your heart, I am sorry, I am truly sorry.
As the drug began taking effect, Titsworth said, "Here we go." 7 minutes
later at 6:20 p.m., he was pronounced dead.
Among the people watching were his victim's mother and now 18-year-old
daughter.
Titsworth was convicted of unlawful use of a motor vehicle a month before
his 20th birthday in 1992 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. As a
first-time offender, however, he was released on probation after spending
more than 2 months at a boot camp.
3 months later he was arrested driving the car of Christine Marie
Sossaman, 26, whose body had been found at the mobile home she was sharing
with Titsworth. She had been struck some 16 times with a dull ax.
According to court records, a friend of Sossaman testified the victim told
her the day before she was killed that she intended to ask Titsworth to
leave because she believed her boyfriend had been stealing from her.
Evidence showed that after the attack, Titsworth took her car along with
items from the trailer home that he sold to buy more crack cocaine, then
returned repeatedly to the murder scene to take more property to sell for
drug money.
"In a nutshell, he was living with her until she came up dead," Randall
County District Attorney James Farren said. "Suddenly, he's gone, he's
selling her stuff."
When Titsworth was arrested, he was headed back to the mobile home for
what a companion said was another trip to collect items to sell. By then,
Sossaman's mother, worried when she couldn't reach her daughter by phone,
had discovered the body and alerted police.
The U.S. Supreme Court in January refused to review his case.
"I'm on death row and have fought a hard battle within the appellate
courts, only to reach the final stage ... a better man, a stronger soul,"
Titsworth said on a Web site that seeks prison pen pals.
He declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his execution
date.
Evidence showed Titsworth, who dropped out of school after the 8th grade
and worked as a roofer, was high on crack cocaine at the time of the
attack.
In his confession, he told authorities he and Sossaman had argued, she
went to sleep and he went out to buy crack and a pill he believed was LSD.
He told detectives he returned to the trailer, got an ax from a closet and
blacked out, although he said he did remember hitting his girlfriend 4 or
5 times.
While being held at the Randall County Jail and awaiting trial, Titsworth
was among 4 inmates who escaped by crawling through ductwork. He was
captured about 12 hours later.
His mother testified at his 1993 trial she was a bartender with a drinking
problem, that her son began drinking beer about the age of 2 and that his
father committed suicide when Titsworth was 6. Wyoming authorities took
him and an older brother from her custody when Titsworth was 8 and placed
the siblings in an orphanage for a year. He had his first run-in with the
criminal justice system at 13, she said.
"The neglected wounds of our past are the major source of our misery,"
Titsworth wrote. "Only now do I see the connection with my own life.
"What I didn't get at home, I would look for in other places, and that led
me along a difficult path that is now challenging me today."
Titsworth becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year
in Texas and the 366th overall since the state resumed capital punishment
on December 7, 1982. Titsworth becomes the 127th condemned inmate to be
put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2001.
Scheduled to die next, on June 20, is 28-year-old Lamont Reese, who
authorities say is a former street gang member convicted of gunning down 3
people outside a Fort Worth convenience store in 1999.
Titsworth becomes the 22nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year
in the USA and the 1026th overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
Man executed in killing of girlfriend with ax
A former crack cocaine user who was on probation for auto theft when he
was arrested for capital murder apologized profusely today before he was
executed for the ax slaying of his girlfriend almost 14 years ago.
"There are no words to describe the pain and suffering you went through
all the years I've had. All these years, that is something that I cannot
take back from you all," Timothy Titsworth said as he was strapped to the
death chamber gurney. "Today, I hope you get peace and joy. I'm sorry it's
taken 14 years to bring closure."
"If it would have brought closure or brought her back, I would have done
this many years ago," he said.
Titsworth, 34, said he prayed that his victim "was safe in heaven" and
said that his family was praying for the victim's family.
"If these words can ever touch your heart, I am sorry, I am truly sorry.
As the drug began taking effect, Titsworth said, "Here we go." 7 minutes
later at 6:20 p.m., he was pronounced dead.
Among the people watching were his victim's mother and now 18-year-old
daughter.
Titsworth was convicted of unlawful use of a motor vehicle a month before
his 20th birthday in 1992 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. As a
first-time offender, however, he was released on probation after spending
more than 2 months at a boot camp.
3 months later he was arrested driving the car of Christine Marie
Sossaman, 26, whose body had been found at the mobile home she was sharing
with Titsworth. She had been struck some 16 times with a dull ax.
According to court records, a friend of Sossaman testified the victim told
her the day before she was killed that she intended to ask Titsworth to
leave because she believed her boyfriend had been stealing from her.
Evidence showed that after the attack, Titsworth took her car along with
items from the trailer home that he sold to buy more crack cocaine, then
returned repeatedly to the murder scene to take more property to sell for
drug money.
"In a nutshell, he was living with her until she came up dead," Randall
County District Attorney James Farren said. "Suddenly, he's gone, he's
selling her stuff."
When Titsworth was arrested, he was headed back to the mobile home for
what a companion said was another trip to collect items to sell. By then,
Sossaman's mother, worried when she couldn't reach her daughter by phone,
had discovered the body and alerted police.
The U.S. Supreme Court in January refused to review his case.
"I'm on death row and have fought a hard battle within the appellate
courts, only to reach the final stage ... a better man, a stronger soul,"
Titsworth said on a Web site that seeks prison pen pals.
He declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his execution
date.
Evidence showed Titsworth, who dropped out of school after the 8th grade
and worked as a roofer, was high on crack cocaine at the time of the
attack.
In his confession, he told authorities he and Sossaman had argued, she
went to sleep and he went out to buy crack and a pill he believed was LSD.
He told detectives he returned to the trailer, got an ax from a closet and
blacked out, although he said he did remember hitting his girlfriend 4 or
5 times.
While being held at the Randall County Jail and awaiting trial, Titsworth
was among 4 inmates who escaped by crawling through ductwork. He was
captured about 12 hours later.
His mother testified at his 1993 trial she was a bartender with a drinking
problem, that her son began drinking beer about the age of 2 and that his
father committed suicide when Titsworth was 6. Wyoming authorities took
him and an older brother from her custody when Titsworth was 8 and placed
the siblings in an orphanage for a year. He had his first run-in with the
criminal justice system at 13, she said.
"The neglected wounds of our past are the major source of our misery,"
Titsworth wrote. "Only now do I see the connection with my own life.
"What I didn't get at home, I would look for in other places, and that led
me along a difficult path that is now challenging me today."
Titsworth becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year
in Texas and the 366th overall since the state resumed capital punishment
on December 7, 1982. Titsworth becomes the 127th condemned inmate to be
put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2001.
Scheduled to die next, on June 20, is 28-year-old Lamont Reese, who
authorities say is a former street gang member convicted of gunning down 3
people outside a Fort Worth convenience store in 1999.
Titsworth becomes the 22nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year
in the USA and the 1026th overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)