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Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (Jeffery Caldwell)

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas Attorney General

MEDIA ADVISORY - Jeffery Caldwell scheduled to be executed

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Jeffery Caldwell who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Wednesday, August 30th:

Jeffery Caldwell was convicted and sentenced to death for the July 1988 murders of his mother and father, Gwendolyn and Henry Porter Caldwell, Jr. The Caldwell's bodies along with the body of Kimberly Caldwell, Jeffery Caldwell's sister, were found wrapped in blankets and stuffed into a camper-trailer parked behind the family's south Dallas home. Autopsies later revealed that Caldwell's parents were each stabbed once through the heart. Jeffery's sister Kimberly was stabbed twice in the chest, once through her heart. The victims had also been beaten on their heads with a blunt instrument.

Caldwell was arrested for the murders the morning after the bodies of his parents and sister were found. In a voluntary statement to police, Caldwell said that he accidentally killed his mother, father and sister after they refused to give him money for insulin. Caldwell had been out on parole for less than four months at the time of his offense.

EVIDENCE
In a recorded phone conversation with his brother, Caldwell said the murders accidentally happened after his parents and sister refused to give him money for insulin. Caldwell told his brother that had he not been caught, he would have run and gotten away with the murders. Caldwell signed a written statement, which he gave to police voluntarily, admitting to the murders.

Caldwell admitted in his written statement that he had lied about the fight with his parents being over not getting money for insulin. Caldwell told police that there was actually insulin in the family's refrigerator. When Caldwell was in jail, awaiting his trial for the murders, he told a friend who was in jail with him, that he killed his parents but had been so good at hiding it that he would not be convicted.

APPEALS TIME-LINE
Oct. 16, 1991 - Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Caldwell's conviction and death sentence.
April 20, 1992 - United States Supreme Court denied Caldwell's petition for writ of certiorari.
April 4, 1994 - Trial court recommended denial of state writ of habeas corpus.
Oct. 31, 1994 - Court of Criminal Appeals adopted the trial court's findings and denied relief.
March 30, 1995 - The Court of Criminal Appeals denied second state habeas relief.
May 30, 1995 - Caldwell filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
Jan. 8, 1999 - District court agreed with recommendation of magistrate judge to deny relief.
Jan. 28, 1999 - District court denied motion to reconsider.
May 20, 1999 - District court denied Caldwell permission to appeal.
Feb. 18, 2000 - United States District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted permission to appeal but affirmed the district court's denial of relief.

CRIMINAL HISTORY
Henry Caldwell, one of Jeffery Caldwell's brothers, testified that Caldwell began stealing at an early age. Lewis Gipson, a high school friend of Caldwell's, testified that Caldwell would break into lockers and cars to steal money in order to "get high." Gipson also said that Caldwell sold drugs and often carried a .38 revolver. Gipson also testified that on the morning he was scheduled to testify in Caldwell's punishment phase, Caldwell went to Gipson's holdover cell without authorization, told Gipson, "I teach you about testifying" and beat him up. In a phone conversation with his brother, Caldwell warned, "just remember, some day I'll be out."

An assistant principal testified that Caldwell once admitted to stealing a wallet and was also later suspended from school for possession of marijuana. Terrence Strange, a friend of Caldwell's, testified that Caldwell took him to health clubs on several occasions and that Caldwell would break into lockers and steal money. Strange said one time after he himself had robbed someone of their jewelry, Caldwell took the stolen jewelry and pawned it. Evidence was presented at the punishment phase of Caldwell's trial that he had been convicted of burglary of a habitation in 1983, and received a five year sentence; and that Caldwell had also been convicted of robbery in 1986, for which he received a ten year sentence. Caldwell was released on parole in April of 1988, less than four months before the murder of his family. His parole officer testified that Caldwell repeatedly failed to meet his parole conditions.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

Jeffery Henry Caldwell, a convicted burglar and sex offender originally from Chicago, confessed a day after stabbing and beating his parents, Henry and Gwendolyn Caldwell, and sister, Kimberly, in their Dallas home. All three victims were stabbed in the chest area and beaten in the head with a hammer. Their bodies were concealed inside the family's motorhome, parked in the driveway. The Caldwell's other son, who was not at home at the time of the murders, found the bodies of his family. Caldwell was arrested the next day, driving his mother's car, and gave a voluntary statement to police.

Texas Execution Information Center

Jeffery Henry Caldwell, 37, was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, 30 August, in Huntsville, Texas, for the murders of his father, mother, and sister. In July 1988, Henry Caldwell III went to check on his parents at their home in southwest Dallas, after neighbors told him they hadn't seen them in several days. He checked inside the house and found no one, but noticed a foul odor coming from the motor home parked in the driveway. Looking inside, he discovered the bodies of his father, Henry, 47; his mother, Gwendolyn, 46; and his sister, Kimberly, 19. All three had been stabbed to death and beaten on the head with a hammer and another unknown blunt instrument. Mrs. Caldwell's car was also missing. Henry's brother, Jeffery Caldwell, was arrested the next day and gave a voluntary statement to police. He told police that he was having an argument with his father because he gave money to his sister but not to him. During the argument, he said, all three family members accidentally fell onto his knife.

Jeffery Caldwell had an arrest record going back seven years and had been to prison twice in the previous five years. He served 15 months of a 3-year sentence for burglary and 1½ years of an 8-year sentence for robbery. (At this time, early release was common in Texas because of strict prison population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.) Caldwell had been on parole for less than four months when he killed his family. After Caldwell was found guilty, Henry and another brother testified against him during the sentencing hearing. Prosecutors used the brothers' testimonies to show that Jeffery was a continuing threat to society who deserved the death penalty.

Over the years, Jeffery Caldwell gave conflicting accounts of the crime to authorities, reporters, and his family. The story he ended up settling on was that his family was killed by Jamaican mobsters. He said that he had stolen some drugs from the mobsters and they came looking for him. Not finding him, they killed his parents and sister. He said that he didn't know his parents and sister were dead until after his arrest and that he was arrested and convicted because of his criminal past. In the days leading up to his execution, Caldwell's lawyers argued that he was incompetent to be executed. His requests for a stay were denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Prior to his execution, Caldwell issued a written statement in which he reiterated his claim of innocence. "I still to this day scream out that I did not kill them," he wrote. "Although these lifes [sic] being taken was my fault because I robbed some drug dealers three times, I accept the blame for what happened to my parents and my only sister but did not kill them or beat them or shoot them." He also spoke to Henry for the first time in over a decade. Henry Caldwell did not attend the execution. In the execution chamber, Caldwell expressed love for his family. He was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m.

Amnesty International

(New York) -- Amnesty International USA today condemned the impending execution of Jeffery Caldwell. The execution is scheduled to take place at 6:00 pm on Wednesday evening, August 30th at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas.

Caldwell was convicted of the murder of Henry, Gwendolyn and Kimberly Caldwell in March 1989.

Caldwell has no prior history of violent crime. According to reports, his lawyer contends that psychiatric testimony regarding future dangerousness that was used to convict his client was purely hypothetical. Apparently, the use of such testimony has been contested in subsequent cases.

"Amnesty International's campaign to stop the state of Texas from killing Jeffery Caldwell does not seek to excuse the crimes committed or their consequences," said Ajamu Baraka, Acting Director of Amnesty International USA's National Program to Abolish the Death Penalty. "As an organization that works on a daily basis with and on behalf of victims of human violence, Amnesty International has the utmost sympathy for those who have lost friends and relatives due to murder."

"However, Amnesty International urges the state of Texas to find a better response than to perpetuate a cycle of violence," said Baraka. "The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment regardless of whether the condemned inmate is guilty or innocent. The abolition of the death penalty is the only just solution."

The execution of Caldwell, should it proceed, will be the 32nd in Texas this year, and the 143rd execution since Governor George Bush took office in 1995. In the past 5 years, Texas has executed more prisoners than any other U.S. state in over more than 2 decades.

www.reporternews.com

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A paroled burglar who killed his parents and sister by beating them with a hammer and stabbing them with a butcher knife was executed in the Texas death chamber Wednesday evening. In a lengthy statement, Jeffery Henry Caldwell expressed love for his family, love to his daughter, thanks to his attorneys and urged fellow death row inmates to “keep your heads up.” To his brothers, who testified against him at his trial, he said he loved them with all his heart. “You will have to face the justice of God,” he said. “I can forgive you all but you must ask for forgiveness from God. I leave now to join my parents and my only sister.” As the drugs began taking effect, he coughed, gasped and then made a snoring sound. He was pronounced dead eight minutes later at 6:25 p.m. CDT. Caldwell, 37, was the sixth Texas prisoner to receive lethal injection this month and the 32nd this year.

He maintained his innocence in a statement he wrote shortly before he was given the lethal injection. “I still to this day scream out that I did not kill them,” he said. “I accept the blame for what happened to my parents and only sister but did not kill them or beat them or shoot them.” The three victims were found stuffed in a motor home parked in the driveway of their Dallas home.

Caldwell told police his parents, Henry and Gwendolyn Caldwell, and his 19-year-old sister, Kimberly, had run into his knife during an argument. It was remembered as “the 'magic knife' confession,” by former Dallas County assistant prosecutor Andy Beach this week. “But he forgot to say he had hit each of them a couple of times with a claw hammer,” Beach said. Caldwell, who moved with his family to Texas in 1980 from their native Chicago, already was known to authorities. He had been convicted of burglary and robbery and had been on parole for about four months when he murdered his family members. He repeated Wednesday claims that his criminal past prompted a jury to convict and condemn him and that the murders were committed by drug dealers he had ripped off. In late appeals to the courts, Caldwell's lawyers contended he was incompetent and should not be put to death.

Caldwell's execution attracted none of the attention given earlier this summer to condemned killer Gary Graham, whose claims of innocence and an unfair trial put the focus on Texas as the nation's most active capital punishment state and on support of the death penalty by Gov. George W. Bush, now the Republican presidential nominee. Caldwell was arrested in a telephone booth while calling one of his brothers, who were helping police try to find him. Beach said Caldwell's two brothers also convinced prosecutors to seek capital murder charges, which would make Caldwell eligible for a death sentence. His brothers testified at the punishment phase of the trial and told jurors they believed he would be a continuing threat to society, one of the elements a jury must consider before deciding on a death sentence. “They looked the jurors in the eyes and said 'yes,'” Beach said. “It was a very emotional case. They've lost three family members and now they're going to lose a fourth. But this was all about justice for them.” This week, one of the brothers talked to reporters about the execution.

“I don't want my brother to die,” Henry Caldwell III told The Dallas Morning News. “But nevertheless, he committed a wrong. He has to face judgment for this. We knew this day was going to come.” In his statement to police, Jeffery Caldwell said the fatal knifings began with an argument with his father over money. Caldwell said he was upset because his father would give money to his sister but not to him. Years later, in an interview on death row, Caldwell blamed the fatal attacks on a Jamaican mob angry because he had stolen some of their drugs. “I had affiliated with drug individuals and I had ripped them off,” he said. “They came to my house and I wasn't there.” He also insisted he didn't realize his parents and sister were dead until he was arrested for the murders and that his criminal past was responsible for his arrest. “The phrase used in the court system is innocent until proven guilty but it's totally reversed, especially for a parolee,” Caldwell said. He declined to speak with reporters in the weeks leading up to his execution, but said earlier he would die in peace. “The first few years I was bitter, angry because my own family had abandoned me,” he said. “I'll let God handle everything. I don't feel depressed or upset about being executed. I don't say I'm glad about it. I know it's going to happen someday.” At least seven more condemned murderers are scheduled to die in 2000. Their deaths would make this a record year, topping the 37 prisoners executed in the state in 1997.