Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information on Larry Allen Hayes, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 10, 2003. On May 17, 2000, Larry Allen Hayes was sentenced to die for the capital murder of Mary Hayes and Rosalyn Robinson, which occurred in Conroe,Texas, on July 16, 1999. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

In 1999, Hayes and his wife, Mary Hayes, were living together at 2667 South Woodloch in Conroe, Texas. Between 10:45 and 11:00 p.m. on July 15 of that year, Paula Odendalski, the Hayes' neighbor, heard a shrill, high-pitched noise and saw Lauren Hayes, the Hayes' ten-year-old daughter, running across the street. Ms. Odendalski met Lauren in The Odendalski driveway and asked her what was happening. Lauren was screaming and said that her father was trying to kill her mother

Ms. Odendalski called 911 at 10:51 p.m. Lauren told the 911 operator that she heard her mother and father fighting. Hayes was hitting his wife on the head and chased her into Lauren's bedroom. Lauren ran into the bedroom and saw that Hayes had shot her mother in the hand. Mrs. Hayes tried to crawl under Lauren's bed to escape. Hazel Hayes, Larry Hayes' mother, ran to the room and tried to stop her son. At that point, Lauren ran out of the house and heard several more shots. During the 911 phone conversation Lauren also told the operator that she thought that her father had left the house in a black Chevy Suburban truck.

The police arrived and found Hazel Hayes wailing inside of the house. She told the police that Hayes and his wife were fighting over Mrs. Hayes's alleged affair with another man. Hazel Hayes stated that she tried without success to stop her son. She said he reloaded his gun and asked her for a kiss before driving off.

The police found the body of Mary Hayes in Lauren Hayes's bedroom. Police found blood on the wall and the bed and brain matter and skull fragments on the floor. Dr. Parungao, the assistant medical examiner of Harris County, testified that Mrs. Hayes was shot seven times -- three times in the head, once in the left shoulder blade, twice in the back, and once in the hand. Two of the wounds were close contact wounds, fired within six inches of the body. The victim's head was described as "shattered" and "crushed." The police also recovered eight "spent" .44 magnum cartridge casings at the scene.

Shortly after killing his wife, Hayes drove to the Diamond Shamrock gas station at FM 3083 and Creighton Road in Montgomery County. A witness testified that she saw Hayes lead the clerk, Rosalyn Robinson, out of the store at gunpoint to Ms. Robinson's white Ford Mustang. As the witness started to drive away she heard a gunshot.

When the police arrived on the scene they found Ms. Robinson lying on the ground in front of Hayes's black Suburban, alive, but unresponsive. Ms. Robinson later died. Dr. Parungao testified that the cause of Ms. Robinson's death was multiple gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen. She was shot three times -- once in the abdomen, once in the right arm, and once in the face. Ms. Robinson's white Mustang was missing.

A man named Vale Yates testified that later that same evening he stopped at a Super 8 Motel in Cleveland, Texas. He was having some trouble with the starter in his Chevy Blazer, so he left the truck running while he went inside to check in. When he returned, his Blazer was gone and parked behind where it had been was Rosalyn Robinson's white Mustang. Inside the Mustang was an overnight bag containing prescription medications bearing Hayes's name, a cartridge carrier, and three spent shell casings.

The Polk County Sheriff's Department received a dispatch at 12:20 a.m. to report to a Dandy Double truck stop in Polk County, Texas, to apprehend a potential suspect from Montgomery County. Sharon Glass and her husband reported that a man driving a Chevy Blazer asked them for a jump in the parking lot. When he turned to the side, Mrs. Glass saw a large gun tucked into the waistband of his pants. When the deputy sheriff apprehended Hayes, he was walking south across the Dandy Double parking lot with his shirt off and tucked into his waistband. The officers yelled at him to put his hands up, and Hayes turned and pulled away the white t-shirt to reveal a .44 magnum. Hayes then started to raise the gun, and Sergeant Waller fired a shot which missed Hayes. Hayes moved into a "shooter stance" and Sergeant Waller fired a second shot which struck Hayes in the back. Hayes was taken into custody and transported to Columbia Conroe Medical Center for medical attention.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Mar. 7, 2000 -- A grand jury indicted Hayes in the 221st Judicial District Court of Montgomery County, Texas, for the capital offenses of: (1) murdering Rosalyn Robinson while in the course of committing or attempting to commit the offenses of robbery or kidnapping; and (2) murdering Mary Hayes and Rosalyn Robinson during the same criminal transaction or pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct.

May 10, 2000 -- A jury found Hayes guilty of capital murder in the 410th Judicial District Court of Montgomery County.

May 17, 2000 -- Following a separate punishment hearing, the court assessed a sentence of death.

July 6, 2000 -- Hayes testified that he wished to waive all appeals and the trial court entered a finding of competency but refused to dismiss Hayes's appeals.

May 14, 2002 -- Hayes signs an affidavit indicating he still wished to waive all appeals.

Sept. 11, 2002 -- Hayes's conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a published opinion.

Oct. 23, 2002 -- Hayes's application for writ of habeas corpus was denied by Court of Criminal Appeals.

Nov. 19, 2002 -- The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division found that Hayes wished to waive federal habeas review and was competent to do so.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Hayes was previously convicted of driving under the influence of drugs in Galveston County, driving while intoxicated in Harris County, and felony possession of barbiturates in Missouri. Hayes was also arrested but not convicted for assault in Montgomery County.

ProDeathPenalty.com

On July 13, 1999, Larry Hayes told his stepson that his wife was having an affair with a co-worker and that he did not think that he could "forgive her like she forgave me." The co-worker testified that Hayes called him about the affair and said: “Don’t you know that people get killed over these things?” The co-worker and his live-in girlfriend insisted that no affair took place. The girlfriend requested that the co-worker take a polygraph examination to prove that no relationship between him and Mrs. Hayes had existed. The couple both testified at trial that he took the test on July 15, 1999 and passed with 99.9% accuracy.

On July 16, 1999, the day of the murders, Mary Hayes faced her husband in a confrontation over their mutual infidelity and told him, "I'd rather be dead than be married to you." Larry Allen Hayes responded by killing his wife and a convenience-store clerk in a rampage that ended when he was shot by deputies. Hayes shot his wife, Mary Evelyn, seven times at close range during an argument in their home. About 30 minutes later he killed Rosalyn Ann Robinson, 18, while trying to abduct her in her car from the convenience store where she worked.

Montgomery County sheriff's Lt. Ted Pearce said the shooting of Hayes ' 46-year-old wife occurred about 11:30 p.m. during an angry confrontation over the couple's marital infidelity. "We're told he had been cheating on her and she had done the same to him in retaliation," Pearce said. "He came home and confronted her. She told him, `I'd rather be dead than be married to you,' " Pearce recounted. "He then told their 9-year-old daughter to leave the house `because your mom wants me to kill her.' She ran out of the house and heard the shooting start." He said Hayes, still carrying his .44-caliber revolver, fled in his car to the nearby Grangerland community, where Rosalyn Ann Robinson was working alone at the Diamond Shamrock gas station and convenience store on F.M. Road 3083 at Four Corners. Hayes forced the clerk outside, but as they reached her Ford Mustang, a customer drove up, Pearce said. The distraction gave Robinson a chance to flee. Pearce said Hayes first fired a wild shot at the customer, then two shots at Robinson, who fell fatally wounded in the head. The customer escaped to call for help, and Hayes took off northward on U.S. 59 toward Cleveland in Robinson's car, Pearce said.

There he stopped, abandoned Robinson's car and stole a Chevrolet Blazer from the parking lot of a Super 8 motel beside the highway, the detective said. He then drove farther north on U.S. 59 to Goodrich in southern Polk County. He left the Blazer and went to the truck stop in the middle of town, apparently to find another vehicle to steal, Pearce said. The Polk County Sheriff’s Department received a dispatch at 12:20 a.m. to report to a Dandy Double truck stop in Polk County, Texas to apprehend a potential suspect from Montgomery County. A couple reported that a man driving a Chevy Blazer asked them for a jump in the parking lot. When he turned to the side, the woman saw a large gun tucked into the waistband of his pants. When the deputy sheriff apprehended Hayes, he was walking south across the Dandy Double parking lot with his shirt off and tucked into his waistband. The officers yelled at him to put his hands up, and Hayes turned and pulled away the white t-shirt to reveal a .44 magnum. Hayes then started to raise the gun, and one of the officers fired a shot which missed Hayes. Hayes moved into a “shooter stance” and the officer fired a second shot into Hayes’s back. Hayes was taken into custody and transported the hospital for medical attention.

At the punishment phase of trial, nurses testified that Hayes was verbally and physically abusive and threatened to kill one nurse “if he could get his hands on her.” Two weeks after his arrest, Hayes asked an attendant why he was placed on suicide watch at the Montgomery Jail infirmary. The attendant replied that “it should be obvious - he murdered two people and we were concerned about his state of mind.” The inmate looked directly into the attendant’s face and replied that “he had nothing to be suicidal about and that he had no suicidal thoughts whatsoever.” A jury of nine men and three women deliberated just under four hours before returning a verdict in the punishment phase of the capital murder trial. Hayes had been found guilty the week previous of killing his 47-year-old wife Mary Evelyn Hayes and store clerk Rosalyn Ann Robinson, a recent Conroe High School graduate who planned to go to nursing school.

Defense attorneys William Hall and Lydia Clay-Jackson had argued Hayes' life should be spared because he posed little risk of future danger if sentenced to life in prison; also his diagnosed manic depression coupled with learning of his wife's affair drove him to violence, they said. "What does it take to cause a man, even a healthy man, who loves his wife to be driven over the brink?" Hall asked jurors. But prosecutors Jim Prewitt and Robert Bartlett argued Hayes' reaction to any number of life situations was consistently violent. "After awhile you have to say maybe he's just violent, maybe he's just mean," Prewitt said. "Do the circumstances reduce his moral blameworthiness?" he asked. Prewitt argued that Hayes is a violent man who deserves to die because he has so little regard for others. "The choice he took every time was violence - the answer to his problems," Prewitt said. "I submit that it has been the answer to every problem. He feels a lot better when he has a .44 in his hand," Prewitt said. "Why else did he kill Rosalyn Robinson?"

Prewitt played a tape of the 911 call with Hayes ' daughter, then 9, screaming in the background as a neighbor spoke to police. Then the daughter can be heard trying to explain to the operator about her father hitting her mother with a gun, then shooting her in the child's bedroom. Prewitt described Hayes' attack of his wife in their daughter's 11 x 11 room, where Mary Hayes tried in vain to hide under a bed and still was struck seven times by bullets fired from a .44 Magnum. The gun only holds six rounds, Prewitt said, so Hayes had to reload. Larry Hayes's mother had come into the room and tried in vain to stop her son from killing Mary. She said that he reloaded his gun and asked her for a kiss before he drove away. The police found the body of Mary Hayes in her daughter's bedroom. There was blood on the wall and the bed and brain matter and skull fragments on the floor. Dr. Parungao, the assistant medical examiner of Harris County, testified that she was shot seven times, three times in the head, once in the left shoulder blade, twice in the back, and once in the hand. Two of the wounds were close contact wounds, fired within six inches of the body. The victim’s head was described as “shattered” and “crushed.” The police also recovered eight “spent” .44 magnum cartridge casings at the scene.

Twenty minutes after Hayes shot his wife to death in their Woodloch home he drove to the Diamond Shamrock convenience store on FM 3083, where he at first demanded the young woman's keys and walked her outside. Hayes shot her when she bolted, then followed her towards the front of the store. Already shot once in the abdomen by Hayes, she was on her knees crying when he fired a round into her head. Mary and Larry Hayes had two children, Nathan, now 16, and Lauren, now 13. Three children from Mary's previous marriage had also lived with the couple, and called their stepfather "Dad" at his insistence. One of those children, now 28-year-old Larry Lundstrum, gave particularly chilling testimony during the trial, recounting "years of torment," Bartlett reminded the jury. While being questioned by Assistant District Attorney Robert Bartlett, Larry Lundstrom Jr., a Web designer from The Woodlands, at times had trouble keeping his composure as he recounted abuse his mother suffered during her 15-year marriage to Hayes. Hayes kept his eyes on the table during Lundstrom's testimony. At times weeping, Larry recounted one story after another in which his stepfather Hayes had attacked the young man's mother. Lundstrom, who grew up in the house where his mother was shot as she tried to hide under the bed, testified that Hayes would become angry when his meal was not prepared on time and that "drink had the effect of making him mean."

Lundstrum, whose stories spanned at least 10 years of his mother and stepfather's marriage, said the two separated many times, often after Hayes beat his wife. He testified to grabbing his then-toddler brother Nathan from a baby bed and running to a neighbor's home to call the police during one particularly brutal fight. It was the same night, Lundstrum said, that he and his sisters saw their father step on Mary Hayes' neck and hold her down after kicking and punching her. Years later, in 1995, a neighbor testified Nathan was around 9 years old and ran to her home saying his dad was trying to kill his mom. Both times police came and arrested Hayes. Three sheriff's deputies and a constable testified about confrontations with Hayes over minor complaints, helping in the prosecution's effort to paint Hayes as man with a history of violent behavior. One of the officers said Larry Hayes specifically told him on one occasion "There will be violence." Sheriff's Deputy Jeffery Smith said Hayes made the statement in October 1996, after Smith told him authorities could not make his wife leave the home. Nancy Harrington, the executive director of the Montgomery County Women's Center, also testified to the validity of records kept by staff members of the center Women's Shelter, where Hayes and two younger children stayed for two weeks in late 1995. Harrington testified for the prosecution that Mary Hayes was once admitted to a shelter for battered women run by the center. Mary Hayes told officials at the shelter that she had been physically and emotionally abused, slapped, choked and shoved, Harrington testified. She added that the victim also said she had been confined against her will and that household objects were thrown at her. Harrington, under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Jim Prewitt, said Mary Hayes returned to her husband but did not say why. She also did not say when Mary Hayes was admitted to the shelter.

Additionally, the jury was shown a dramatic video of the shooting of Robinson as Hayes attempted to steal her car after killing his wife. The color videotape shows Hayes, dressed in a short-sleeve shirt and brown shorts, stride into the Diamond Shamrock convenience store at FM 3083 in the Grangerland community. He was later found to have $4000 in his pocket. He demanded the keys to her car, then grabbed Robinson by the arm, put a gun to her head and said forcefully, "Get in the car, get in the car." Hayes took her outside and tried to force her into her Ford Mustang, just out of camera range. A car arrived and a shot can be heard in the film. Prosecutors said Hayes shot at Robinson as she tried to escape after the arriving car distracted him. Seconds later Robinson, nearly on her knees and cowering in fear, appeared in front of the camera on the sidewalk in front of the door. She put her hand in front of her face and screamed as Hayes walked up and shot her in the head at point-blank range. Dr. Parungao testified that the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen. Robinson was shot three times, once in the abdomen, once in the right arm, and once in the face.

The jury began deliberating Hayes' fate at 11:30 a.m. and returned with their verdict at 3:20 p.m. Shortly afterwards, state District Judge K. Michael Mayes allowed the mothers of both victims to tell Hayes and others in the courtroom how his acts had affected them and their families. Robinson's mother Ruby Robinson, whose family had never met the defendant, spoke first. "I thought I'd never say this but I want to see your face when you die. You got what you deserved. You could have had my daughter's car, you didn't have to kill her," Robinson said. Now, Ruby Robinson told Hayes, there is "just pain, pain. When I got up every morning, I'd pass by her room and she was there. Now it's just an empty room. An empty room. An empty room."

For Rosa Faust, 72, the feelings were more mixed toward a man she once loved because her daughter loved him. She read from a letter he had written her from jail about two weeks after the killings, in which Hayes asked for her forgiveness. Rosa Faust said she forgave Hayes because "Hate destroys." His hate, she said, had destroyed her daughter and now him. "I forgave you for every hurtful word you said to my daughter and grandchildren. I forgave you for the pain you inflicted on their bodies and minds. "You couldn't hide what you were from me. I knew almost from the beginning," Faust told Hayes. "But I had already forgiven you before you asked. I forgive you. I feel sorry for you," Faust told her son-in-law. "I tell you what: I'd rather be Mary's mother than your mother." Faust looked at her former son-in-law and told him he'd robbed his children not only of a mother but a father as well. Hayes showed no emotion throughout the statements.

Robinson's parents - Lee, 50, a meter technician; and Ruby, a custodian - said in an interview that their daughter died a day before she was to leave work to begin nursing school. "Our whole family has been torn apart," her mother said. "You got what you deserved because you took my baby away from me," Robinson's mother, Ruby, told Hayes in her victim-impact statement after the verdict was read. Holding a photograph of her daughter, the girl's mother told an impassive Hayes, "She was so good. She was a good person, but you said `no' that night and you destroyed her." Mary's son Larry Lundstrom Jr. said of the verdict, "I feel it was very appropriate."

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson.

Larry Allen Hayes, 54, was executed by lethal injection on 10 September 2003 in Huntsville, Texas for the murders of his wife and a convenience store clerk.

On 15 July 1999 at 10:45 p.m., a violent argument broke out between Hayes, then 50, and his wife, Mary, 46, in their home in Conroe in Montgomery county. Larry Hayes hit his wife on the head and chased her into their 10-year-old daughter's bedroom. He ordered his daughter, Lauren, out of the house. Lauren ran screaming to the house across the street. Paula Odendalski, a neighbor, met Lauren in her driveway, spoke with her, and dialed 9-1-1.

When Larry Hayes chased Mary into Lauren's bedroom, his mother, Hazel, ran in and tried to control her son. Mary was cowering underneath Lauren's bed. Hayes then fired at Mary six times at close range with a .44-caliber pistol. After he reloaded, he shot her two more times. She was hit three times in the head, once in the left shoulder, and twice in the back. Hayes then asked his mother for a kiss, grabbed some clothes and prescription medications, and drove off in his black Chevrolet Suburban. Police arrived and found Hazel Hayes wailing inside the house. She told them that the couple had been fighting over Mary's alleged affair with another man.

Hayes drove to a convenience store in Montgomery county. He pulled his gun on the clerk, Rosalyn Robinson, 18, and ordered her to leave the store with him. When they got to Robinson's car, she refused to get in with him. Hayes then shot her three times and stole her white Ford Mustang. Robinson died shortly after police arrived. Hayes' black Suburban was at the scene.

Later that night, Hayes stopped at a motel in Cleveland in Polk county. Vale Yates had gone inside the motel to check in. Because he was having trouble with the starter in his Chevrolet Blazer truck, he left the engine running. When he came back out, his truck was gone, and Rosalyn Robinson's white Ford Mustang was parked behind where the truck had been. At 12:20 a.m., the Polk County Sheriff's Department received a report from a truck stop. Sharon Glass and her husband reported that they saw a man in the parking lot with a large gun tucked into the waistband of his pants. The man asked him for a jump for his Chevy Blazer. Sheriff's deputies arrived and saw Hayes in the truck stop parking lot. Deputies testified that when they ordered Hayes to raise his hands, he began to reach for his weapon, so they shot at him. The first shot from Sergeant Waller missed, but his second shot struck Hayes in the back. Hayes was taken in the sheriff's department's custody to a hospital in Conroe.

In addition to the evidence and testimony described above, the jury also heard testimony that police found an overnight bag containing prescription medicine bottles bearing Larry Hayes' name inside the white Ford Mustang that was abandoned at the motel in Cleveland.

Hayes had previously been convicted of drug possession in Missouri. He served 9 months of a 7-year sentence, then was paroled in 1976. The sentence was overturned in 1978. He also had convictions in Texas for driving while intoxicated and driving under the influence of drugs.

A jury convicted Hayes of capital murder in May 2000 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in September 2002. The CCA denied his habeas corpus appeal in October 2002. Hayes opted not to pursue any federal appeals.

"I never in my life dreamed I had it in me to pull the trigger on somebody -- especially my wife," Hayes said in a death-row interview. He said that his wife confessed to him the day before the murders that she had been having an affair. After a day of fighting, Hayes said, "She made the statement to me that I needed to get over it and live with it, or 'just go get your gun and kill me.'" Hayes said, "I snapped. I don't know any other word for it." Hayes said that when he killed Robinson, "I really wasn't in my mind. She wouldn't get in the car. I figured, 'I can't leave her here with a pay phone inside the store, I wouldn't make it a mile down the road.'"

Hayes was diagnosed in 1998 as bipolar and manic depressive. He was being treated with Prozac at the time of the crimes. Hayes said that he believed the medication contributed to the crime, although he declined to blame it for his actions. Hayes said that he dropped his appeals because he was willing to pay for his crime. He told a reporter that he was tormented every day by guilt. Hayes also cited the grim conditions on death row as a reason for waiving his appeals.

"I am genuinely sorry for what I did," Hayes said in his last statement. "I ask you to reach down in your heart and forgive me. There's no excuse for what I did." Hayes thanked his friends and family and expressed love to them. He also thanked Sargent Waller, who arrested him. "He gave me CPR, saved my life, and gave me a chance to get my life right." When Hayes finished speaking, the lethal injection was started. He was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m.

Ruby Robinson, the mother of Hayes' second victim, witnessed the execution and heard Hayes' apology. Afterward, she told a reporter, "I cannot forgive this man."

Houston Chronicle

Sept. 10, 2003, 11:12AM

"Killer Who Dropped Appeals Set to Die Tonight," by James Kimberly.

A Montgomery County man is scheduled for execution tonight for the 1999 murders of his wife and another woman. Larry Hayes, 54, expedited his death by dropping his appeals. He said he is eager to atone for his crime. "I feel by carrying (the appeals) on I'm lying about the fact of what I did," said Hayes of Woodloch, which is near Conroe.

Hayes was convicted of shooting his wife, Mary, seven times in the head on July 15, 1999, the night after she told him she'd been having an affair. Twenty minutes later he shot 18-year-old Rosalyn Robinson -- a college-bound high school graduate -- while stealing her car from a nearby convenience store.

Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Jim Prewitt said the crimes warranted the death penalty. "What he did with the two victims was just horrible," said Prewitt, who prosecuted Hayes. Hayes, who once served as Sunday school director for a Conroe church, did not have much of a criminal record prior to the night of violence, but his wife had complained to police and a local shelter that she had been abused. Hayes never was convicted of domestic violence.

In a recent interview, Hayes said the murders occurred after he had fought with his wife all day and night about the affair. He said she told him "that I needed to get over it and live with it or just go get your gun and kill me." "I snapped," he said. " I don't know any other word for it." He sent his 9-year-old daughter from the house and went after his wife. She was shot to death hiding under her daughter's bed.

Hayes grabbed some clothes and prescription medications and fled to a Diamond Shamrock convenience store and gas station in Grangerland where he encountered Robinson. He shot Robinson because she refused to come with him. "At that time I really wasn't in my mind. She wouldn't get in the car. I figured, `I can't leave her here with a pay phone inside the store, I wouldn't make it a mile down the road,' " he said. Hayes was arrested in Polk County after being wounded in a gunbattle with sheriff's deputies.

Hayes had been diagnosed as bipolar and manic depressive in 1998. At the time of the crime spree he was taking Prozac and Valium. Hayes said he believes the drugs contributed to the crimes, but he does not blame them for his actions. Hayes said he wanted to plead guilty at his trial but his defense attorneys talked him out of it. Once convicted, he did not want to appeal.

John MacDonald was appointed to represent Hayes during an appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which was mandated by state law. Because Hayes did not want the appeal, MacDonald said he compromised. He filed an appeal with the court and then filed a motion asking the court to dismiss it, leaving it up to the nine-judge panel to decide what to do. The court considered Hayes' appeal and rejected it last fall. Hayes decided not to pursue a second round of appeals. Hayes was examined this spring and found mentally competent, Prewitt said.

It is unusual for a condemned inmate to drop his or her appeals and volunteer for execution. Of the 309 people executed in Texas since 1976, only 19 have waived their appeals and voluntarily gone to their deaths. Nationally, 99 out of the 873 people executed since 1976 volunteered. Hayes said he used his time on death row to make peace with God and he is prepared to die. "I actually get excited when I think about seeing friends and loved ones ... in heaven," he said. "I have no doubt where I am going."

TheDeathouse.Com

"Man Who Killed 'Cheatin' Wife Executed in Texas." (September 10, 2003)

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. - A man who killed his wife and then a gas station clerk as he was attempting to make his getaway was executed by lethal injection at the state prison here Wednesday night. Larry Hayes, 54, admitted to the murder of his wife - who he claimed was having an affair with another man - and later waived his remaining appeals. He became the 21st condemned killer put to death in the state in 2003 - the highest number in the nation. He was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m.

Hayes shot his wife, Mary, at least three times in the head on July 16, 1999 at the couple's Montgomery County home. After fleeing the murder scene, Hayes killed a gas station clerk, Rosalyn Robinson, before stealing her car. Hayes was shot in the back after he pulled a gun on cops in Polk County.

Hayes used his last words to apologize for the murders and to thank the officer he tried to kill for shooting him. "There is no excuse for what I did," Hayes said from the death house gurney. "Rosalyn's mother asked me at the trial, 'Why? 'And, I did not have a good reason for it. Please forgive me. As for my friends and family here, thanks for sticking with me and know that I love you and I will take part of you with me. I would like to thank one of the arresting officers I would have killed if I could have. He gave me CPR, saved my life and gave me a chance to get my chance to get my life right. I know I will see Mary and Rosalyn tonight. I love you all."

Court documents stated that Hayes had told his stepson that Mary Hayes was having an affair with a co-worker and he didn't know if he could forgive her. A neighbor reported that Larry Hayes' 10 year-old daughter ran from the Hayes' home screaming that her father was trying to kill her mother, hitting her in the head and chasing her into the bedroom. Larry Hayes own mother later said she tried to stop her son from attacking Mary Hayes.

After killing his wife, Hayes went to a gas station, where a witness said he saw him leading a clerk, Rosalyn Robinson, at gunpoint. Robinson was later found unconscious, shot in the head and stomach. She later died. Later in Cleveland, Tex., a man who had left his Chevrolet Blazer running, came back to find the vehicle stolen. Robinson's car was found there. Hayes was later nabbed at a truck stop in Polk County.

A husband and wife called police to report that a man with a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants had asked them for a battery jump. When officers arrived, Hayes was walking across a parking lot with his shirt off and a gun tucked in his waistband. When he reportedly pulled the gun and went into a "shooter stance", one cop fired a shot and missed. However, a second shot fired by the lawman struck Hayes in the back, court documents stated.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Larry Alan Hayes, TX - Sept. 10, 2003

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Larry Allen Hayes Sept. 10 for the murder of Mary Hayes and Rosalyn Robinson in 1999. Hayes shot and killed his wife after discovering her infidelity, then shot and killed a convenience store clerk while trying to steal her car as he fled the crime.

Hayes's lawyers argued that Hayes, who has a history of violence and mental problems, would pose no danger in prison because he would be medicated and kept away from alcohol, which they blamed for his violent behavior. The lawyers also pointed out that Hayes would be 91 by the time he was eligible for parole if sentenced to life.

While in prison, Hayes has been repeatedly denied medical attention for acute abdominal pain. He was refused attention because he was not "bleeding or throwing up," the criteria for being deemed an emergency. He finally received help as a result of outside calls to both administration and the legal counsel's office. This treatment is in clear violation of the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The state of Texas has accounted for nearly half of the nation's executions this year, and more than a third since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. At a time when most states with death penalty statutes are debating legislative bills to halt executions or minimize the pool of people eligible for capital punishment, Texas continues to proceed without caution. Please write Gov. Rick Perry and the Pardon and Parole Board and protest the execution of Larry Allen Hayes.

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

"Convicted Double Killer Executed Wednesday," by Michael Graczyk. (AP September 10, 2003)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A repentant condemned killer Larry Allen Hayes was executed Wednesday evening, a punishment he'd been requesting. "I'm genuinely sorry for what I did," he said as the parents and other relatives of one of his two victims watched through a nearby window. "I ask you to reach down in your heart and forgive me. There's no excuse for what I did."

Hayes said there was "no good answer" for the 1999 shooting spree in which his wife and a convenience store employee died and repeated again that he hoped for forgiveness. "I love you all. Thanks for sticking with me," he told several friends, who were also there to watch him die. "I take part of you with me." Hayes ended his comments by thanking the officer who arrested him and gave him CPR just after he had been shot. "He kept me alive and gave me a chance to get my life right," Hayes said, his voice shaky and tears welling up in his eyes.

Hayes took a deep breath, gasped and exhaled as the drugs began taking effect. He was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. CDT, nine minutes after the lethal dose began. Hayes, 54, was the 21st inmate executed this year in Texas, which leads the nation in carrying out capital punishment.

Hayes was executed for fatally shooting his wife, Mary, 46, at their Montgomery County home the night of July 15, 1999, then a few minutes later gunning down an 18-year-old convenience store clerk, Rosalyn Robinson, and driving off with her car. He was captured within a few hours, shot by Polk County deputies investigating a report of a man with a gun wandering through a truck stop.

While condemned Texas inmates average nearly 10 years in prison before their sentence is carried out, Hayes' punishment came just over four years since his crime. "I've made my peace with God," Hayes said last week from a tiny cage in the death row visiting area. "I know where I'm going... I'm truly honest to God sorry for what I did." His plea for forgiveness didn't convince Ruby Robinson, whose daughter was killed by Hayes. "I cannot forgive this man," she said calling the lethal injection "too easy - just going to sleep." "But since I've seen this, I feel better," she added. "The main thing I wanted was for him to be gone - not that it would bring my daughter back."

Hayes' guilt never was in doubt. Robinson's slaying was caught on the store's videotape, which wound up being played for jurors at his trial. "Both murders were pretty horrible," said Jim Prewitt, a Montgomery County assistant district attorney who was lead prosecutor in the case. "The one on tape was just awful."

Hayes grew up in West Plains, Mo., and attended Southwest Missouri State University for a year and a half. He said the shootings culminated several days of arguments and fighting with his wife of 14 years, who told him she'd been having an affair. Evidence showed Mary Hayes was shot seven times with a .44-caliber pistol, including three shots to the head. Larry Hayes' mother was in the house at the time of the shooting and his 10-year-old daughter fled in panic to a neighbor's home.

Hayes, who drove off in his wife's truck, said he needed a different car and stopped at the convenience store in Grangerland not far from his home in Woodloch in south Montgomery County. The store video shows Hayes holding a gun to Robinson's head as he orders her out of the store and into her car. Another customer drove up, distracting Hayes, and Robinson was shot trying to escape, then was shot point-blank in the head by Hayes while cowering in fear. "I know it was selfish," Hayes said from prison. "I couldn't leave her there with a telephone. My only concern was getting away." The customer called police as Hayes drove off in Robinson's car. Hayes dumped it in Cleveland in Liberty County where he stole another truck. Hayes then was spotted at a truck stop in Goodrich, about 35 miles northeast of the store shooting.

Confronted by officers, he refused to surrender and was shot in the back and chest. Hayes had spent time in a Missouri prison for a 1970s drug conviction that eventually was reversed and had a Galveston County conviction for driving while under the influence of drugs. "I was pretty much in a daze," he said of the shooting spree. "I didn't know what I was doing."

Reuters News

11 Sep 2003 00:11:48 GMT - Texas man executed for murdering wife, clerk

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Sept 10 (Reuters) - A Texas man convicted of murdering his wife and a convenience store clerk in 1999 was executed on Wednesday by lethal injection after apologizing for his crimes. Larry Hayes, 54, was the 21st person put to death this year in Texas, which leads the nation in capital punishment.

He had dropped all legal appeals to his death sentence, saying he was guilty of the murders and tormented by what he had done. Hayes was condemned for shooting to death Mary Hayes, 46, his wife of 14 years, on July 16, 1999 after she told him she had had an affair. He then drove to a convenience store near their home north of Houston and shot the clerk, Rosalyn Robinson, 18, as he stole her car.

In a last statement while strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber, Hayes expressed deep sorrow for the murders. "I would like for Rosalyn's family and loved ones and my wife Mary's family to know that I am genuinely sorry for what I did. I would like for you to reach down in your hearts and forgive me," he said with a shaky voice. "There is no excuse for what I did. I know I will see Mary and Rosalyn tonight. I love you all."

Hayes was the 310th person executed in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982 after the U.S. Supreme Court did away with a national ban on the death penalty.

For his final meal, he requested two bacon cheeseburgers, french fries, onion rings, cole slaw, fried okra, a pint of Rocky Road ice cream, a quart of milk and two diet Cokes.

The Courier

Prosecutors seeking the death penalty against convicted murderer Larry Allen Hayes questioned his stepson Thursday about the 51-year-old man's history of violence. (May 12, 2000)

On Wednesday, a jury of nine men and three women found Hayes guilty of the July 15 murders of his wife Mary Hayes, 47, and convenience-store clerk Rosalyn Ann Robinson, an 18-year-old Conroe High School graduate who was headed to nursing school in the coming fall. At times weeping, the 25-year-old Larry Lundstrum, recounted one story after another in which his stepfather Hayes had attacked the young man's mother. Hayes was convicted of capital murder and could get either a life sentence or the death penalty.

Defense attorneys William Hall and Lydia Clay-Jackson are expected to ask the jury to spare his life, claiming Hayes acted out of a jealous rage after learning his wife had an affair and is no longer a danger to others. They attempted Thursday, through brief cross-examinations of several prosecution witnesses, to poke holes in the testimony of those who attested to the violence. Hall questioned whether Lundstrum actually saw some of the events or whether he thought he heard violence. And Clay-Jackson appeared to question whether an officer had accurately documented a domestic disturbance call he made to the family's south county home.

Prosecutors, however, sought to show through Thursday's testimony that Hayes had resorted to violence under a number of circumstances and that he did so knowingly. One of several officers who testified to ongoing domestic violence in the Hayes household said Larry Hayes specifically told him on one occasion "There will be violence." Sheriff's Deputy Jeffery Smith said Hayes made the statement in October 1996, after Smith told him authorities could not make his wife leave the home.

Lundstrum, whose stories spanned at least 10 years of his mother and stepfather's marriage, said the two separated many times, often after Hayes beat his wife. He testified to grabbing his then-toddler brother Nathan from a baby bed and running to a neighbor's home to call the police during one particularly brutal fight. It was the same night, Lundstrum said, that he and his sisters saw their father step on Mary Hayes' neck and hold her down after kicking and punching her. Years later, in 1995, a neighbor testified Nathan was around 9 years old and ran to her home saying his dad was trying to kill his mom. Both times police came and arrested Hayes. Nancy Harrington, the executive director of the Montgomery County Women's Center, also testified to the validity of records kept by staff members of the center Women's Shelter, where Hayes and two younger children stayed for two weeks in late 1995.

The state rested its portion of the punishment phase early Thursday afternoon. Court resumes Monday morning, when defense attorneys are expected to call a witness who will say Hayes poses little threat of future violence. State District Judge K. Michael Mayes said it is likely the defense will rest its case Tuesday, and both sides will argue whether Hayes should be put to death. A jury will then deliberate his fate.

Hayes v. State___ S.W.3d ___ (Tex.Crim.App. September 11,2002) (Direct Appeal)

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS
NO. 73,830
LARRY ALLEN HAYES, Appellant
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
ON DIRECT APPEAL FROM MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Womack, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.

The appellant was convicted in May 2000 of capital murder. Tex. Penal Code sec. 19.03(a). Pursuant to the jury’s answers to the special issues set forth in Code of Criminal Procedure article 37.071 sections 2(b) and 2(e), the trial judge sentenced the appellant to death. Article 37.071 §2(g).1 Direct appeal to this Court is automatic. Art. 37.071, sec. 2(h). The appellant raises four points of error including challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence at the punishment phase. We shall affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

In 1999, the appellant and his wife, Mary Hayes were living together at 2667 South Woodloch in Conroe, Texas. On July 13, 1999 the appellant told his stepson that his wife was having an affair and that “[he did not] think that he could forgive her like she forgave me.” Cathy Varner also testified that during the week of July 16, 1999 the appellant suspected an affair between Mary Hayes and Gary Hurt, Mrs. Hayes’s co- worker.2 Mr. Hurt testified that the appellant called him about the affair and said: “Don’t you know that people get killed over these things?”

On July 16, 1999 between 10:45 and 11:00 p.m., Paula Odendalski, the appellant’s neighbor, heard a shrill, high-pitched noise and saw Lauren Hayes, the appellant’s ten- year-old daughter, running across the street. Ms. Odendalski met Lauren in her driveway and asked her what was happening. Lauren was screaming and said that her father was trying to kill her mother. Ms. Odendalski called 911 at 10:51 p.m. Lauren told the 911 operator that she heard her mother and the appellant fighting. The appellant was hitting Mrs. Hayes on the head and chased her into Lauren’s bedroom. Lauren ran into the bedroom and saw that the appellant had shot her mother in the hand. Mrs. Hayes tried to crawl under Lauren’s bed to escape. Hazel Hayes, the appellant’s mother, also ran to the room and tried to stop the appellant. At that point, Lauren ran out of the house and heard several more shots. During the 911 phone conversation Lauren also told the operator that she thought that the appellant left the house in a black Chevy Suburban truck.

The police arrived and found Hazel Hayes wailing inside of the house. She told the police that the appellant and Mrs. Hayes were fighting over Mrs. Hayes’s alleged affair and that she tried to stop the appellant, but it didn’t work. She said that he reloaded his gun and asked her for a kiss before he drove away. The police found the body of Mary Hayes in Lauren Hayes’s bedroom. There was blood on the wall and the bed and brain matter and skull fragments on the floor. Dr. Parungao, the assistant medical examiner of Harris County, testified that she was shot seven times, three times in the head, once in the left shoulder blade, twice in the back, and once in the hand.3 Two of the wounds were close contact wounds, fired within six inches of the body. The victim’s head was described as “shattered” and “crushed.” The police also recovered eight “spent” .44 magnum cartridge casings at the scene.

Shortly after killing his wife, the appellant drove to the Diamond Shamrock gas station at FM 3083 and Creighton Road in Montgomery County. A witness testified that she saw the appellant lead the clerk, Rosalyn Robinson, out of the store at gunpoint to Ms. Robinson’s white Ford Mustang. As the witness started to drive away she heard a gunshot.

When the police arrived on the scene they found Ms. Robinson lying on the ground in front of the appellant’s black Suburban, alive, but unresponsive. Later Ms. Robinson died. Dr. Parungao testified that the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen. Ms. Robinson was shot three times, once in the abdomen, once in the right arm, and once in the face. Ms. Robinson’s white Mustang was missing.

A man named Vale Yates testified that later that same evening he stopped at a Super 8 Motel in Cleveland, Texas. He was having some trouble with the starter in his Chevy Blazer, so he left the truck running while he went inside to check in. When he returned, his Blazer was gone and parked behind where it had been was Rosalyn Robin son’s white Mustang. Inside the Mustang was an overnight bag containing prescription medications bearing the appellant’s name, a cartridge carrier, and three spent shell casings.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Department received a dispatch at 12:20 a.m. to report to a Dandy Double truck stop in Polk County, Texas to apprehend a potential suspect from Montgomery County. Sharon Glass and her husband reported that a man driving a Chevy Blazer asked them for a jump in the parking lot. When he turned to the side, Mrs. Glass saw a large gun tucked into the waistband of his pants. When the deputy sheriff apprehended the appellant, he was walking south across the Dandy Double parking lot with his shirt off and tucked into his waistband. The officers yelled at him to put his hands up, and the appellant turned and pulled away the white t-shirt to reveal a .44 magnum. The appellant then started to raise the gun, and Sergeant Waller fired a shot which missed the appellant. The appellant moved into a “shooter stance” and Sergeant Waller fired a second shot into the appellant’s back. The appellant was taken into custody and transported to Columbia Conroe Medical Center for medical attention. At the punishment phase of trial, nurses testified that the appellant was verbally and physi cally abusive and threatened to kill one nurse “if he could get his hands on her.”

* * *

We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

En Banc. Delivered September 11, 2002.