Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbottoffers the following information on Edward Lewis Lagrone, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 11, 2004. In May 1993, a Tarrant County jury sentenced Lagrone to death for having murdered three people during the same criminal transaction in May 1991.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

The State presented evidence that Lagrone impregnated ten-year-old Shakeisha Lloyd. In an attempt to prevent Shakeisha and her mother, Pamela Lloyd, from pursuing sexual assault charges against him, Lagrone went to their residence and shot and killed Shakeisha and two of her elderly great aunts, seventy-six-year-old Carolina “Caola” Lloyd and eighty-three-year-old Zenobia Anderson.

The evidence at trial established that in May 1991, the Lloyd family was living at 2004 Amanda Street in Fort Worth. The Lloyd family included eight people: three homicide victims (Shakeisha Lloyd, Caola Lloyd, and Zenobia Anderson), as well as five survivors of the homicidal incident -- Pamela Lloyd (Shakeisha’s mother), Shakeisha’s three siblings, and Dempsey Lloyd (Shakeisha’s uncle).

Pamela Lloyd first met Lagrone in 1985, and the two were involved in a relationship for approximately six months. After their breakup, however, the Lloyd family maintained contact with Lagrone because he would intermittently visit the children at home.

On May 26, 1991, Pamela Lloyd noticed that Shakeisha’s body was changing and that her breasts were getting bigger. Because this seemed unnatural, Pamela Lloyd took Shakeisha to the local hospital for an examination where she learned Shakeisha was pregnant. Pamela Lloyd then contacted the police about Lagrone’s rape of her daughter. In response to the rape charges, the police took Pamela Lloyd to Lagrone’s Arlington apartment where she asked Lagrone’s sister to have Lagrone contact her. When Lagrone called her, Pamela Lloyd asked him how he could have “messed” with Shakeisha. Lagrone denied having sexual relations with Shakeisha so Pamela Lloyd hung up the telephone. Later that day, however, Lagrone called Pamela Lloyd back to tell her that he was sorry for what he had done to Shakeisha and that he would take care of the baby. Pamela Lloyd responded with outrage because Lagrone had molested Shakeisha nine times, and threatened to press charges.

The next day, Shakeisha contacted Lagrone via his beeper, and Pamela Lloyd used the opportunity to inform him that Shakeisha wanted an abortion which would cost approximately $895 dollars. Lagrone responded by assuring Pamela Lloyd that he would provide the abortion money. On Wednesday, May 29, 1991, Lagrone attempted to get Pamela Lloyd to drop her complaint by offering to give her $1,000 dollars for the abortion and $500 dollars for herself. Pamela Lloyd, however, refused to withdraw the complaint. Lagrone called later that day and told Pamela Lloyd that he would deliver the money on Thursday.

That same Wednesday, Lagrone went to the Winchester Gun Store with his friend, Anetta Daniel. After supplying Daniel with the purchase money, Lagrone asked her to purchase a double-barrel, pistol-grip shotgun. Daniel purchased a Winchester slide-action shotgun which Lagrone put in the trunk of his car. At trial, Robert Wilshire, an employee of the gun store, testified that this shotgun qualifies as a deadly weapon.

On Thursday, May 30, 1991, Pamela Lloyd got up around 4:00 a.m. to get some water from the kitchen because she was having trouble sleeping. After she had left the kitchen and entered the bathroom, somebody knocked at the front door and demanded that one of the Lloyds “open the door.” Shakeisha’s brother, Charles, identified the voice as Lagrone’s, and Dempsey Lloyd answered the door. After allowing Dempsey Lloyd to open the door and ask him what he wanted at such an early hour, Lagrone shot Dempsey Lloyd with the aforementioned shotgun. Dempsey Lloyd subsequently grappled with Lagrone over the gun.

Following this struggle, Lagrone went into the front bedroom where Caola Lloyd was sleeping and fired a shot. Lagrone then went into the kitchen where Zenobia Lloyd was washing clothes and fired another shot. As Pamela Lloyd and Shakeisha attempted to collect and hide the other children, several more shots were fired. Pamela Lloyd then discovered Shakeisha lying on the floor with “half of her face blown off.” Although Dempsey Lloyd pled for mercy, Lagrone shot him a second time before leaving. Dempsey Lloyd was still able to go next door and call for emergency “911” assistance despite his severe wounds.

Following the above homicidal incident, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office performed autopsies on Caola Lloyd, Zenobia Anderson, and Shakeisha Lloyd. The medical examiner determined the cause of death for all three of the deceased victims to be a single homicidal incident. The medical examiner also recovered a four-to-five month-old female fetus, which was preserved for blood and DNA testing. Dr. Arthur Eisenberg, a forensic pathologist, compared Lagrone’s blood samples with those recovered from Shakeisha Lloyd, and conducted DNA testing to establish paternity. Based upon this examination, Dr. Eisenberg concluded that Lagrone’s paternity of Shakeisha Lloyd’s unborn child was 99.999% certain; and testified that, with the exception of having an identical twin brother, Lagrone was the father of that child.

EVIDENCE ADMITTED DURING PUNISHMENT

During the punishment phase of the trial, the State introduced evidence that Lagrone had been convicted of murder in 1977, and received a twenty-year sentence. The State also produced numerous reputation witnesses who testified that Lagrone had a bad reputation for being peaceable and lawabiding.

Finally, the State introduced evidence of several extraneous offenses committed by appellant. For example, on March 3, 1991, Officer Keith McGuire of the Fort Worth Police Department witnessed Lagrone flagging down cars in a manner consistent with drug dealing. The officer subsequently observed Lagrone toss a black pouch to the ground which was later determined to contain a quantity of crack cocaine. On October 14, 1990, Officer Greg Abernathy of the Fort Worth Police department was involved in a routine investigation of potential drug trafficking, and received a tip about a local drug trafficker from one of the suspects. The tip led Officer Abernathy to a nearby apartment complex where he found a man matching the suspected drug trafficker’s description--Lagrone. After being confronted by the police, Lagrone ran up some stairs and attempted to jettison a brown bag. The police laboratory later confirmed that the bag contained a quantity of cocaine.

Finally, on February 23, 1986, fifteen year-old sisters were returning home from a nearby Dairy Queen. While they were crossing the grounds of a local elementary school, Lagrone approached them and threatened them with a gun. Lagrone took the sisters’ money, forced them to remove their clothing, tied them up, and proceeded to force one girl to perform oral sex and molest her sister. After threatening to burn down the girls’ home if they went to the police, the girls did not contact the authorities at that time.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Trial and direct appeal proceedings

May 1993 A Tarrant County jury convicts Lagrone of murder and assesses a punishment of death.

02/05/97 On direct appeal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirms Lagrone’s conviction and sentence.

04/09/97 The Court of Criminal Appeals denies rehearing.

10/14/97 The United States Supreme Court denies certiorari review.

04/09/97 The Court of Criminal Appeals denies rehearing.

10/14/97 The United States Supreme Court denies certiorari review.

State habeas proceedings

10/15/98 Lagrone files an application for state writ of habeas corpus raising thirty-eight grounds for relief.

03/12/99 The state habeas court issues findings and conclusions recommending that relief be denied.

06/23/99 The Court of Criminal Appeals independently reviews the record, and denies relief.

Federal habeas proceedings

12/07/99 Lagrone files writ of habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

08/29/02 United States District Judge A. Joe Fish denies habeas relief.

10/18/02 The district court denied Lagrone’s subsequent application for a certificate of appealability (“COA”).

01/23/03 Lagrone applies for a COA from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals raising nineteen claims.

09/02/03 The Fifth Circuit denies the request in an unpublished opinion.

10/21/03 The District Court of Tarrant County sets Lagrone’s execution for February 11, 2004.

12/01/03 Lagrone petitions the United States Supreme Court for certiorari review.

02/04/04 Lagrone applied to the United States Supreme Court for a stay of execution.

ProDeathPenalty.com

The man who fatally shot the 10-year-old girl he had impregnated and killed her two elderly great-aunts during a bloody Stop Six rampage in 1991 will be put to death in February unless the courts, the governor or parole officials intervene. Edward Lewis LaGrone, who had a history of murder and drug dealing, was convicted in a case in which he burst into an east Fort Worth home occupied by the extended family of Shakeisha Lloyd before dawn May 30, 1991, the day after Shakeisha completed the fourth grade.

According to police records and news accounts, LaGrone and as many as three companions were greeted around 5 a.m. at the front door by Dempsey Lloyd, Shakeisha's 48-year-old uncle. Lloyd was hit in the arm by a shotgun blast and begged the intruders not to kill him. The men then opened fire on Zenobia Anderson, 83, and Caola Lloyd, 76, who was blind and bedridden with cancer. Both died of wounds to the neck and head.

Shakeisha, who had recently learned that she was 17 weeks pregnant, was running for the door when she paused to grab her 19-month-old sister and shield her behind some boxes. She was warning her mother to hide when she was mortally wounded by a shot in the head. The mother and her teen-age son, the seventh occupant of the home, were not harmed in the melee. Dempsey Lloyd's wounds were not fatal.

Steve Conder, a Tarrant County assistant district attorney who has handled LaGrone's case during the appeals process, said the murders are among the most chilling in Fort Worth history. No other suspects were arrested. "If I hadn't worked on the case, it would be hard to imagine anything like this ever happening," he said. LaGrone, now 46, had been dating Shakeisha's mother, Pamela Lloyd, while he was on parole from a 1977 murder conviction. During that time, he had been molesting and assaulting Shakeisha. Five days before the shootings, Lloyd noticed that her daughter's stomach had expanded. A hospital examination confirmed that the girl was pregnant. Lloyd notified police that LaGrone had assaulted her daughter. After the shootings, Lloyd said LaGrone had promised to pay $1,500 for an abortion for Shakeisha and to compensate the family. LaGrone's execution is scheduled to take place after 6 p.m. Feb. 11 in Huntsville.

Six and a half years after her daughter's slaying, Pamela Lloyd was arrested in the shooting death of Gene Anthony Tutt, 36, whom she had married in June 1993. She was convicted of Tutt's murder in July 1999 and is serving a five-year prison sentence.

TheDeathouse.Com

"Man Who Killed Child He Impregnated Executed in Texas." (February 11, 2004)

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. - Edward Lagrone killed a 10-year-old child he had impregnated. He also murdered two elderly relatives of the child, including a great aunt who was blind and bedridden with cancer. One prosecutor called him a "poster boy" for the death penalty. Tonight, the poster boy was executed, but claimed he was innocent of the murders. Lagrone, 46, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison here Wednesday night. He was put to death for the 1991 triple slaying in Fort Worth. At the time of the murders, Lagrone was on parole for another Tarrant County slaying in which he had received 20 years in prison. He had been released in 1984.

Fried Chicken, Soda And Death

"As I said from day one, I didn't go in there and kill them, but I'm no better than the people that did," Lagrone said in his last statement form the execution chamber. "Jesus is Lord." With those words, the lethal dose began at 6:11 p.m. and Lagrone was declared dead at 6:18 p.m., the fifth condemned killer executed in Texas in 2004. A spokeswoman for the Texas prison system, Michelle Lyons, said Lagrone had requested five pieces of fried chicken and assorted soft drinks for his last meal. Although several members of the victims' family witnessed his execution, Lagrone had no member of his family in attendance.

Sexually Assaults Child

Prosecutors say Lagrone had been dating Pamela Lloyd. At the same time, he was sexually assaulting her daughter, Shakiesha, prosecutors charged. When Pamela Lloyd found out that Shakiesha was pregnant and Lagrone had been sexually assaulting the child, she was going to call police. Lagrone decided to kill them to prevent Pamela Lloyd from pressing charges, prosecutors stated. Prosecutors say Lagrone came into the Lloyd's Fort Worth home on May 30, 1991 at about 5 a.m. He wounded a member of the family, Dempsey Lloyd, 48, with a blast from a shotgun. He then shot and killed Zenobia Anderson, 83, and Caola Lloyd, 76, who had cancer and was blind, court documents stated.

Shot In Head

Meanwhile, Shakeisah was trying to run away when she was grabbed and shot in the head. The child had just completed the fourth grade. Two other men who were in the house, Charles and Dempsey Lloyd, identified Lagrone as the shooter. A girlfriend of Lagrone also testified that she purchased the shotgun for Lagrone that was used as the murder weapon. Lagrone claimed that other men did the shooting and he was innocent. He claimed Pamela Lloyd was a crack addict, later convicted and sentenced to jail for the slaying of Shakeisah's father. His lawyers claim that the murders were drug related and committed by others.

Mother Imprisoned For Slaying

Lagrone had claimed that in their original statements to police, witnesses said that "several men came into the house" and no witness identified Lagrone as one of them. He claims the witnesses changed their statements at trial. Pamela Loyd, now imprisoned for the slaying of the girl's father, requested permission to witness the execution of Lagrone. However, Texas Department of Criminal Justice policy forbids inmates form witnessing executions, a spokeswoman for the department stated.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson.

Edward Lewis Lagrone, 47, was executed by lethal injection on 11 February 2004 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of three people in their home.

On 26 May 1991, Pamela Lloyd, 30, of Fort Worth, discovered that her 10-year-old daughter, Shakeisha, was pregnant. Shakeisha told her that she had been raped by Edward Lagrone, then 34. Lagrone and Lloyd had a relationship for six months in 1985. Lagrone continued to make visits to the Lloyd home after their breakup.

Lloyd went to the police and filed a rape complaint against Lagrone. She also confronted him on the telephone. At first, Lagrone denied having sex with Shakeisha, but later that day, he called Lloyd back and confessed to molesting Shakeisha on numerous occasions. He apologized to Lloyd and offered to support the baby. The next day, Lloyd called Lagrone and told him that Shakeisha wanted an abortion, which would cost $895.

At the time, Lagrone was on parole for a previous murder conviction. If Lloyd pursued rape charges against him, his parole could have been revoked. On 29 May, Lagrone offered to give Lloyd $1,500 if she would drop the rape complaint. Lloyd refused to withdraw the complaint. Later that day, Lagrone gave a friend, Anetta Daniel, money to buy a double-barreled, pistol-grip shotgun for him.

On 30 May 1991, before dawn, Pamela Lloyd, heard a knock at her front door, along with a demand to "open the door." Lloyd's son, Charles, recognized the voice as Lagrone's. When Lloyd's brother, Dempsey, 48, opened the door, Lagrone shot him with the shotgun, hitting him in the arm. Lagrone then went into the front bedroom and shot Pamela's aunt, Carolina Lloyd, 76, who was sleeping. Next, Lagrone went into the kitchen and shot another aunt, Zenobia Anderson, 83, who was washing clothes. His next victim was Shakeisha, who was shot while trying to protect her 19-month-old sister. As Dempsey Lloyd pleaded for mercy, Lagrone shot him a second time, then he left the house. Zenobia Anderson, Carolina Lloyd, and Shakeisha Lloyd were all shot in the neck or head and died in the attack. Dempsey Lloyd, though wounded, went next door and called for emergency assistance, while Pamela stayed in the house with her three surviving children.

Shakeisha's autopsy showed that she was seventeen weeks pregnant. DNA testing showed conclusively that Lagrone was the father. Lagrone had a previous conviction for murder. He served seven years of a 20-year prison sentence from 1977 to 1984. According to trial testimony, he was a well-known drug dealer. Two of his sisters testified that he sexually assaulted them at gunpoint in 1986.

A jury convicted Lagrone of capital murder in May 1993 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in February 1997. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied. "Like I've said from day one, I didn't kill them," Lagrone said in his last statement. "But I'm no better than the people that did." He concluded by saying, "Jesus is Lord. That's all I have to say." He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

The execution was witnessed by several of Shakeisha's relatives, but Pamela Lloyd could not attend because she was incarcerated. Pamela Rochelle Lloyd has also had a lengthy criminal history. She was convicted of petty larceny in 1981 and of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon in 1987. She served seven months of a five-year sentence before being paroled. In November 1991, she was charged with the murder of her husband, Gene Tutt, 36. While out on bond, she was arrested for driving while intoxicated. She was later convicted of murder and sentenced to five years in prison. She is scheduled to be discharged on 16 July 2004.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Edward Lagrone, TX - Feb. 11, 6 PM CST

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Edward Lagrone, a black man, Feb. 11 for the 1991 shooting deaths of Shakiesha Lloyd, Zenobia Anderson, and Caroline Lloyd in Tarrant county. The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST. Shakiesha Lloyd, who was ten years old, was 17 weeks pregnant with Lagrone’s child. Lagrone argues that his right to due process, equal protection of the law, and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment was violated because Texas does not offer the sentence of life without parole.

When Pamela Lloyd, who had been involved with Mr. Lagrone in the past, discovered that her daughter Shakiesha was pregnant, she contacted the police to report Mr. Lagrone for the sexual assault of a minor. Mr. Lagrone’s paternity was later established through DNA testing. Mr. Lagrone offered to pay for an abortion and give the family $500 if Pamela Lloyd dropped the charges. She refused. Mr. Lagrone’s girlfriend testified that he asked her to buy him a shotgun, and with this gun he shot Dempsey Lloyd, Pamela Lloyd’s brother, and shot and killed Shakiesha and her two aunts.

The defense presented testimony that another man, Steven McKnight, had bragged to others that he had committed the murders. They also presented testimony that the murders were linked to Pamela Lloyd’s addiction to crack cocaine. However, several eyewitnesses testified that Mr. Lagrone had indeed committed the murders.

The psychologist who testified at trial emphasized that Lagrone would better himself in prison and that his capacity for violence would be reduced in such a controlled setting. Lagrone appealed his sentence on the grounds that the Texas statutory scheme allows the state to systematically prove that virtually all capital defendants constitute a future danger as a result of the state’s failure to provide a sentence of life without parole, and because of the state’s record of releasing convicted felons after they have served only a very small portion of their sentences. At the time of his conviction, had Mr. Lagrone been sentenced to life in prison he would have been eligible for parole in 15 years. Thus, in the case of heinous crimes, juries at the time were left with no other option than death.

Furthermore, Mr. Lagrone’s court-appointed lawyer, Paul Alley, had been publicly reprimanded by the State Bar of Texas for unprofessional and unethical conduct. If the judge had been aware of this disciplinary action, Mr. Alley would not have been assigned to the case.

Texas has been responsible for over a third of all executions since 1976, and for 24 of the 65 people executed in 2003. Please contact Gov. Perry and urge him to declare a moratorium on executions, endorse legislation allowing the sentence of life without parole, and commute the death sentence of Mr. Lagrone.

Houston Chronicle

"Killer executed for shooting 10-year-old he impregnated," by Michael Graczyk. (AP Feb. 11, 2004, 9:59PM

HUNTSVILLE -- Maintaining his innocence, twice-convicted killer Edward Lagrone was executed Wednesday evening for a triple slaying in Fort Worth where one of the victims was a 10-year-old girl pregnant with his child. "I just want to say I am not sad or bitter with anybody," Lagrone said in a brief final statement. "Like I've said from day one, I didn't kill them. But I'm no better than the people that did." He concluded by saying: "Jesus is Lord. That's all I have to say." Lagrone was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m., seven minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing into the veins of his arms. Lagrone, 46, was the fifth Texas inmate executed this year. Another execution is set for tonight.

Evidence showed Shakeisha Lloyd was 17 weeks pregnant when Lagrone, who was released in 1984 after serving seven years of a 20-year prison term for murder, barged into her family's home about 4 a.m. on May 30, 1991, and began shooting with a double-barreled pistol-grip shotgun he had a girlfriend buy for him one day earlier. Two of the girl's great-aunts, Zenobia Anderson, 83, and Caolo Lloyd, 74, deaf, blind and bedridden with cancer, also were killed. An uncle was wounded.

"This is one of the uglier ones," said Steve Conder, a Tarrant County assistant prosecutor handling responses to Lagrone's appeals. "Just a cold-blooded murderer," said David Montague, the district attorney who prosecuted the case. "DNA evidence immediately linked him to the fetus of the girl who was killed." Authorities believed Lagrone was enraged because Shakeisha's mother, Pamela Lloyd, wouldn't drop a sexual assault complaint she filed against him for impregnating her daughter even though he offered to pay her and pay for an abortion. Lloyd once dated Lagrone.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon, acting on an appeal filed by Lagrone's lawyers, refused to review his case and stop the punishment. Lagrone lived in Arlington and had worked as a cook but was known in Fort Worth's Stop Six area as a drug dealer. He denied impregnating the girl, who completed the fourth grade the day before she was killed. DNA evidence, however, excluded 99.99 percent of other men as the father. Eight genetic tests could not exclude him, a DNA expert testified.

Pamela Lloyd testified that Shakeisha was concealing her 19-month-old sister behind some boxes and shouting at her mother to hide when she was shot. The woman fled to a closet.

Omar Anderson, Lagrone's son, serving a life prison term for a 1992 murder, testified at his father's trial that another man was responsible for the killings. Montague, however, said relatives who survived the shooting spree identified Lagrone. "We had a lock-tight case as far as we were concerned," Montague said. During the punishment phase, two of Lagrone's sisters testified that he had terrorized and sexually assaulted them at gunpoint in 1986.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"Mother Recalls Murder of Girl," by John Moritz. (Sun, February 08, 2004)

LOCKHART - Pamela Lloyd Tutt had awakened before dawn to use the restroom when she heard a knock at the door that was followed quickly by shouting and a violent struggle. Then came a blast of gunfire, and another.

Lloyd Tutt screamed to her 10-year-old daughter to run, to hide and to find her baby sister, Mytyl. As the little girl screamed the same warnings to her mother in the home in Fort Worth's Stop Six neighborhood, Edward Lewis LaGrone leveled his shotgun and shot ShaKeisha Lloyd dead. Before he fled from the house in the 2000 block of Amanda Avenue on the morning of May 30, 1991, LaGrone also killed 83-year-old Zenobia Anderson and her sister, Caola Lloyd, who was 76, blind and ravaged by terminal cancer. Dempsey Lloyd, 48, who had challenged LaGrone as he burst through the door that morning, was seriously wounded by two shots but would survive his injuries.

Pamela Lloyd Tutt, whose life unraveled after the killings, recalled those horrible moments as she discussed Wednesday's scheduled execution of LaGrone -- the man she had once dated, the man who had supplied her with crack cocaine, the man who had impregnated ShaKeisha, and the man who had killed without remorse. "Executing him won't bring back my baby and it won't bring back my aunts," she said quietly during an interview in a Lockhart prison unit last week where she is serving the last year of a five-year sentence for murder. "But I don't even want to think about what I wanted to do to that man if I ever had the chance."

Lloyd Tutt escaped death that morning by hiding in a back room as the gunfire raged, she said. Her son, Charles, then 13, also hid. The life of baby Mytyl was spared by ShaKeisha's final act: she scooped up the 19-month-old and flung her behind some boxes just before LaGrone opened fire. "ShaKeisha was a very loving, very supportive young lady," recalled her mother. "She was my best friend. She was an A student, she loved church and she loved meeting people."

Billy Lloyd, Pamela's uncle, recalls warning his niece to steer clear of LaGrone in the late 1980s. On the streets of Stop Six, LaGrone was well-known and much-feared, Billy Lloyd said. LaGrone was selling drugs, he had served time for murder and he was mean. "I told Pamela that she didn't want nothing to do with this man," said Lloyd, who still lives in Stop Six. "He was a horrible, horrible man and everybody knew it."

Looking back, Lloyd Tutt now agrees. She said she had known it all along, really, but the constant use of crack cocaine clouded her judgment, and she was charmed by the flamboyant LaGrone. "I had just got out of prison [where she was serving a sentence for armed robbery], and Ed starting coming around," she said. "He had this way of getting in good with the children of the people he was selling drugs to. He'd be nice to them and buy them presents and stuff."

What Lloyd Tutt said she did not know until just days before the killings was that LaGrone was doing much more than charming her children. One evening at bath time, she noticed that ShaKeisha's midsection and breasts had grown. "She said, 'Mommy, there's something moving around inside of me,' " Lloyd Tutt recalled. A visit to the doctor confirmed that the fourth-grader was 17 weeks pregnant. And ShaKeisha told her mother of the assaults by LaGrone that had begun two years earlier. According to news accounts, court testimony and the prison interview, Lloyd Tutt called LaGrone and demanded that he pay to have ShaKeisha's pregnancy terminated. She also threatened to bring assault charges against him. LaGrone agreed to pay $1,000 for an abortion and $500 more for her to keep quiet about the assaults. But when he arrived at the family's home the next morning, LaGrone had no intention of handing over any money.

Billy Lloyd's wife, Beverly, said that despite her niece's chronic dependence on drugs and her questionable judgment in men, Lloyd Tutt loved her children and encouraged their success. Beverly Lloyd said that the extended family would often get together on weekends and holidays, and that her own daughter, Kendra, and ShaKeisha were the same age and were best friends. "I just want people to know that we're a good family," Beverly Lloyd said. "It was just that that generation got off track with the drugs and everything else. "Nothing good ever comes from drugs."

Lloyd Tutt, now 43, said that her drug use continued after the Stop Six murders. In 1993, she married Gene Anthony Tutt, even though the relationship had become abusive. "He was the father of my baby," Lloyd Tutt said. "I had never been married before, and this time I wanted to have a father figure in my children's life. I thought that was important." But on the night of Nov. 10, 1997, Pamela and Gene Tutt had a violent argument, Lloyd Tutt recalled. She said she feared for her life when she found a gun and shot him to death. "It was self-defense," she said. "I had reported him before. That's why they only gave me five years."

LaGrone, who turns 47 in less than a month, has not filed an application for clemency or a sentence commutation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Calls to his lawyer with the federal public defender's office in Fort Worth were not returned. During his trial, LaGrone was described by family members as a man beset by a lifetime of misfortune. Older brother Joe LaGrone told how Edward had grown up in a southeast Fort Worth housing project, dropped out of school in the 10th grade and was convicted of murder at age 19. The defense presented a set of drawings LaGrone had done in jail of flowers, hummingbirds and landscapes. A colorful drawing of a flower and several bees was captioned, "Busy as a bee." Another was titled "Total Harmony."

Lloyd Tutt, whose son, Charles, died at age 22 from a drug overdose in 2000, said she is looking forward to being released after completing her sentence this year. A 10th-grade dropout, Lloyd Tutt said she hopes to complete the course work for a high school general equivalency diploma and get a job when she is freed from the privately run lockup about 45 miles south of Austin. "I know now that I don't need a man in my life and I don't need drugs," she said. "I am determined to stay off drugs this time." Her uncle and aunt, who plan to attend LaGrone's execution in Huntsville, said they will be supportive of Pamela's effort, but they still grieve for the family members who were slain.

In a sometimes tearful telephone interview, Billy Lloyd recalled his great-niece as a bright and cheerful 10-year-old who had a penchant for singing children's songs. "She had one I never will forget that she would sing for me. It went, 'Mighty, mighty tiger. Mighty, mighty tiger,' " Lloyd said, first breaking into song, then breaking into tears. His wife marveled at the time that has passed since the killings, saying it still seems like only yesterday. "Kendra is 24 now," Beverly Lloyd said, referring to her daughter. "That means Keisha would have been 24 this June. It's hard to believe."

Because she is in prison, Lloyd Tutt has forfeited her right to witness the execution of her daughter's killer. She said the day will flood her with emotions. "I have forgiven him and I have asked God to forgive him, but it's hard," Lloyd Tutt said. "I am trying to forgive myself."

Huntsville Item

"Fort Worth man executed for killing pregnant 10-year-old," by Tori Rowe. (February 12, 2004)

A Fort Worth man was executed Wednesday night for the 1991 murder of 10-year-old Shakeisha Lloyd, who was 17 weeks pregnant with his child. Edward Lagrone, 46, was executed by lethal injection for the murder of Lloyd and her two great-aunts, Zenobia Anderson, 83, and Caolo Lloyd, 74. A relative, Dempsey Lloyd, was also wounded during the attack. Twice convicted of murder, Lagrone's attorneys had asked state and federal courts to review the case and stop the execution, but all appeals were denied.

For his final statement, Lagrone said, "I just want to say I'm not sad today. "I'm not bitter with anyone. As I've said from day one, I didn't go in there and kill them, but I'm no better than the people that did," he said. "Jesus is Lord. That's all I have to say." Lagrone then gave a long gasp and sputtered. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. - seven minutes after a lethal mixture of chemicals began flowing into his arms.

In a press conference after the execution, members of the Lloyd family were upset that Lagrone never said he was sorry. "I feel sorry for him," said Kendra Lloyd, Shakeisha's cousin. "It's not right to hate a person, but he took my cousin away. He could have said he was sorry." Shakeisha's uncle, Billy Ray Lloyd, said he felt satisfied after witnessing the execution. "It made me feel good, real good," he said. "I know now that he can't hurt another mother, father, niece. He's gone. "It seemed like he had made peace with God," he said. "He was a terrible person, but I believe he made peace with God."

At the time of the murders, Lagrone lived in Arlington and worked as a cook. He was known as a drug dealer in Fort Worth's Stop Six area and already had a murder conviction and prison term on his record. Shakeisha's mother, Pamela, had dated Lagrone before the murders and filed a sexual assault complaint against him after discovering her daughter was pregnant and had been assaulted by Lagrone. Pamela refused to accept money for her silence and an abortion for Shakeisha, and prosecutors speculated this may have been what drove Lagrone to murder Shakeisha.

Although Lagrone denied being the father of Shakeisha's child, DNA tests excluded 99.99 percent of other men. Witnesses testified that Lagrone broke into the home at 4 a.m., shooting Dempsey Lloyd, then Shakeisha before moving through the house. Bobby Ray Hopkins is scheduled to be executed tonight for the 1993 stabbing deaths of two Johnson County women.

Edward Lagrone Homepage (CCADP)

For the many or few who would take their precious time to read these words of mine. I pray that you be most attentive to my words. Truly they are a plea for support in every conceivable aspect. For whatever it's worth, I find it necessary to state that I'm no eloquent speaker or writer If I was, I would need fewer words to say what is on my mind. I am an inmate on death row. My name, number and address is as stated below.

Edward LaGrone #999083
Polunsky Unit D.R.
12002 FM 350 South
Livingston, Texas 77351 USA

My hope is that the basic essence of this letter will bring about a positive response. If I could get just one response, such would be greatly appreciated and encouragement and support that would allow me to keep on pushing and know that my words haven't fell upon death ears so to speak.

I am a victim as many who have fallen victim to the American Justice System. The same Arnerican Justice System who seek to Police the entire world in the right sense or understanding. The system is unfair, hypocritical, and constantly practice inhumane methods of punishment in prisons throughout the country, but, all such practices in the name of Justice. The American Justice System is a farce to say the least !

It's a horror and an atrocity the way the Justice System misuse and abuse its power. I was falsely accused of a crime that sent me here to death row. Like many others here waiting to die. If I had a voice or the money to buy a voice that would be heard, then and only then would I have a half a chance to get retried in some court. As I sit here on death row and faced with the ultimate reality that one day I will receive an execution date and be put to death for something I know I didn't do. It makes me mad as hell ! ! There was a time when I had much faith in the Justice System, but such was a time when I wasn't charge with a crime that I didn't do and was faced with the possibility of being put to death. Well, the Justice System doesn't work ! And what of my Constitutional Rights to a fair trial ? ! I don't see any fair in falsely accusing someone of a crime, then send him in a courtroom with a Lawyer who isn't versed in Capital Punishment Law Plus, drag some criminals in the courtroom and promise them deals to regain their freedom if they testify against you, and say exactly what they were coerced to. Even as I sat in the county jail waiting my day in court.

There was an investigator who received word from some caller saying words to the effect, "The wrong man is being accused of those crimes and said the true killers were still out on the streets and have killed more people." Even the surviving victims, gave an on-camera interview and stated, and I quote them word for word - verbatim! "Four (4) men kicked in their door and started to shoot and left three of the seven (7) occunants of that home dead."

There was a guy who came forth as a witness to testify that he knew of these four men and called them all by name - as well as their aliases ! But, no one pursued these leads. It would have meant that they would have had to acknowledge that they had the wrong man and face the embarrassment of falsely accusing me of this heinous crime. They rather kill a innocent man than to admit to their inadequate ability to apprehend the proper suspects. The words of one the arresting officers seems echo so clearly in my mind to this day as he stated ,"We know you may not have committed the crime but you might know who did it." My photo was presented to the guy who reportedly had wrestled with one of the four assailants or killers, he stated, I wasn't one of them !

I sat in the county jail for a period of three (3) years awaiting trial, during which time, many people called reporting that they have the names of the guys who committed the crime. What kind of authorities will not investigate or pursue a lead that would aide them in the capture of the individuals who were guilty of such a crime ?! Such are the authorities who are too proud to admit they made a mistake !! They rather see the wrong person die before they admit to their wrongly accusing me. Now, I sit and wait to die unless some miracle happens and my case is overturned in the higher courts and I get a new trial.

Please, take time to consider my situation because such could happen to you as well. Yeah, it was hard for me to imagine myself being in this situation. And I never paid much attention to the many others I read about and saw on TV who insist they were wrongly accused of a crime. But, here I stand in the same shoes at a different time, and I can feel now the pain and anguish that engulf or blanket their entire being. My life is a nightmare and it's hard to call this living. But, I must keep my mind and cope with my situation and pray for the best. I used to take life and all it had to offer for granted, how foolish I was then. These days I would be satisfied just to roam the streets, aimlessly with no place to go, just as long as I would have my freedom. I truly think, if I wasn't a self-taught artist, I would surely have lost my sanity by now.

Thanks to all who took time to read these words. I am an African American male. All letters will be welcomed. Again, I will state that I need support in every conceivable aspect, friendship for encouragement, spiritual guidance and advice, financial support for stamps and writing material to correspond and do legal work as well. Support of any form and fashion would be greatly appreciated. Hope to hear from concerned readers soon! Thanks!!

Sincerely, Edward La Crone.

Lagrone v. State, 942 S.W.2d 602 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997) (Direct Appeal).

Defendant was convicted in the District Court, Tarrant County, Frank Douthitt, J., of three counts of capital murder, and was sentenced to death. On automatic appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeal, Keller, J., held that: (1) trial court did not abuse its discretion in restricting questioning of venire members; (2) trial court may order criminal defendant to submit to state- sponsored psychiatric exam on future dangerousness when defense introduces, or plans to introduce, its own future dangerousness expert testimony; (3) exclusion of defense counsel from independent examination did not violate right to counsel; (4) evidence of witness's inchoate drug use was not admissible for impeachment purposes; (5) denial of challenge for cause to juror was proper; (6) psychiatrist could testify as expert regarding future dangerousness of defendant in prison context; (7) reference to prison violence in closing argument was proper; and (8) improper reference to prison drug use during closing argument was harmless. Affirmed.

In May, 1993, appellant was tried and convicted of three counts of capital murder pursuant to Section 19.03(a)(6)(A) of the Texas Penal Code for the murder of more than one person in the same criminal transaction. [FN1] Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 19.03(a)(6)(A) (Vernon's 1993). The jury answered the statutorily required special issues submitted under Article 37.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure in a manner consistent with imposing the death penalty. [FN2] Tex.Code Crim. Pro. Ann. art. 37.071(b) (Vernon's 1990). Accordingly, the trial court followed its statutory mandate to sentence appellant to death. Tex.Code Crim. Pro. Ann. art. 37.071(e) (Vernon's 1990). Appeal to this court is automatic. Tex.Code Crim. Pro. Ann. art. 37.071(h) (Vernon's 1990).

FN1. Article 19.03(a)(6)(A) of the 1993 Texas Code of Criminal Procedure has been recodified under Article 19.03(a)(7)(A) of the 1995 Code.

FN2. Texas capital sentencing procedure has undergone several important changes during the interim between the commission of the instant capital offense in May of 1991 and the handing down of this opinion. On September 1, 1991, the Legislature added a statutory mitigation special issue for the jury's consideration, but specifically provided that this new procedure was not to be applied retroactively--to cases arising before September 1, 1991. The Legislature in effect created two separate capital sentencing procedures: (1) defendants whose crime was committed prior to September 1, 1991 were to be sentenced under the 1990 version of Article 37.071 without a statutory mitigation special issue; and (2) defendants whose crime was committed after September 1, 1991 were to be sentenced under the 1991, et. seq., versions of Article 37.071 which includes a statutory mitigation special issue.

On August 30, 1993, however, the Legislature again changed capital sentencing by specifically requiring the submission of a statutory mitigation special issue for all cases. Thus, the Legislature essentially abolished the procedural dichotomy created by the 1991 session by eliminating the central procedural difference between pre and post 1991 capital sentencing--the mandatory submission of a statutory mitigation special issue. The 1990 version of Article 37.071 , however, still had some minor procedural differences with the 1991, et seq., versions of the statute which the Legislature resolved by formally splitting the statute: (1) Article 37.071 controlled all cases arising after September 1, 1991; and (2) Article 37.0711 governed all cases arising before September 1, 1991. This basic framework is still intact today.

In keeping with these somewhat complex guidelines, the defendant was sentenced under the controlling law at his May, 1993 sentencing. In May of 1993, Texas capital sentencing law required the defendant to be sentenced under the 1990 version of Article 37.071 .Although the defendant would now be sentenced under Article 37.0711, Article 37.0711 did not become effective until after the defendant's sentencing. Therefore, we must review the sentencing as it existed in May of 1993 under the 1990 version of Article 37.071 . At that time, Article 37.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Appellant raises twenty-six points or error, but does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence at either the guilt-innocence or punishment stage of the trial. Because several of appellant's points are fact-intensive, however, we will proceed with a brief recitation of pertinent facts. Our review of the briefs *607 and record indicates that the following facts were established at trial.

In May 1991, the Lloyd family was living at 2004 Amanda Street in Fort Worth. The Lloyd family included eight people: three homicide victims--ten year-old Shakeisha Lloyd, and Shakeisha's two great aunts, eighty-three year-old Zenobia Anderson and seventy-six year-old Caola Lloyd, as well as five survivors of the homicidal incident--Pamela Lloyd (Shakeisha's mother), Shakeisha's three siblings, and Dempsey Lloyd (Shakeisha's uncle). That same Wednesday, appellant went to the Winchester Gun Store with his friend, Anetta Daniel. After supplying Daniel with the purchase money, appellant asked her to purchase a double-barrel, pistol-grip shotgun. Daniel purchased a Winchester slide-action shotgun which appellant put in the trunk of the his car. At trial, Robert Wilshire, an employee of the gun store, testified that this shotgun qualifies as a deadly weapon.

On Thursday, May 30, 1991, Pamela Lloyd got up around 4:00 a.m. to get some water from the kitchen because she was having trouble sleeping. After she had left the kitchen and entered the bathroom, somebody knocked at the front door and demanded that one of the Lloyds "open the door." Shakeisha's brother, Charles, identified the voice as appellant's, but Dempsey Lloyd answered the door. After allowing Dempsey Lloyd to open the door and ask him what he wanted at such an early hour, appellant shot Dempsey Lloyd with the aforementioned shotgun. Dempsey Lloyd subsequently grappled with appellant over the gun.

Following this struggle, appellant went into the front bedroom where Caola Lloyd was sleeping and fired a shot. Appellant then went into the kitchen where Zenobia Lloyd was washing clothes and fired another shot. As Pamela Lloyd and Shakeisha attempted to collect and hide the other children, several more shots were fired. Pamela Lloyd then discovered Shakeisha lying on the floor with "half of her face blown off." Although Dempsey Lloyd pled for mercy, appellant shot him a second time before leaving. Dempsey Lloyd was still able to go next door and call for emergency "911" assistance despite his severe wounds. Following the above homicidal incident, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office performed autopsies on Caola Lloyd, Zenobia Anderson, and Shakeisha Lloyd. The medical examiner determined the cause of death for all three of the deceased victims to be a single homicidal incident. Caola Lloyd suffered an entry wound caused by a shotgun in the anterior portion of her neck going through the left side of her throat. She also had a defensive injury to her right hand resulting in the dismemberment of her index finger, which was consistent with her right hand being in front of her face when the gun shot was fired. Zenobia Anderson had an entry wound caused by a shotgun to the back of her neck. Shakeisha Lloyd had an entry wound caused by a shotgun to her left cheek and a corresponding exit wound just below the rim of the right mandible jaw bone. She also had an injury to her right hand, causing the total dismemberment of her ring finger. The medical examiner determined there were most likely two gun shots.

In addition, the medical examiner recovered a four-to-five month-old female fetus, which was preserved for blood and DNA testing. Dr. Arthur Eisenberg, a forensic pathologist, compared appellant's blood samples with those recovered from Shakeisha Lloyd, and conducted DNA testing to establish paternity. [FN3] Based upon this examination, Dr. Eisenberg concluded that appellant's paternity of Shakeisha Lloyd's unborn child was 99.999% certain; and testified that, with the exception of having an identical twin brother, appellant was the father of that child.

FN3. The DNA testing revealed that appellant's DNA was included in all eight regions where chromosomes were matched.

During the punishment phase of the trial, moreover, the State produced a fairly imposing catalog of relevant punishment evidence. First, the State introduced evidence that appellant had been convicted of murder in 1977, and received a twenty-year sentence. The State also produced numerous reputation witnesses who testified that appellant had a bad reputation for being peaceable and lawabiding. Finally, the State introduced evidence of several extraneous offenses committed by appellant. On March 3, 1991, Officer Keith McGuire of the Fort Worth Police Department witnessed appellant flagging down cars in a manner consistent with drug dealing. The officer subsequently observed appellant toss a black pouch to the ground which was later determined to contain a quantity of crack cocaine.

On October 14, 1990, Officer Greg Abernathy of the Fort Worth Police department was involved in a routine investigation of potential drug trafficking, and received a tip about a local drug trafficker from one of the suspects. The tip led Officer Abernathy to a nearby apartment complex where he found a man matching the suspected drug trafficker's description-- appellant. After being confronted by the police, appellant ran up some stairs and attempted to jettison a brown bag. The police laboratory later confirmed that the bag contained a quantity of cocaine.

On February 23, 1986, fifteen year-old sisters were returning home from a nearby Dairy Queen. While they were crossing the grounds of a local elementary school, appellant approached them and threatened them with a gun. Appellant took the sisters' money, forced them to remove their clothing, tied them up, and proceeded to force one girl to perform oral sex and molest her sister. After threatening to burn down the girls' home if they went to the police, the girls did not contact the authorities at that time.

* * *

In light of our careful consideration and rejection of appellant's twenty-six points of error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.