Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN - Wednesday, March 6, 2002 - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Gerald Wayne Tigner, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, 2002.

On March 5, 1997, Gerald Wayne Tigner was sentenced to death for the capital murders of Michael Watkins and James Williams in Waco, Texas, on Aug. 31, 1993. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows:

On Aug. 31, 1993, while out on bail for a separate murder indictment, Gerald Wayne Tigner shot and killed two men on a suburban street in Waco, Texas. The facts indicate that at about 5:00 p.m., Tigner was driving with his friend Guan Scott and Guan's brother, Timothy Scott. They came upon a car being driven by Michael Watkins and James Williams. Tigner signaled them to make a loop around the block, and when they did, Tigner and Guan got out of the vehicle and approached Watkins and Williams.

When the conversation turned for the worse, Tigner started yelling at them and then began firing a gun into the car. As the car rolled away, Tigner walked alongside and continued to fire his gun at Watkins and Williams. Having run out of ammunition, Tigner then went back to the truck, retrieved another gun and returned to the car. On the way back to the car, Tigner stopped by Watkins, who had fallen out of the car and was attempting to crawl away. Tigner straddled him and shot him in the head.

Both Watkins and Williams died from the gunshot wounds. Watkins suffered 10 gunshot wounds, including two to the head, and Williams received seven gunshot wounds, including four to the head. After the shooting, Tigner returned to the truck and drove away.

Tigner was arrested the next day. Two days after his arrest, Sept. 3, 1993, Tigner signed a five-page written statement regarding the double murder. On Sept. 8, 1993, while still in custody, Tigner gave a tape recorded statement. At trial, in addition to Tigner's confessions, the State presented two eyewitnesses, Roy Darden and Timothy Scott, who identified Tigner as being the person who shot William and Watkins.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Tigner was twice convicted and sentenced to death for the 1993 murders of Michael Watkins and James Williams. On Sept. 29, 1993, Tigner was indicted for the offense of capital murder. Tigner's 1994 trial resulted in a conviction for capital murder and a sentence of death, but was overturned on direct appeal on a procedural violation--the State failed to provide the defense a copy of Tigner's audio-taped confession at least 20 days before trial. On retrial in 1997, Tigner was again found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death. Tigner's conviction and sentence were automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which upheld the judgment and sentence in an unpublished opinion dated April 28, 1999. Tigner did not file a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court.

Tigner filed an application for state writ of habeas corpus on Aug. 24, 1999. The state habeas court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law recommending that relief be denied. After determining that the findings were supported by the record, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied habeas relief on Sept. 29, 1999. Tigner initiated habeas corpus proceedings in federal district court on Feb. 9, 2000. The district court entered final judgment denying habeas relief on Feb. 28, 2001. Appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit followed. On Aug. 28, 2001, the Fifth Circuit upheld the district court's judgment denying Tigner habeas relief. Tigner's subsequent motion for rehearing was denied on Sept. 28, 2001. On Dec. 20, 2001, Tigner filed a petition for certiorari review in the Supreme Court challenging the Fifth Circuit's denial of relief, which was denied on Feb. 25, 2002. Tigner's criminal history is documented with crimes of increasing severity ranging from a 1989 burglary when he was 16 years of age; to convictions for criminal mischief, terroristic threats and evading the police at age 18; to committing murder at age 19, and ultimately committing capital murder at age 20.

In January 1990, Tigner was granted probation in a juvenile hearing for a burglary offense that occurred in August 1989, when Tigner was 16 years old.

In January 1992, Tigner was convicted on a charge of criminal mischief and given a suspended sentence plus probation.

Tigner's record also reflects a January 1992 conviction for making a terroristic threat, which resulted in a suspended sentence and probation.

Another January 1992 conviction for evading detention resulted in a suspended sentence and probation.

On Dec. 5, 1992, Tigner confessed to the murder of Bobby Harris. Tigner shot Harris three times on the front lawn of Tigner's house.

Texas Executions Information Center by David Carson.

Gerald Wayne Tigner Jr., 29, was executed by lethal injection on 7 March in Huntsville, Texas for murdering two men during a robbery.

In August 1993, Tigner, then 20, and two other men were driving in a Waco suburb in Tigner's truck. With Tigner were his friend, Guan Scott, 21, and Scott's brother, Timothy, who was behind the wheel. When Tigner saw Michael Watkins, 32, and James Williams, 22, driving in another car, he and Guan Scott got out of the vehicle and approached them. The men got into an argument, and Tigner fired shots from two guns into the car. When he ran out of ammunition, Tigner went back to his truck, got another gun, and returned to Watkins and Williams' car. As he returned, he passed by Watkins, who had fallen out of the car and was attempting to crawl away. According to witnesses, Tigner straddled him and shot him in the head. Tigner then returned to his truck and drove away. Michael Watkins suffered ten gunshot wounds, including two to the head. James Williams suffered seven gunshot wounds, including four to the head. Both died at the scene. Police found cocaine in the car.

Tigner was arrested the next day. He signed a 5-page written confession, then later gave a tape-recorded confession. In his confessions, Tigner described the weapons he used, which were three pistols of different calibers -- 9 mm, .38, and .22. These calibers were later confirmed by ballistics investigation. Guan Scott, who had a previous conviction for delivery of cocaine and was on parole at the time of the killings, was killed in an unrelated shooting before Tigner's trial.

At Tigner's trial, Timothy Scott testified that Tigner was the shooter. The state also presented an eyewitness, Roy Darden, who identified Tigner as the shooter. The prosecution described the murders as a drug-related robbery attempt. Tigner claimed he killed the two men in self defense. Tigner had a criminal history dating to at least 1989, when he was 16 and was charged with burglary. He was convicted as a juvenile and given probation. In 1992, he was convicted of three more offenses, for which he received suspended sentences and probation. Tigner also used the aliases Gerald Tigmon, Jerry Lewis, and Tony Simmons.

In December 1992, Tigner confessed to the murder of Bobby Ray Harris, a former boyfriend of Tigner's mother. Tigner shot Harris three times on the front lawn of Tigner's house. Tigner confessed to killing Harris, but said he shot him in self-defense after Harris burst into his house. Tigner was indicted for Harris's murder and was free on bond when Michael Watkins and James Williams were killed.

Tigner was convicted by a jury of capital murder and sentenced to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated the conviction because the state had failed to provide the defense with a copy of Tigner's taped confession within the time prescribed by law. Tigner was retried in 1997 and was again convicted by a jury and sentenced to death. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence in April 1999. All of his other appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Tigner later claimed that his confessions were false and that he was not even at the crime scene when the murders happened. "I was not there. I was at home with my family," he said in a death-row interview. He said that Guan Scott was the killer. Tigner's attorneys had asked the courts for DNA testing of blood found on Tigner's shoes, contending that if the blood was not from the victims, it would prove Tigner was not at the scene. The courts were not persuaded of this reasoning and did not authorize DNA testing. "I was wrongfully convicted of this crime," Tigner said in his final statement. "I got convicted on a false confession because I never admitted to it, but my lawyer did not point this out to the jury. I did not kill those drug dealers." Tigner then expressed love to his family and friends. The lethal injection was then administered, and Tigner was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m.

ProDeathPenalty.com

CCADP - Gerald Tigner Homepage

I need some friends that would be interested in writing me so I can share my life and case with them on an openminded, truthful, down to earth level. My date of birth is 12/27/72 and right now I'm 26 years old, 6'2" tall and 202 lbs., slim built with light brown eyes and black hair. Also, I'm a light skin male African American and my home town is Waco, Texas. My hobbies are reading, basketball, football, etc. I've been tried twice and wrongfully convicted both times on the same inadmissable evidence in Waco trial court.

WHERE IS THE JUSTICE ! ?

Now, I'm on death row wrongfully accused of killing two black male drug dealers in Waco, Texas. I did not kill these two drug dealers for the simple fact I was at my grandmother's house most of the day and during the time these two drug dealers got killed. My defense at trial was mistaken identity and alibi. My grandmother testified in my favor that I was with her, at her residence, during the time of the killings. In addition, my grandmother's neighbor Gloria testified in my favor that at the time of the killings, she too was at my grandmother's residence where she was introduced to me. And a man at the crime scene testified also in my favor that he saw another man, "not Gerald Wayne Tigner", do the shooting.

The Waco District Attorneys use this unbelievable, inadmissable statement to confuse the jury in my first trial and in my second trial. That's how I got convicted twice. The erroneous admission of the statement at trial was damaging because the Waco District Attorney prosecutors case against Gerald Wayne Tigner was not otherwise overwhelming and on top of that this erroneously admitted statement was in violation of Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 38.22 in the lawbook.

"I'M TOTALLY INNOCENT OF THIS CHARGE!"

Even though I'm forced to face all this physiological torture mentally and physically on death row, I'm determined to stay strong and keep my head up. And I thank the good Lord above for making me this way. It's sad when a poor young man out of the ghetto has to go to trial with a court appointed lawyer knowing he's not going to do his best job on a Capital Murder Case. That's why I am reaching out to the world expressing my true feelings, my thoughts and this Capital Case they wrongfully accuse me of in Waco. All I can do is hope and pray your interested in being my pen-pal friend. So please do not hesitate to write me. Here is my address below.

Yours Truly, MR GERALD W TIGNER #999099, Polunsky Unit.

ABOLISH Archives (Waco Tribune-Herald)

TEXAS: Gerald Wayne Tigner, once described by a prosecutor as having a "heart full of scorpions," is one step closer to the death chamber. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco rejected Tigner's application for federal writ of habeas corpus and denied his motion for an evidentiary hearing.

The judge's ruling puts the appeal of Tigner's capital murder conviction and death sentence in the hands of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. If the court denies his appeal, Tigner will be eligible to have an execution date set by 54th State District Judge George Allen, who presided over his capital murder trials in Waco. Tigner twice was convicted and sentenced to die in the August 1993 shooting deaths of James Williams, 22, and Michael Watkins, 32 in Waco.

Tigner confessed to the slayings, but claimed he acted in self-defense. With guns blazing in both hands, Tigner shot Williams 7 times and Watkins 6 times in what prosecutors described as a drug-related robbery attempt.

At the time of the shootings, Tigner was free on bond in the December 1992 shooting death of Bobby Ray Harris, a former boyfriend of Tigner's mother. Tigner also confessed to killing Harris, saying he shot him in self-defense after Harris burst into his house and said he was looking for Tigner.

Tigner was convicted in the deaths of Williams and Watkins in 1994 and spent 2 years on death row before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals threw out his conviction and awarded him a new trial. In overturning his conviction, the Austin court ruled that prosecutors did not give a copy of Tigner's taped confession to defense attorneys in the time prescribed by law. He was retried and convicted again in March 1997.

"Gerald Tigner is a vicious criminal who was a threat and danger to society and murdered on several occasions, and with the fact that one more step in the process has now been completed, he is now closer to the sentence that 2 McLennan County juries believed was proper," said McLennan County First Assistant District Attorney Crawford Long, who prosecuted Tigner. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Tigner's 2nd conviction in April 1999 in a unanimous decision.