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Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (James Joseph wilkens Jr.)

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on James Joseph Wilkens, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 11, 2001.

On October 15, 1993, James Joseph Wilkens, Jr. was sentenced for the capital murder of Richard Wood (his former girlfriend's current boyfriend) and Larry McMillan, Jr. (the former girlfriend's four year-old son), during the same criminal transaction occurring in Tyler, Texas, on December 27, 1986.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

In the summer of 1986, Wilkens and Sandra Williams began dating. Both were employed at the Pit Grill restaurant. Shortly thereafter, Wilkens moved in with Williams and her four-year-old son. By October, 1986, problems began to develop between Wilkens and Williams. Wilkens moved out shortly thereafter. Wilkens had become very jealous of the time Williams spent with her son. The problem was exacerbated when Richard Wood, Wilkens's ex-roommate, began taking Williams to her chiropractor. As the relationship between Williams and Wood became closer, Wilkens became jealous of Wood.

By December, Williams and Wood had begun dating. On December 27, 1986, Williams, her son and Wood were returning from Oklahoma after spending Christmas with Wood's relatives. Upon their return, the three went to Wood's mobile home at the South Point Mobile Home Park. Williams carried her son inside and placed him on the couch next to the front door. After Williams and Wood unloaded the car, Wood left to lock the car while Williams went into the bathroom. There, she saw Wilkens standing with a rifle in his hands. Williams began screaming and ran towards the front door.

As Williams reached the front door, Wood was entering the trailer. Wood saw Wilkens and told Williams to go get help. As she left the trailer, Williams heard a shot and saw Wood drop to the floor. Williams continued down the stairs but fell to the ground when she was shot in the back. Williams heard her son crying and screaming, and turned to see Wilkens leveling the gun at the child. Williams managed to rise and start running back towards the trailer when Wilkens turned the rifle on her and fired two or three more times. Williams fell to the ground. As she heard Wilkens descending the stairs and coming closer, Williams began holding her breath and closed her eyes, hoping that Wilkens would leave. Williams then felt her legs being lifted.

As she pretended to be dead, Williams continued to hear her son screaming. After her legs were dropped, Williams heard seven or eight shots from inside the mobile home after which she no longer heard the screams. She blacked out and later awoke in the hospital where she learned that her son and Wood had been killed.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Wilkens was indicted on February 5, 1987, in the 7th Judicial District Court of Smith County, Texas, for the capital offense of murdering Richard Wood and Larry McMillan, Jr. during the same criminal transaction on December 27, 1986. A jury found Wilkens guilty of capital murder on February 18, 1988, and, following a separate punishment hearing, the court assessed his punishment at death. On direct appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his conviction and sentence on June 10, 1992, based on psychological testimony which was improperly admitted during the punishment phase of trial. The rehearing was denied November 4, 1992. The United States Supreme Court denied the State's petition for certiorari on March 29, 1993.

Upon re-trial, on October 12, 1993, Wilkens was again convicted of capital murder in the 7th Judicial District Court of Smith County, Texas. After a separate punishment hearing, on October 15, 1993, the jury answered affirmatively the two special issues on deliberateness and future dangerousness, and answered negatively the third special issue on mitigation. The trial court then assessed Wilkens's punishment at death. Wilkens's conviction was affirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeals in an unpublished opinion on November 15, 1995. Wilkens did not seek certiorari review to the United States Supreme Court.

On April 20, 1997, Wilkens filed an application for state writ of habeas corpus. Following an evidentiary hearing, the state habeas court entered detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law recommending that habeas relief be denied. The Court of Criminal Appeals later denied relief in an unpublished order on January 12, 1998, based on the trial court's findings and the court's own review. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review on October 5, 1998.

Wilkens filed a federal writ of habeas corpus petition on January 16, 1998. On February 2, 1999, United States Magistrate Judge Robert Faulkner issued a report and recommendation that the writ of habeas corpus be denied, to which Wilkens later objected. On June 17, 1999, United States District Judge Paul Brown overruled Wilkens's objections, adopted the magistrate's report and recommendation, and issued final judgment denying habeas relief. Appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit followed. On January 4, 2001, the appellate court issued an opinion dismissing the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because Wilkens filed his notice of appeal in an untimely manner. Wilkens's petition for rehearing was denied on January 31, 2001.

By order dated February 9, 2001, the 114th Judicial District Court of Smith County, Texas, scheduled Wilkens's execution for July 9, 2001, more than 150 days after the appellate court's January 31, 2001, denial of rehearing. Wilkens filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on May 2, 2001, challenging the dismissal of his appeal. While his petition was pending, on June 19, 2001, Wilkens filed a request for clemency and a reprieve with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. The matter is presently pending before the Board of Pardons and Paroles. On June 29, 2001, the Supreme Court denied certiorari review.

On July 3, 2001, Wilkens filed a writ of habeas corpus with the United States Supreme Court accompanied with a request for stay of execution. The petition is currently pending in that court. On July 6, 2001, Wilkens filed with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals a motion asking leave of court to file an out-of-time petition for rehearing en banc, which, in turn, asks the entire court to reconsider its January 4, 2001, dismissal of the appeal as untimely filed.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Evidence was introduced that Wilkens had previously been convicted of robbery on October 4, 1982, and was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

National Coalition Against the Death Penalty

James Wilkens Jr.: Executed 7/11/01, 7:00pm EST.

James Wilkens Jr. has been on death row since 1988, convicted of the double murders of Richard Wood and Larry McMillen, Jr. Wilkens, a cook by profession, killed the two victims on December 27, 1986 after entering into their mobile home in Southpoint Village Mobile Home Park, TX. Wilkens also shot Sandra Darlene Williams, his former girlfriend. She appears to have been the significant motivational element for Wilkens’ actions.

According to Marta Glass of the Texas ACLU, who has spent time with Wilkens during his death row term, Wilkens was abused as a child and suffers from mental illness. During his trial, Wilkens plead not guilty by reason of insanity despite accusations that he had retained a reasonable mental capacity prior to the trial. Mental health experts confirmed that Wilkens was indeed suffering from mental problems, and Wilkens used that testimony in his defense. However, since the State was allowed equal right to present psychiatric testimony at the punishment phase of the trial, state prosecutors presented expert testimony that, as the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed, may have compromised the jury’s decision at the punishment phase and contributed to the selection of the death penalty.

Since then, Wilkens has been denied an appeal on the grounds that his attorneys did not file within the appropriate time (Wilkens v. Johnson). The appeal was dismissed on January 4, 2001, despite lack of concrete proof indicating that Wilkens and his attorneys had received a faxed notice of the judgment “in-hand”. Wilkens’ execution date is July 11. Again, Ms. Glass has reiterated that James Wilkens has expressed remorse for what he has done and still suffers from mental illness. Yet without a chance to appeal his sentencing, James Wilkens will be killed by the State of Texas in July.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

Two days after Christmas, 1986, Richard Wood, Sandra Williams and her 4-year-old son Larry McMillan returned home to find James Wilkens inside their home, armed with a .22-caliber rifle. Wilkens, a former boyfriend of Sandra's, shot Richard as he entered the home and then shot the little boy while he was sitting on the couch. He chased Sandra from the house and shot her in the hip as she ran for help but she made it to the home of a neighbor who called police. Sandra was 2 months pregnant when she was shot, survived her injury and identified Wilkens as the assailant.

Wilkens had a prior conviction for robbery and had served just over a year of a 5-year sentence before being released on mandatory supervision. UPDATE: Apologizing profusely and repeatedly asking forgiveness, convicted killer James Wilkens Jr. was put to death Wednesday night for a shooting spree that claimed the lives of his ex-girlfriend's 4-year-old son and her new boyfriend almost 15 years ago in Tyler. "I am sorry. Please hear me. Please understand. In the name of God, please forgive me," he said, looking at Sandra Williams, the mother of the 4-year-old killed in the rampage. Only Williams, shot in the back, survived. "Find peace and comfort. I am sorry. For your sake, forgive me, all of you," he said, looking at Williams and the child's two grandfathers, who also witnessed the execution. Then he turned to several friends who also were witnesses and expressed love to them and thanked them for "giving me more than I deserve." Then Wilkens prayed, asking God to forgive "the horror I have committed." After telling the warden he was ready to go and urging that "God be with all of you,'" he exhaled once, gasped a couple of times and slipped into unconsciousness as the drugs took effect.

Wilkens was already on parole after serving 14 months of a five-year sentence for robbery when he was arrested a day after the child, Larry McMillan Jr., was shot 13 times as he cried on a couch. Also killed in the rampage two days after Christmas 1986 was Richard Wood, 28. Wood was dating Wilkens' former girlfriend. According to testimony at his trial, Wilkens broke into Wood's empty trailer home and waited until Wood and Williams and the child returned from an out-of-town holiday trip. All three were shot when the apparently jealous and enraged Wilkens opened fire with a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle.

"The first thing that goes through my mind is the picture of Larry McMillan Jr. sitting on the couch with a toothbrush in his mouth with several bullet holes in him that Wilkens had fired at point-blank range," Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen said. "I can still see him slumped over with the bullet holes in him. A 4-year-old boy. It was just horrible." Wilkens pleaded innocent, contending he was insane at the time of the attack. "There was no question about his competency," Skeen said. "It was just a story. He was sitting there and waiting. He just ambushed them. It was like: bang! bang! He just waited and executed." Wilkens, who declined to speak with reporters in the weeks leading up to his execution, said in a 1992 death row interview, "In all honesty, as God as my witness, I do not remember. I went nuts, to tell you the truth. I remember some, not all. It's very bizarre. I had killed them so many times in my mind, it was a dream. I didn't know reality."

A Smith County jury in 1988 convicted Wilkens of capital murder and decided he should be put to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, however, reversed the conviction and sentence in 1992, saying psychological testimony improperly was admitted during the punishment phase of the trial. He was tried a second time the following year, telling a jury he heard voices and envisioned Wood as his abusive father. The second jury wasn't swayed, convicting him and also deciding he should be executed.

"My son didn't get a second chance," Williams, now Sandra Carpenter, said this week. Carpenter, who testified against Wilkens at each trial, had to have a section of her intestine removed because of her injuries. She said she also continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. "It doesn't let you forget," she said. "I wish it did. I hate him for it." The U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago refused to review Wilkens' case and federal appeals courts rejected late requests seeking to halt the execution.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson.

In December, Sandra Williams, Richard Wood, and Larry McMillan went to Oklahoma to spend Christmas with Wood's family. Upon their return, Williams carried her son inside and placed him on the couch, next to the front door. While Wood was still outside, Williams went into the bathroom. There, she saw Wilkens standing with a .22-caliber rifle in his hands. She ran, screaming, towards the front door. Wood, who was coming inside just at that time, told her to run for help. Wilkens shot Wood at the front door and shot Williams as she ran out. He then turned the gun toward Larry McMillan, who was still on the couch, and shot him. Richard Wood and Larry McMillan were dead at the scene. Wood died quickly from a single shot to the head. McMillan, on the other hand, had numerous bullet holes in his body. Investigators picked up seven spent casings from the floor.

Sandra Williams, who was two months pregnant, survived. She testified that she heard Wilkens shoot Wood and saw him drop to the floor. She further testified that she was shot numerous times as she ran out of the trailer, and again as she tried to go back to save her son. She said she pretended to be dead by closing her eyes and holding her breath as Wilkens lifted her legs. She heard her son screaming, then heard seven or eight shots from inside the trailer, and the screaming stopped. She blacked out and later awoke in the hospital. According to evidence presented at trial, the relationship between Wilkens and Williams deteriorated because Wilkens was jealous of the amount of time Williams spent with her son. As the relationship between Williams and Wood became closer, Wilkens became jealous of Wood also. Wilkens had previously served 14 months of a five-year sentence for robbery. He was paroled in 1983.

A jury convicted James Wilkens of capital murder in February 1988 and sentenced him to death. In June 1992, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that certain psychological testimony was improperly admitted during the punishment phase, and threw out his conviction and sentence. Wilkens was re-tried in October 1993 and was convicted and sentenced to death again. His later appeals to state and federal courts were denied.

At his trial and during his appeals, Wilkens claimed he was temporarily insane at the time of the attack. In a 1992 interview from death row, he told a reporter, "I had killed them so many times in my mind, it was a dream. I didn't know reality." At his second trial in 1993, he told the jury that he heard voices and envisioned Richard Wood as his abusive father. Sandra Williams had to have a section of her intestine removed because of her injuries. She has since married and is now Sandra Carpenter. She attended Wilkens' execution in Huntsville, along with Larry McMillan's two grandfathers.

At his execution, Wilkens apologized to Carpenter and the other witnesses. "Sandy -- all of you -- I am sorry," he said. "Please hear me. Please, in the name of God, forgive me." He continued asking for forgiveness, thanked his own family for support, and offered a prayer asking the Lord for forgiveness. After he finished praying, he looked at the warden and said, "I am ready to go home, please." The lethal dose was started, and James Wilkens was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m.

ReporterNews.Com

HUNTSVILLE — Apologizing profusely and repeatedly asking for forgiveness, convicted killer James Wilkens Jr. was put to death Wednesday night for a shooting spree that claimed the lives of his ex-girlfriend’s 4-year-old son and her new boyfriend almost 15 years ago in Tyler. “I am sorry. Please hear me. Please understand. In the name of God, please forgive me,” he said, looking at Sandra Williams, the mother of the 4-year-old killed in the rampage. Only Williams, shot in the back, survived.

“Find peace and comfort. I am sorry. For your sake, forgive me, all of you,” he said, looking at Williams and the child’s two grandfathers, who also witnessed the execution. Then he turned to several friends who also were witnesses and expressed love to them and thanked them for “giving me more than I deserve.” Then Wilkens prayed, asking God to forgive “the horror I have committed.”

After telling the warden he was ready to go and urging that “God be with all of you,’“ he exhaled once, gasped a couple of times and slipped into unconsciousness as the drugs took effect. He was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m. CDT, eight minutes after the lethal dose began. Wilkens, 39, was the 10th condemned inmate to be executed this year in Texas, where a record 40 convicted murderers were executed last year. At least seven more executions are scheduled over the next 10 weeks.

Wilkens was already on parole after serving 14 months of a five-year sentence for robbery when he was arrested a day after the child, Larry McMillan Jr., was shot repeatedly as he cried on a couch. Also killed in the rampage two days after Christmas 1986 was Richard Wood, 28. Wood was dating Wilkens’ former girlfriend. According to testimony at his trial, Wilkens broke into Wood’s empty trailer home and waited until Wood and Williams and the child returned from an out-of-town holiday trip. All three were shot when the apparently jealous and enraged Wilkens opened fire with a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle. Only Williams, shot in the back, survived. Wood was shot in the head. The child was shot 13 times.

“The first thing that goes through my mind is the picture of Larry McMillan Jr. sitting on the couch with a toothbrush in his mouth with several bullet holes in him that Wilkens had fired at point-blank range,” Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen said. “I can still see him slumped over with the bullet holes in him. A 4-year-old boy. It was just horrible.” Wilkens pleaded innocent, contending he was insane at the time of the attack.

“There was no question about his competency,” Skeen said. “It was just a story. “He was sitting there and waiting. He just ambushed them. It was like: bang! bang! He just waited and executed.” “In all honesty, as God as my witness, I do not remember,” Wilkens, who declined to speak with reporters in the weeks leading up to his execution, said in a 1992 death row interview. “I went nuts, to tell you the truth. I remember some, not all. It’s very bizarre. I had killed them so many times in my mind, it was a dream. I didn’t know reality.”

A Smith County jury in 1988 convicted Wilkens of capital murder and decided he should be put to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, however, reversed the conviction and sentence in 1992, saying psychological testimony improperly was admitted during the punishment phase of the trial. He was tried a second time the following year, telling a jury he heard voices and envisioned Wood as his abusive father. The second jury wasn’t swayed, convicting him and also deciding he should be executed.

Williams, now Sandra Carpenter, refused to accept Wilkens’ apology. “It was a tremendous weight lifted,” she said after watching Wilkens die. “But I can never forgive him.”

The U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago refused to review Wilkens’ case and federal appeals courts rejected late requests seeking to halt the execution.