A Texas man is facing execution for the fatal stabbing of twin teenage girls in 1989. The man, Garcia White, was linked to five killings and convicted of the murders of 16-year-old twins, Annette and Bernette Edwards. The bodies of the girls and their mother, Bonita Edwards, were discovered in their Houston apartment.
White, now 61, a former college football player turned fry cook, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. This would make him the sixth inmate to be executed in the U.S. in just 11 days.
Testimony revealed that White had gone to the Edwards’ home to smoke crack with their mother, Bonita, who was also killed. When the girls emerged from their room, White attacked them after breaking down the locked door to their bedroom. White was later connected to the deaths of a grocery store owner and another woman.
According to Josh Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writs Division with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston, “Garcia White committed five murders in three different transactions and two of his victims were teenage girls. This is the type of case that the death penalty was intended for.”
White’s lawyers have sought intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution, citing his intellectual disability. They argue that Texas courts have disregarded medical evidence supporting White’s disability. The Supreme Court has previously prohibited the execution of intellectually disabled individuals but has allowed states to determine such disabilities within certain discretion.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied White’s request for clemency or a 30-day reprieve. Despite his legal team presenting DNA evidence suggesting another individual was present at the crime scene and scientific evidence indicating White was experiencing a drug-induced psychosis during the events, they have faced obstacles in court.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office has refuted White’s claims, stating that he has not substantiated his intellectual disability and that his previous assertions have been dismissed by the courts. The office argued that White’s execution date should not be delayed any further.
The murders of the Edwards twins and their mother remained unsolved for six years until White confessed to the crimes after being arrested in connection with another death. Should White be executed, he would be the fifth inmate put to death in Texas this year, making it the 19th execution in the U.S.
The case of Garcia White underscores the complexities and controversies surrounding the death penalty system in Texas, with legal battles continuing up to the final hours before his scheduled execution.