Texas Executes Quintin Jones, Ends Months-Long Break In Executions

Quintin Jones was executed Wednesday by the state of Texas for fatally beating his 83-year-old great aunt around 22 years ago. This was the first use of capital punishment in the state since it was suspended 10 months ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 41-year-old inmate was executed by lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, NBC News reported, citing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). He was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m. EDT, 12 minutes after the lethal dose of pentobarbital was delivered, a report by local newspaper the Huntsville Item said.

Jones was sentenced to death in Tarrant County in 2001 for killing his great aunt, Berthena Bryant, in her Fort Worth home in September 1999 after she refused to give him money for drugs. According to prosecutors, he beat her with a bat and then took $30 from her purse.

Media representatives were not able to witness the execution due to an alleged miscommunication between TDCJ officials. According to TDCJ policy, media representatives from both the Associated Press and the Huntsville Item are guaranteed an opportunity to witness each execution.

TDCJ director of communications Jeremy Desel explained, "We have a number of new personnel that are a part of the execution team who have not been a part of an execution in the past."

"The Texas Department of Criminal Justice can only apologize for this error and nothing like this will ever happen again," the agency spokesperson said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Two weeks prior to his execution, Jones made a plea to Texas Governor Greg Abbot for him to be granted clemency. The message, which was published as a four-minute video in The New York Times, claimed he was no longer the person he used to be. A motion to stop his execution was submitted to the Supreme Court as well, but both requests were rejected.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles also unanimously voted Tuesday not to recommend clemency for Jones.

"I was so glad to leave this world a better, more positive place," Jones said in a transcript of his final statement provided by TDCJ.

"It is all part of life like a big full plate of food for the soul. I hope I left everyone a plate of food full of happy memories, happiness and no sadness," he continued.

Jones was the first Texas inmate to be executed since Billy Joe Wardlow's lethal injection on July 8, 2020. Four more executions were scheduled for earlier this year, but they were either delayed or rescheduled.

The next scheduled execution is on June 30 for John Hummel, who murdered three people in their Kennedale home.