Darlie Lynn Peck Routier is an American woman from Rowlett, Texas, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her five-year-old son Damon in 1996. She has also been charged with capital murder in the death of her six-year-old son, Devon, who was murdered at the same time as Damon. To date, Routier has not been tried for Devon’s murder.
Richard "Racehorse" Haynes was a Texas criminal defense attorney. He became a star of the legal world after prevailing in a series of seemingly impossible murder trials in Texas in the 1970s and 1980s. Time magazine named him one of the top defense attorneys in the nation.
Martha Sharp "Sunny" von Bülow was an American heiress and socialite. Her second husband, Claus von Bülow (1926−2019), was convicted in 1982 of attempting to murder her by insulin overdose, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. A second trial found him not guilty, after experts opined that there was no insulin injection and that her symptoms were attributable to overuse of prescription drugs. The story was dramatized in the book and film Reversal of Fortune. Sunny von Bülow lived almost 28 years in a persistent vegetative state, from December 1980 until her death in a New York City nursing home on December 6, 2008.
John Bodkin Adams was a British general practitioner, convicted fraudster, and suspected serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, 163 of his patients died while in comas, which was deemed to be worthy of investigation. In addition, 132 out of 310 patients had left Adams money or items in their wills.
Charles Voyde Harrelson was an American contract killer and organized crime figure who was convicted of assassinating federal judge John H. Wood Jr., the first federal judge to be assassinated in the 20th century. Charles Harrelson was the father of actors Brett and Woody Harrelson.
Jamiel "Jimmy" Alexander Chagra was an American drug trafficker, carpet salesman and professional gambler. He was implicated in the May 1979 assassination of United States District Judge John H. Wood Jr. in San Antonio, Texas.
Sam Sparks is a senior United States district judge of the Austin Division of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Edwin A. "Bud" Shrake, Jr. was an American journalist, sportswriter, novelist, biographer and screenwriter. He co-wrote a series of golfing advice books with golf coach Harvey Penick, including Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, a golf guide that became the best-selling sports book in publishing history. Called a “lion of Texas letters” by the Austin American-Statesman, Shrake was a member of the Texas Film Hall of Fame, and received the Lon Tinkle lifetime achievement award from the Texas Institute of Letters and the Texas Book Festival Bookend Award.
Arlington Heights High School is a secondary school located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. The school serves grades 9 through 12, and is a part of the Fort Worth Independent School District. Its mascot is the Yellow Jacket and its colors are blue and gold.
Deanna (Dea) Summers was an American songwriter born in Mississippi. The family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee in 1952 where she attended Kingsbury Jr. High School. She also attended Humes High School before her family relocated to Dallas, Texas. She had been an active member of BMI as both a songwriter and publisher affiliate since 1965. She was co-owner of Silicon Music Publishing and many of her compositions have been recorded by various artists. Her songs and published works have appeared on Capri Records, Tear Drop Records, Charay Records, Mister Rock Records, Enviken Records, Le Cam Records, Country Disco Records, Rollercoaster Records, Primo Records, Crystal Clear Sound Records, Collector Records, Collectable Records, Big Beat Records, Lake County Records, Domino Records, Front Row Records, Maridene Records, Helvis Records, W&G Records, Overtone Records.
Bigby v. Dretke 402 F.3d 551, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard a case appealed from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas on the issue of the instructions given to a jury in death penalty sentencing. The decision took into account the recent United States Supreme Court decisions concerning the relevance of mitigating evidence in sentencing, as in Penry v. Lynaugh.
"Goodbye Priscilla (Bye Bye Baby Blue)" is a song written by Deanna Summers, David Saxton and Ben Shaw. It was published by Silicon Music, BMI in 1977 and first recorded by Gene Summers that same year. The song was initially released by Tear Drop Records as a one-sided, promotional, single and later re-issued with "World Of Illusion" as the flip side (#TD 3405).
The Stonegate Mansion was located at the edge of the Stonegate neighborhood in Fort Worth, TX near the Texas Christian University campus on a hill overlooking downtown Fort Worth. Built by multimillionaire oilman T. Cullen Davis, the mansion, once a private home, has been a restaurant, a church and most recently has been renovated to become an event facility used for weddings, parties, meetings and charitable events.
The Boyce–Sneed feud was a conflict in early twentieth-century Texas between two wealthy cattlemen: John Beal Sneed and Albert Boyce Jr. It began in late 1911, when Lenora (Lena) Snyder Sneed left her husband, John, for a relationship with Boyce. Sneed sought revenge for the sake of his honor and his home, which resulted in the deaths of seven men within the year.
William Thomas Waggoner was an American rancher, oilman, banker, horsebreeder and philanthropist from Texas. He was the owner of the Waggoner Ranch, where he found oil in 1903. He was the founding president of the Waggoner National Bank of Vernon. He established the Arlington Downs and paid for the construction of three buildings on the campus of Texas Woman's University.
Ricky Lee Green was an American serial killer who murdered at least four people in Texas between 1985 and 1986, at least two of which were killed with the help of his wife, Sharon. Convicted of all four murders and sentenced to death in one case, Green was executed at the Huntsville Unit in 1997.
Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, a 28-year-old woman, was fatally shot inside her home by a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, in the early morning of October 12, 2019. Police arrived at her home after a neighbor called a non-emergency number, stating that Jefferson's front door was open. Police body camera footage showed officers walking outside the home with flashlights for a few minutes then one officer yells, "Put your hands up! Show me your hands!", while discharging his weapon through a window. Police found a handgun near Jefferson's body, which according to her eight-year-old nephew, she was pointing toward the window before being shot. On October 14, 2019, Officer Aaron Dean, the shooter, resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department and was arrested on a murder charge. On December 20, 2019, Dean was indicted for murder. Jefferson was black and the officer who shot her is white, prompting news outlets to compare Jefferson's shooting to the September 2018 murder of Botham Jean in nearby Dallas.
Davontae Marcel Williams was a nine-year-old boy who, in 2004, died of malnutrition at his apartment in Arlington, Texas. He weighed 35 pounds at the time of his death. Davontae's mother, Marcella L. Williams, and his mother's partner, Lisa Ann Coleman, were arrested, accused of depriving Davontae of food, and charged with capital murder. Marcella Williams entered a guilty plea in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment, while Coleman refused a plea deal, was found guilty, and received a death sentence.
Candace Lynn Montgomery is an American woman who was accused of murdering her lover's wife, Betty Gore. The killing took place in Wylie, Texas, on June 13, 1980. During the assault, Gore was struck 41 times with a wood splitting axe. Montgomery pleaded not guilty to charges of murder on the basis of self-defense, alleging that Gore confronted her about an affair she had with Gore's husband and attacked her with the axe. She was acquitted.
