Richard Lee Beavers

People

• Richard Lee Beavers (age 38 (31)) — defendant; executed by lethal injection in Texas on April 14, 1994.

Background

Richard Lee Beavers had an education level of 9th grade.

Timeline

• On Aug. 18, 1986 — Beavers abducted Douglas Odle and his wife, Jenny, at gunpoint from their southwest Houston apartment.
• On April 14, 1994 — Beavers was executed by lethal injection in Texas.
• Monday, Apr. 18, 1994 — Dispatches by Richard Woodbury (Time.com) discussed Beavers’s lethal injection.
• Late on the night of Easter Sunday — Beavers received his lethal injection of sodium thiopental.
• In 30 seconds — Beavers grunted, coughed and lost consciousness after the deadly chemicals were released through two plastic tubes into his forearms.
• Six minutes later — Dr. Darryl Wells stepped forward to pronounce him dead.

The offence

On Aug. 18, 1986, Beavers abducted Douglas Odle and his wife, Jenny, at gunpoint from their southwest Houston apartment. He forced Odle, 24, to drive to various ATMs and the restaurant where he worked to withdraw money. He then drove the couple to a remote area in Galveston County, made Odle kneel and shot him in the head. Beavers then drove Jenny Odle to another location, where he shot her and left her for dead.

Jenny Odle lost her left eye and suffered brain damage, but survived to testify against Beavers.

Aftermath

Beavers waived his appeals and insisted that he wanted to die for the 1986 abduction and shooting of a Houston restaurant manager and the wounding of his wife.

In the death house, Beavers devoured a final meal of French toast, sausage, eggs, French fries and six brownies. He was led into the baby-blue death chamber and spread-eagled on a gray gurney, and he was tied down with white leather straps and ace bandages.

As a dozen state officials and reporters watched, Wayne Scott, the prison system's deputy operations chief, appeared in a doorway and intoned, “Warden, you may proceed.” A microphone was lowered, and the condemned man offered a brief prayer as his last statement. The executioner, hidden behind a one-way mirror, released the deadly chemicals through two plastic tubes into the convict's forearms. In 30 seconds, Beavers grunted, coughed and lost consciousness. Six minutes later, Dr. Darryl Wells, a local emergency-room physician, stepped forward to pronounce him dead.

As the witnesses were whisked off, morticians loaded the body into a black Astro van and carted it away into the night for cremation.

Other details

• The execution was carried out using lethal injection of sodium thiopental.
• A vigil for Beavers outside the penitentiary's tall brick walls drew only four candle-carrying participants.
• At the local Dairy Queen one block away, oblivious teenagers slurped sodas as the hour approached.
• “People don't give executions a second thought anymore,” said manager Irene Cassidy. “They've become the norm.”
• Old Sparky (the original death chair) sat behind glass at the Texas Prison Museum.
• Visitors from around the world came to gawk and marvel at the gleaming oak contraption where 361 killers met their fate from 1924 to 1964.
• The prison system's deputy operations chief was Wayne Scott.
• The physician who pronounced death was Dr. Darryl Wells.
• Morticians loaded the body into a black Astro van for cremation.