Terry Lee Hankins

Overview

Terry Lee Hankins was convicted by a jury of capital murder and was sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in Texas on June 2, 2009.

Timeline

• 08/26/2001 — Hankins shot his 34-year-old wife, Tammy, in the head while she was sleeping in their trailer home in Mansfield, near Fort Worth; the next day he killed his stepchildren, Kevin and Ashley, in the same manner.
• 08/29/2001 — Tammy’s mother Linda Sheets learned that Tammy had failed to open the restaurant she managed; Sheets went to the children’s schools and learned they had not been in class since the previous Friday; Sheets and Tammy’s sister, Melissa, found Tammy and the children’s bodies in the trailer.
• 08/30/2001 — Hankins was arrested at his girlfriend’s apartment complex after a five-hour standoff; he confessed to killing Tammy and her two children.
• 11/21/2001 — Hankins was indicted for capital murder by a Tarrant County grand jury.
• 05/07/2002 — Hankins pled not guilty and his trial began.
• 05/13/2002 — The jury found Hankins guilty of capital murder.
• 05/16/2002 — After a separate penalty hearing, Hankins was sentenced to death by Judge Robert K. Gill.
• 04/21/2004 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Hankins’ verdict and sentence.
• 10/18/2004 — The Supreme Court denied certiorari on Hankins’ direct appeal.
• 11/10/2004 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief.
• 11/10/2005 — Hankins filed his federal habeas corpus petition raising twelve claims in a Fort Worth U.S. district court.
• 03/30/2007 — A state district court dismissed Hankins’ writ.
• 05/08/2007 — The state district court denied certificate of appealability (COA).
• 08/15/2008 — The Fifth Circuit affirmed the federal district court’s denial of COA.
• 11/13/2008 — Hankins filed a petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.
• 01/29/2009 — The Supreme Court denied certiorari.
• 06/02/2009 — Hankins was executed by lethal injection in Texas.

The offence

On Sunday, 26 August 2001, Hankins shot his 34-year-old wife, Tammy, in the head with a .45-caliber pistol while she was sleeping in their trailer home in Mansfield, near Fort Worth.

The next day, Hankins killed his stepchildren, Kevin, 12, and Ashley, 10, in the same manner. The victims were each shot in the head with a .45-caliber pistol.

Police immediately suspected Hankins because police had repeatedly been summoned to the home in recent months for domestic disturbances, fighting, and breaking and entering.

There was evidence that Hankins engaged in sexual activity with and around the dead bodies. His semen was found on the sheet on Ashley’s bed. Prosecutors said Ashley had defensive wounds “all over her body,” and hair later proven to belong to Hankins was found in her hand.

A note found near Ashley’s body stated: “I guess to sum it all up, I'm guilty of murder, incest, hatred, fraud, theft, jealousy and envy.”

Hankins also wrote in a diary dated Aug. 17 that he was contemplating the murders.

At trial, crime-scene analysis included testimony that the children’s bodies were nude. Kevin’s underwear had been torn or cut off, and a pair of panties was found on the floor near Ashley’s body. Jurors were told to disregard testimony about condoms found in the room where Ashley’s body was found, and they were also asked to disregard testimony from a family friend who said a Hustler magazine was on the floor of Kevin’s room. Crime-scene analysts testified that a bullet was found lodged in a VCR under Kevin’s bed and two fired .45-caliber casings were found near Ashley’s body in the living room. A dismantled pistol was also found in the home. Two handwritten notes were found in the home with the bodies, one on the back of an envelope and the other on an insufficient funds statement from a North Texas bank. One note included: “So this is how it all ends. Well at least I took several bad people w/me,” and also included: “My life had already been messed up. What everyone else didn't do, I pretty much destroyed myself.” The other note read: “I guess to sum it all up I'm guilty of murder, incest, hatred, fraud, theft, jealousy, envy.”

Investigation

Police found a pistol on the coffee table and an empty box for another handgun in the closet when they discovered the bodies.

Tammy’s car was missing after the slayings, and police later located it in the parking lot of the apartment complex where Hankins’ girlfriend lived.

In the girlfriend’s apartment, police recovered a pistol, a note from Hankins to the girlfriend, and a black notebook.

After Hankins’ arrest on August 30, Hankins told police where to find the decomposing bodies of his father Earnie Hankins, 55, and his sister, Pearl “Sissy” Stevenstar, 20, whom he had killed 10 months earlier.

Following Hankins’ directions, police found Earnie’s and Pearl’s bodies. Earnie’s mummified body was found surrounded by plug-in and spray air fresheners, and he had been shot once in the head. Pearl’s remains were found stuffed into a plastic ice chest hidden in a car at his father’s auto repair shop. Medical examiners determined Pearl died from blunt force trauma to the head. Hankins told authorities he had struck Pearl in the head with a jack stand and shot his father with a .45-caliber handgun.

Fingerprints lifted from the trailer matched Terry Hankins.

In a notebook, Hankins gave the full address of where he left the bodies of his father, Earnie Hankins, and his half-sister Pearl Sevenstar, and wrote that he did not know why he killed his wife and her two children. The notebook included the statements: “It was all for the worst excuse. I just didn't like myself. After you hear things, you start to believe them,” and “People always told me I was nothing and wouldn't amount to anything. I guess they hit the nail on the head with that one.”

The notebook also contained thoughts about his childhood, his use of drugs and alcohol, and graphic descriptions of several sexual encounters with his stepmothers, girlfriends, and wife.

Bullets from the murders of his stepchildren matched a gun found in the apartment of Hankins’ girlfriend, where he was arrested. Hankins’ wife’s car was parked outside the girlfriend’s apartment.

Arrest

Hankins was arrested at his girlfriend’s Arlington apartment after a five-hour standoff with police who wanted him for gunning down his estranged wife and her children.

After arraignment, Hankins met with detectives and waived his rights in writing. He confessed to killing Tammy and her two children.

Trial

Hankins was tried in the 213th District Court, Tarrant County, before Judge Robert K. Gill.

Hankins did not testify at his trial.

The jury found Hankins guilty of capital murder on May 13, 2002. After a separate penalty hearing on May 16, 2002, the trial judge sentenced him to death.

The defence challenged the evidence, including arguing that officers did not have probable cause to issue a brief arrest warrant and that evidence linking him to a triple slaying in Mansfield was “no good.”

At voir dire, defense counsel made an offer of proof that was denied by the court. The offer included questions about the definition of reasonable doubt from Geesa v. State, parole board deliberation requirements, an instruction regarding future dangerousness and mitigation, and an application of the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt instruction to the mitigation issue. The court denied the requests.

Appeals

Direct appeal

On direct appeal, Hankins v. State, 132 S.W.3d 380 (Tex.Cr.App. 2004), the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the verdict and sentence. The opinion included holdings that parole was not a proper issue for jury consideration except to the extent explicitly provided for by Code of Criminal Procedure; facts in the search warrant affidavit were insufficient to create probable cause that Hankins committed the murders; and Hankins’ first written statement to police regarding murders was not tainted by illegal arrest.

The Supreme Court denied certiorari on Hankins’ direct appeal on October 18, 2004.

State and federal habeas

Hankins filed a state application for writ of habeas corpus raising nine issues. The trial court ordered affidavits and later denied relief. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief on November 10, 2004.

Hankins filed a federal habeas petition raising twelve claims. The state district court dismissed the writ on March 30, 2007, and denied certificate of appealability on May 8, 2007. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of COA on August 15, 2008.

Hankins filed a petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, and certiorari was denied on January 29, 2009.

In Hankins v. Quarterman, 288 Fed.Appx. 952 (5th Cir. 2008) (Habeas), the Fifth Circuit denied the request for a certificate of appealability and held that reasonable jurists would not disagree with the district court’s assessment of the claims. The court stated that Hankins was convicted of the capital murders of two of his wife’s children and that his punishment was assessed at death by lethal injection.

Sentencing and execution

Hankins was sentenced to death by Judge Robert K. Gill after a separate penalty hearing.

During sentencing and execution reporting, Hankins’ final statement included: “Yes, I am sorry for what I've done and for all of the pain and suffering that my actions have caused. Jesus is Lord. All glory to God.”

Hankins was executed by lethal injection in Texas on June 2, 2009.

At 6:19 p.m., just 11 minutes following the lethal injection, Hankins was pronounced dead.

Other details

Relationships and prior killings referenced in the case

Hankins’ father was Earnie Hankins, 55. Hankins’ half-sister was Pearl “Sissy” Stevenstar, 20.

In a punishment phase context, Hankins confessed to killing his half-sister Pearl “Sissy” Stevenstar by bludgeoning her in the head with a jack stand and hiding her body. Hankins also admitted killing his father, Earnie Hankins, and told people his father had moved out of state when in fact his father’s mummified remains were found in a trailer surrounded by air fresheners.

A detail in the reporting stated that Stevenstar was the father of one of Hankins’ children and was pregnant again by him.

Prison details

TDCJ number: 999415. Date of birth: 10/10/1974.

Education level: 05/20/2002. Age at receipt: 27. Age at the offense: 26.

Prior prison record: None. Prior occupation: auto mechanic, laborer.

Execution meal and last words

Final/Special Meal: Fried chicken, pork chops, cheeseburgers, breaded fried okra, French fries and brownies.

Final Words: “Yes, I am sorry for what I've done and for all of the pain and suffering that my actions have caused. Jesus is Lord. All glory to God.”