Christopher Jay Swift

Case record: Christopher Jay Swift

Background

Christopher Jay Swift was a white male who was born in Dallas County, Texas. He was 31 at the time of execution. He was a laborer. He had brown hair and brown eyes. His height was 5' 09" and his weight was 150 lb.

Swift committed aggravated assault on December 24, 1996, when he allowed his vehicle to strike a police officer. Swift explained that he was “just drunk.”

Swift committed another aggravated assault on January 27, 1997, when he punched his mom several times in the head and face, then threatened her with a knife. Swift’s explanation for that offense was: “I didn’t threaten her, she lied.”

In July 1997, the State sentenced Swift to four years’ imprisonment for second-degree aggravated assault (for the attack on his mom) and “lesser included offense aggravated assault” (for the attack on the officer). Before that, Swift had been arrested for evading arrest, assault causing bodily injury, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and driving while intoxicated.

Prosecutors said Swift had a history of alcohol abuse and drug use. They said he quit a job at a concrete company because they asked him to take a drug test, and when he came home, his decision sparked an argument with his wife that led to the slayings.

Swift’s wife, Amy Sabeh-Swift, worked as an aide at the Denton State School for the mentally disabled. The couple had been married six years. At one point Swift filed for divorce but did not follow through. At the time of her death, Amy was eight months pregnant.

Swift spent about 21 months on death row.

Swift insisted on receiving the death penalty for his crimes and ordered no appeals to be filed to stop the lethal injection. He declined request for interviews in the weeks leading up to his execution. At his execution, Swift declined to make a final statement.

The offence

On April 30, 2003, the Farmer’s Branch Police Department received a call from the Stemmons Freeway Days Inn that a five-year-old boy was abandoned at the motel and had been playing unsupervised in the lobby area.

Officers went to the motel. The child, Zachary Swift, explained that his father left him at the motel the night before after killing his wife’s mother and his mother.

According to Zachary, Swift stabbed and killed Zachary’s mother and drove Zachary to Swift’s mother-in-law’s house, where Swift killed Zachary’s grandmother as well.

Irving police found the body of Amy Amel Sabeh-Swift on the floor of the trailer home she shared with Swift. Lake Dallas officers discovered the body of Sandy Sabeh in the kitchen of her Lake Dallas home.

Evidence also showed Swift stabbed and strangled Amy Sabeh-Swift inside their recreational vehicle in Irving as their 5-year-old son watched. The evidence further showed that Swift strangled his wife’s mother, Sandra Stevens Sabeh, 61, at her home after taking the boy to a mobile-home park in Lake Dallas.

The boy was found the next day, April 30, 2003, wandering the lobby of a Days Inn in Irving where his father had rented a room. The boy told police his father had killed his mother and grandmother. Hotel staffers fed him breakfast and let him watch cartoons in the lobby. Staff called police after no one claimed him and he was getting frightened.

In a jailhouse interview a Dallas television station conducted the day after his arrest, Swift told the station that he committed the murders because Zachary “was giving me the order to do it.”

Investigation

A trace of Swift’s electronic debit card use led authorities to Swift’s hideout at a motel in Dallas.

During a five-hour interrogation after his arrest, Swift stated that he choked both women and then drove his son, Zachary, to a motel room.

Authorities determined after abandoning his son at the Days Inn, he got himself a room elsewhere and some beer.

Swift confessed to killing both women and abandoning his son. He said that voices in his head and his son encouraged him to strangle the women.

Swift declined to make a final statement at his execution.

Arrest

Swift was under arrest within hours of officers finding the bodies.

A trace of Swift’s electronic debit card use led authorities to his hideout at a motel in Dallas.

Trial

Swift was indicted for capital murder. Trial on the merits began on March 28, 2005, in the 211th District Court of Denton County.

In April 2005, Swift was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Swift insisted that he did not want a lawyer to represent him on direct appeal. After a hearing, the trial court determined that Swift was evaluated by an expert in whose opinion Swift was competent to decide to represent himself, and that Swift waived counsel voluntarily.

Swift did not file a brief on his behalf during the appeal process.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Swift’s conviction and sentence in an unpublished opinion issued on September 20, 2006.

Swift refused to allow his attorneys to bring any witnesses in his defense. His lawyers presented an insanity defense.

Prosecutors presented witnesses who said Swift knew what he was doing and was not insane. “He never denied doing the killings,” said Lee Ann Breading, a former Denton County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case. “The whole issue centered on his mental state and evidence basically turned on the legal definition of insanity. “He didn’t meet it. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He had talked a lot about how police 'are going to put me in jail.'"

At the end of his trial, Swift told the judge:

“The voices haunt me daily, and death is going to be the only thing that takes them away,”

Swift insisted there be no serious defense. “Obviously, it’s an uphill battle, but you’d at least like to be able to fight for the guy,” Derek Adame said. Adame also described the experience as frustrating because Swift insisted there be no serious defense.

Jerry Cobb said: “He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison.” Cobb also said: “If convicted, he wanted the death penalty. He made that very clear to everybody.”

Earl Dobson said: “He said from the start he had done it.”

Two different accounts of psychiatric testimony were presented in court: psychiatric testimony contending Swift was insane was presented by the defense, and the jurors found he was not. Cobb said: “The state put on psychiatric testimony he was not, and jurors found he was not.” Cobb also said: “After the case was over, then he was through. He didn’t want to do anything.”

Lee Ann Breading quoted Zachary’s disclosure as it was relayed by the child to officers:

“Basically he was saying: ’Daddy killed mommy and he killed grandma, too,”’

In the end-of-trial proceedings, under Texas law, all death sentences were automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Swift waived his right to counsel in this appeal, and the court determined that he was mentally competent to make the decision to represent himself.

Swift did not pursue certiorari review. Swift waived his right to further challenge the validity of his conviction and death sentence. At his request, the trial court set his execution for January 30, 2007.

Swift wrote several letters to the court asking for a swift execution date. He wrote:

“I am writing to you one final time to plead with you to set my execution date ahead of those already scheduled,” he wrote on 19 October 2006. “While others dread their approaching executions, I am very anxious to be executed and go to heaven to be reunited with my loved ones who understand what those on Earth cannot, i.e. the forgiving power of the Lord.”

Sentencing

Swift was sentenced to death in April 2005 after being found guilty of capital murder.

Appeals

Swift waived his right to counsel in the appeal and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence in an unpublished opinion issued on September 20, 2006.

Outcome

Christopher Jay Swift was executed by lethal injection in Texas on January 30, 2007.

At his execution, five friends watched. The lethal injection of Swift, 31, was the third this year in Texas.

When asked if he had a final statement, Swift responded: "no." Seven minutes later at 6:20 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

“No relatives of the victims attended the execution,” one report stated.

On January 30, 2007, Reuters reported Swift made no final statement.

Swift was the 382nd person put to death in Texas since capital punishment was restored in 1982. The state had 10 more executions scheduled for 2007.

Aftermath

Derek Adame said about Swift’s request for the death penalty: “Receiving the death penalty is what he's wanted from Day 1, from the first day I met him.” Adame said: “He and I had several discussions about it. It was frustrating for me. That's what makes it hard to deal with. It's the ultimate punishment.”

A quoted friend statement described Swift at the time of execution:

“Look at his face. His face is completely at peace. He is going to see Jesus,” one friend said.

Another trial lawyer, Jerry Cobb, said: “He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Swift’s wife’s death caused the unborn child’s death as well; Amy’s unborn child died.

Hotel staffers fed Zachary breakfast and let him watch cartoons in the lobby before calling police after no one claimed him and he was getting frightened.

Swift represented himself at his trial.

Swift declined to make a final statement at the time of execution, and he was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.

Other details

Swift had previous arrests for assault, driving while intoxicated, and evading arrest.

Information about the length of time he served on his four-year prison sentence was not available for a report.

Swift was described as “condemned killer” and was executed in Huntsville, Texas.

Prior to the capital murder case, on December 24, 1996, he allowed his vehicle to strike a police officer, and on January 27, 1997, he punched his mom and threatened her with a knife.

Swift’s condemnation included the strangulation of his wife, Amy Amel Sabeh-Swift, and his mother-in-law, Sandy Sabeh, with his death being carried out by lethal injection on January 30, 2007.