HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) – Chaos erupted near Texas’ death chamber when the son of the inmate being executed pounded on the chamber windows, shouted obscenities and threw fists after his father spoke his last words.
Billie Wayne Coble was sentenced to death for the 1989 killings of his estranged wife’s parents and brother. The Vietnam War veteran was executed Thursday night.
Before the lethal drug was administered, he told five people in the witness room that he loved them. As he finished speaking, his son, a friend and a daughter-in-law became emotional.
Officers stepped in and eventually moved them to a courtyard, where the two men were handcuffed and arrested on charges of resisting an officer.
The 70-year-old Coble was the oldest inmate executed by Texas since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982.
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