Execution Report: James Porter

James Scott Porter, 34, was executed by lethal injection on 4 January 2005 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a fellow prison inmate.

In 1995, Porter was convicted of murder with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 45 years in prison. He was sent to the Telford Unit in northeast Texas to serve out his sentence. On 28 May 2000, Porter, then 28, took a 2-pound rock that he had smuggled into the unit, and placed it inside a pillowcase. He then came up behind Rudy Delgado, 40, who was seated at a table in the day room, and struck him on the head with the rock. Delgado fell to the floor. Porter continued to strike Delgado repeatedly on the face and head. When the pillowcase ripped open, Porter stabbed Delgado with a makeshift knife. He then stomped on Delgado's head and face with steel-toed work boots until prison guards stopped the attack.

In a written statement, Porter confessed to killing Delgado. He stated that he had been planning to kill someone for some time, and had decided to use the rock and knife the week before the murder. He also stated that he took eleven Dilantin pills the night before the murder to help with the "rush of killing someone, no one in particular." Porter stated that he chose his victim at random.

Delgado was serving a 15-year sentence for sexually assaulting a child.

While awaiting trial, Porter wrote several letters, bragging about the murder. In a letter to James Elliott, the district attorney prosecuting his case, Porter stated that he should be applauded for ridding society of a child molester. In another letter, Porter wrote that he would murder again and didn't care whether his next victim was another prisoner or a corrections officer.

Porter's first felony conviction was in 1990, for burglary. He was sentenced to eight years' probation. In 1991, he was convicted again of burglary and sentenced to five years in prison. In 1995, while out on parole, he murdered a transient, a 40-year-old man, by shooting him twice in the head. In that case, he stated that he did society a favor. In 1998, while serving his murder sentence, Porter was convicted of possessing of a homemade knife.

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