Execution Report: Carl Blue

Carl Henry Blue, 48, was executed by lethal injection on 21 February 2013 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of his former girlfriend in her apartment.

On 19 August 1994, Blue, then 29, went to a convenience store in College Station and bought 50 cents' worth of gasoline in a large paper soft drink cup. He then walked to Carmen Richards-Sanders' apartment and knocked on the door. When Richards-Sanders, 38, opened the door, Blue rushed in, said "I told you I was going to get you," and doused her in gasoline and ignited her clothing with a lighter. When the other person in the apartment, Larence Williams, 42, attempted to come to Richards-Sanders' aid, Blue threw the remaining gasoline on him and ignited his clothing also. Both victims were taken to the hospital with burns over 50 to 70 percent of their bodies. Richards-Sanders died of her burns 19 days later. Williams survived his injuries and testified against Blue.

The fire at the apartment complex destroyed four other units, where twenty residents lived.

Trial testimony indicated that Richards-Sanders had lived with Blue for about two weeks beginning in late June.

Blue turned himself into police about seven hours after the incident, which he said was meant to be a prank, but he didn't realize the victim was lighting a cigarette at the time. "When I went to knock, she snatched the door open and had a cigarette," Blue said in a taped confession. "I wasted gas on both of them. And she caught on fire, and he caught on fire, and I took off running ... I was scared, man." He said he had been drinking and smoking crack prior to the incident.

For a killing to qualify as capital murder, one of several aggravating factors, such as kidnapping or burglary, must be present. In Blue's case, the state argued that Blue burglarized Richards-Sanders apartment by entering it without her consent.

Blue had two previous misdemeanor convictions for evading and resisting arrest.

Continued on Page 2