Execution Report: Barney Fuller

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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in May 2008. His subsequent appeals in state court were denied. Fuller initiated the federal appeals process in 2015, but subsequently filed a motion to waive his remaining appeals. After holding a mental competency hearing, the court granted Fuller's motion in May 2016. A death warrant was then issued.

"I do not want to go on living in this hellhole," he wrote to his attorney. "Do not do anything for me which will prolong my appeals and time here on Texas death row."

In an affidavit concerning Fuller's desire to drop his appeals, his sister, Robin, who called him Rory, wrote, "Rory may believe he deserves the death penalty because he believes in an 'eye for an eye,' that if you take someone's life you give your life. Mostly though, Rory has an inability to cope with anything negative."

After the Copeland's deaths, Annette's sister, Ona Presto, became the children's legal guardian. She, Cody, and Courtney traveled to Huntsville and watched Fuller's execution from a viewing room adjacent to the death chamber. The condemned man did not make eye contact with them.

Asked by Warden James Jones if he wished to make a last statement, Fuller answered, "I don't have anything to say. You can proceed on, Warden Jones." The lethal injection was then started. "Hey, you fixin' to put me to sleep," he said. He was pronounced dead at 7:01 p.m.

On her way out of the viewing room after the execution, Presto said, "Party's over, bastard."

By David Carson. Posted on 6 April 2016.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, NBC News, Texas Tribune.