Execution Report: Taichin Preyor

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Jason Garza testified against Preyor at his trial. Prosecutors stated that the broken apartment door supported Garza's account of what happened.

Preyor's attorney did not call any witnesses, and Preyor declined to testify. The jury was instructed to consider the statutes that justify murder in the case of self defense.

A jury found Preyor guilty of capital murder in March 2005 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in January 2008. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Preyor was kept in the holding cell near the execution chamber for about 2½ hours after the scheduled execution time while prison officials waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on his final appeal.

Most executions in Huntsville are attended by friends and relatives of both the condemned and the victims, but the only people who witnessed Preyor's execution were reporters and prison staff.

Per tradition, Preyor was allowed to make a final statement at his execution. "First and foremost, I'd like to say, 'Justice has never advanced by taking a human life,'" Preyor said, quoting Coretta Scott King. He then expressed love to his wife and children and said, "That's it."

The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 9:22 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 28 July 2017.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press.