Execution Report: Rick Rhoades

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A jury found Rhoades guilty of capital murder in July 1992 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in October 1996. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

"I will be happy for the day when there are no more appeals," Janice Andrews, the Allen's sister, said to a reporter recently. "We just want it over." Andrews described herself as a political liberal and said was uncertain about the death penalty because she has seen "so many wrongfully convicted people go to Death Row," but "that's not the situation here."

A brother and sister-in-law of the victims attended Rhoades' execution. Bradley Allen's daughter, Marley Holt, who was born during the trial, also attended.

"He watched my dad die, so I wanted to watch him die," Holt said.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Rhoades's final appeal about an hour before the execution was set to begin.

No one attended Rhoades' execution on his behalf, and he did not request for a spiritual advisor to be with him. As he lay strapped to the execution gurney, he turned his head and looked briefly at his victims' relatives.

Rhoades declined the warden's invitation to make a final statement. The lethal injection was then given. He was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m.

"It's a weird feeling," the victims' brother, Kevin Allen, said to a reporter afterward. "I can't really describe what it's like. It's the most solemn thing I think I've ever been part of, if that's the word that's even appropriate."

By David Carson. Posted on 29 September 2021.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, Houston Chronicle, Huntsville Item.