Derrick Charles Executed For 3 Texas Murders

Derrick Charles was executed by the State of Texas for a triple murder

According to court documents Derrick Charles would go to the home of his fifteen year old ex girlfriend and would beat her to death before murdering her mother and grandfather: Myiesha Bennett, 15, her mother, Brenda Bennett, 44, and her grandfather, Obie Bennett, 77.

Derrick Charles would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Derrick Charles would be executed on May 12 2015 by lethal injection

Derrick Charles Photos

Derrick Charles execution

Derrick Charles FAQ

When Was Derrick Charles Executed

Derrick Charles was executed on May 12 2015

Derrick Charles Case

Derrick Dewayne Charles, condemned for the 2002 Houston murders of his teenage girlfriend, her mother and her grandfather, was executed in the state death house Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review whether the killer wrongly had been refused help in developing an incompetency claim.

Charles, 32, was the seventh Texas killer to be put to death this year. The sentence was carried out with a single lethal injection of pentobarbital.

In petitions to the Supreme Court, Charles’ laywers argued that lower courts had erred in denying him funds for a comprehensive mental health evaluation. An earlier record of mental health difficulties, they contended, warranted further exploration. The lawyers hoped to save their client’s life through the high court’s 1986 Ford vs. Wainwright decision, which held a killer may be spared execution if his “mental illness prevents him from comprehending the reasons for the penalty or its implications.”

Charles was convicted in the July 2002 murders of Myiesha Bennett, 15, her mother, Brenda Bennett, 44, and her grandfather, Obie Bennett, 77.

According to court documents, Charles was angry with Brenda Bennett for telling police he was having sex with her underage daughter. On the day of the killing, Charles, high from smoking marijuana adulterated with embalming fluid, surreptitiously came to the Bennett’s northeast Houston home, and again had sex with the teen. When Myiesha and her mother later left to run an errand, Charles lingered in the teen’s bedroom, until he was discovered by the girl’s grandfather.

Charles, who later pleaded guilty to the capital murder charge, beat the old man with athletic trophies and other items before strangling him with a lamp cord. When Myiesha and her mother returned hours later, Charles bound them.

He then beat Myiesha with stereo speakers, dropped a television set on her head and strangled her. Charles placed Brenda Bennett in a water-filled bathtub, into which he tossed a plugged-in television set. When electrocution failed to result, Charles dragged the woman from the bathroom, then sexually assaulted and strangled her.

Prior to the killings, Charles had been assessed a three-year prison sentence for burglary of a habitation. He had been paroled seven months before the murders.

Charles was pronounced dead at about 6:30 p.m.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-killer-executed-6259315.php

Scroll to Top