Billy Woods was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Mabel Ehatt
According to court documents Billy Woods, who was a convicted sexual offender, would break into the home of sixty two year old Mabel Ehatt. The woman would be sexually assaulted before being beaten to death with a frying pan
Billy Woods would be arrested inside of her residence and would later be convicted and sentenced to death
Billy Woods would be executed by lethal injection on April 14 1987
Billy Woods Photos
Billy Woods Case
After nearly 21 years on death row, a man was executed by injection tonight for raping a woman and then beating her to death with a frying pan.
The man, Billy Joe Woods, 50, was 29 in 1975 when he broke into the Houston apartment of 62-year-old Mabel Ehatt, who had cancer and used a walker. Neighbors heard a disturbance, and the police found the woman dead and Mr. Woods carrying her television, her bracelet and a bottle of her pain medication.
Evidence showed he sexually assaulted the woman and crushed her head with a frying pan.
The case languished in the courts while judges wrestled with appeals on whether testimony from a psychiatrist should have been allowed.
The average time on death row before execution in Texas is 9 years. Mr. Woods waited 20 years and 9 months. Although five other inmates have been on death row longer, Mr. Woods was the longest-serving to be executed
