Carl Kelly was executed by the State of Texas for a double murder
According to court documents Carl Kelly and an accomplice would rob a store and would take the clerk Steven Pryor who was forced into his car. Another man was sleeping in Steven Pryor car, David Riley. The two men were driven to a remote location where they were fatally shot and thrown off a cliff
Carl Kelly would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Carl Kelly would be executed by lethal injection on August 20 1993
Carl Kelly Photos
Carl Kelly Case
A former laborer was executed by injection early today for killing a convenience store clerk and a transient in 1980.
Carl Kelly, 34, went to his death after the United States Supreme Court rejected without dissent a late-hour appeal.
“I’m an African warrior born to breathe and born to die,” he said in a final statement. As the lethal drugs began flowing, Mr. Kelly said, “I feel the poison running now.”
Mr. Kelly was put to death for the murder of Steven Pryor, an 18-year-old clerk at a 7-Eleven in Waco. Another man, David Riley, a transient who was asleep in Mr. Pryor’s car in the parking lot when Mr. Pryor was seized inside the store, was also killed
Mr. Pryor and Mr. Riley were robbed of $30, taken to a park in Mr. Pryor’s car and shot. Their bodies were thrown over a 60-foot cliff.
Mr. Kelly’s accomplice, Thomas Graves, was arrested while driving Mr. Pryor’s car, and Mr. Kelly’s wallet was found in the trunk. Mr. Pryor, who was working the late-night job to help pay his way through school, was a diabetic with a rare blood type, and his blood was found on Mr. Kelly’s shoes.
Mr. Graves, who was 20 at the time, pleaded guilty to both killings, as well as to the slaying of a man the previous day. He received life in prison.
Mr. Kelly said that he had been high on drugs at the time of the crime. He confessed to involvement in the crime but refused a plea bargain, choosing instead to go on trial.
On appeal, Mr. Kelly’s lawyers challenged the legality of his confession. Mr. Kelly said he had confessed only to being with Mr. Graves when the shootings occurred. He denied firing the fatal shots.