Donald Aldrich and Henry Dunn were executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Nicholas West
According to court documents Donald Aldrich and Henry Dunn as well as a teenage accomplice would target gay men to assault and rob. The night of the murder they would target Nicholas West who was robbed at gunpoint, forced into a car and driven to a remote location where he was told to walk up a hill where he was shot several times
Donald Aldrich and Henry Dunn would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Henry Dunn was executed by lethal injection on February 6 2003
Donald Aldrich was executed by lethal injection on October 12 2004
Donald Aldrich Photos
Henry Dunn Photos
Donald Aldrich FAQ
When Was Donald Aldrich Executed
Donald Aldrich was executed on October 12 2004
When Was Henry Dunn Executed
Henry Dunn was executed on February 6 2003
Donald Aldrich Case
Condemned inmate Donald Aldrich was executed Tuesday for the abduction of a homosexual East Texas man who wound up victim of a gay-bashing murder.
In a brief final statement, Aldrich apologized to the family of his victim although none was present. “I hope that you can forgive me,” he said. “To my family and loved ones and friends, I thank all of you for your support and I’m sorry for the pain and hurt I have caused you,” Aldrich said. “I love you all and will see you on the other side.” Aldrich closed his eyes and gasped slightly as the lethal drugs began taking effect. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m., six minutes later.
Aldrich, 39, was the second man executed for his involvement in the fatal shooting of Nicholas West, 23, of Tyler, nearly 11 years ago. Henry Earl Dunn, 28, was put to death in February 2003. Each man blamed the other for West’s slaying, but authorities contended both participated in the shooting.
Aldrich was the 16th convicted killer executed this year in Texas and third in eight days. Two more remain on the schedule for this month and five are set for November.
Aldrich and Dunn were members of what became known as the “CB gang,” authorities said, so named because they first became acquainted over CB radios. For months the gang in which Aldrich was known as “Sundance” preyed on homosexuals in the Tyler area. A third member of the gang, David McMillan, who was 17 at the time, was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery and received a life prison term. In a videotaped confession to police, Aldrich, considered leader of the cadre, said he didn’t like homosexuals because at age 9 he had been raped by a gay cousin. Court records showed West, a medical clerk, was robbed Nov. 30, 1993, at a Tyler park known as a homosexual meeting place and then was taken to a remote area of Smith County where he was stripped, ordered to his knees and shot at least nine times.
In late appeals to the courts, Aldrich’s attorneys didn’t dispute his guilt but raised questions about the execution procedure and trial testimony. Defense lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an injunction to block the combination of drugs Texas prison officials use to put inmates to death, calling it “an unnecessarily cruel and outmoded means of lethal injection” that increases “the risk of torture in the execution process.” A federal district judge in Houston and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans earlier rejected the request, saying Aldrich’s lawyers didn’t show any alternate execution method would be better. About an hour before Aldrich’s scheduled execution time, the high court rejected the appeal without comment. In June, a similar appeal in another Texas case failed before the Supreme Court. Aldrich’s lawyers, however, pointed out that unlike that case, their request was filed before Aldrich even had an execution date and their action shouldn’t be dismissed as merely a delay tactic.
A second appeals attempt, this one in the state courts, focused on the reliability of trial testimony from psychologists who said Aldrich would continue to be a violent threat if he was allowed to live although neither psychologist ever met or examined him. The question of future danger is one Texas juries must consider when deciding whether a capital murder convict should be condemned. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the argument.
At the time of his arrest for the slaying, Aldrich was on parole for a pair of convictions. One was for burglary in Smith County and the second for robbery in Dallas County. “If you take the position the death penalty is to deter people who don’t have a conscience from continuing to perpetrate crimes and who have a past track record of criminal behavior, then he’s your poster child,” said David Dobbs, the former Smith County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Aldrich.
On a Danish Internet site devoted to condemned prisoners, Aldrich, an Oklahoma native who worked as a baker, acknowledged he was “part of a crime that ended in the death of a young man, but did not play a part in his death.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/101304dntexexecution.5a663.html
