James Beathard and Gene Hathorn were sentenced to death by the State of Texas for a triple murder
According to court documents James Beathard and Gene Hathorn would shoot and kill three members of the Hathorn family: Gene Hathorn Sr., 45, his wife, Linda Sue, 34, and their 14-year-old son, Marcus. Gene Hathorn would murder his family to get his inheritance however following the murders he would learn his family had cut him out of the will
James Beathard and Gene Hathorn would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Gene Hathorn would take three life sentences without parole in 2008
James Beathard would be executed by lethal injection on December 9 1999
James Beathard Photos
James Beathard Case
The following version of the facts was developed by the evidence, including co-defendant Gene Hathorn, Jr.’s (“Hathorn”) testimony, at Beathard’s trial.
Beathard became friends with his accomplice, Gene Hathorn, Jr., when they were employed as psychiatric security technicians at Rusk State Hospital in Rusk, Texas. In January 1984, Beathard left Rusk State Hospital and enrolled in classes at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Gene Hathorn, Jr. supplied Beathard, now unemployed, with small quantities of marijuana and cocaine to sell for a commission. During the spring and summer of 1984, they spent many evenings together, often discussing Gene Hathorn, Jr.’s desire to kill his father, stepmother, and half-brother.
Gene Hathorn, Sr., his wife, Linda Hathorn and son Marcus Hathorn lived in a trailer on eight acres in rural Trinity County, Texas. In 1983, Gene Hathorn, Sr. received a $150,000 settlement on an injury claim. Gene Hathorn, Jr. decided to kill his family out of animosity over a borrowed truck and because he believed he would inherit the settlement money. Gene Hathorn, Jr. described to Beathard his plan to commit “the perfect murder,” which required an accomplice who could provide a false alibi. The plan included leaving clues to convince the police that the family had been killed during a burglary by “a bunch of drug crazed niggers.”
In July 1984, Gene Hathorn, Jr. offered to give Beathard a $12,500 share of the expected inheritance to help him murder his family. Beathard agreed to do it because he needed the money to pay off a child support arrearage.
On October 9, 1984, Gene Hathorn, Jr. and Beathard left Rusk at 3:00 p.m. in a borrowed Dodge Colt. Gene Hathorn, Jr. supplied three murder weapons, ammunition, gloves, some Negroid hairs gathered from a barber shop and some butts of cigarettes that had been “smoked by black people.” The two men went to the library at Stephen F. Austin University and stopped at other public places to create an alibi. They then drove to a rural area to do some target practice with the sawed-off shotgun.
After nightfall, they arrived at Gene Hathorn, Sr.’s trailer house. Gene Hathorn, Jr. fired the shotgun through a picture window, hitting Gene Hathorn, Sr. and Marcus Hathorn. Beathard entered through the back door and shot all three victims with a pistol. Gene Hathorn, Sr. was then shot in the head with a rifle. They planted the Negroid hairs and cigarette butts at the crime scene and stole several items, including some guns, a video cassette recorder and the family’s van. The van was driven to a nearby African American community and abandoned. The other stolen items and two of the murder weapons were dumped into a river.
Beathard returned to his girlfriend’s house at approximately 12:30 a.m. on October 10, 1984. Beathard was wearing overalls and was visibly upset. Although law enforcement officers requested that Beathard produce the overalls several days later, they were never recovered.
Beathard testified at the guilt-innocence stage of his trial that he was present at the scene of the murders, but that he was tricked into being there and that he hid outside while Gene Hathorn, Jr. fired all of the shots.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-5th-circuit/1142509.html
