John Satterwhite was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Mary Davis
According to court documents John Satterwhite would enter a store where he would shoot and kill the clerk Mary Davis
John Satterwhite would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
John Satterwhite would be executed by lethal injection on August 16 2000
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When Was John Satterwhite Executed
John Satterwhite was executed on August 16 2000
John Satterwhite Case
A ninth-grade dropout with an extensive arrest record worried about his victim’s family in the moments before he was put to death Wednesday evening for murdering a San Antonio convenience store clerk more than 21 years ago.
“What I want to say is I have remorse and I’m really sorry about what happened to that family,” John Satterwhite, 53, said in a telephone call to The Associated Press less than an hour before he was strapped to the Texas death chamber gurney for killing Mary Francis Davis, 54. Satterwhite declined to make a final statement in the death chamber and was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m., nine minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing into veins in his hands. Prison officials generally allow an inmate a few final calls to relatives preceding an execution, but a call to the media from a prisoner is unprecedented. “I wanted them to know that I hope my remorse does them good. But would it help them any? No,” he said, after asking to speak with an AP reporter who interviewed him previously. Satterwhite said he was doing fine — “Everything’s good” — and praised the prison chaplain, Jim Brazzil, for helping him through the day. “He’s wonderful,” Satterwhite said. “I’m at peace.”
Shortly before he was executed, he nodded to reporters who were to witness his death. After declining to make his final statement, he closed his eyes took a deep breath as the drugs began to take effect, sputtered twice and gasped twice. Satterwhite was the third of six condemned killers scheduled to die this month in Texas and the 29th this year in the nation’s busiest death house. At least 11 other death row inmates have lethal injections set through the end of 2000, which could wind up a record year for executions in Texas, topping the 37 condemned prisoners put to death in 1997.
“It’s kind of scary,” Satterwhite acknowledged in an interview earlier this month. “But if I have to go through with it, why fight it? You ain’t got much choice.” In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Satterwhite’s case, clearing the way for his execution. Satterwhite’s punishment attracted none of the attention that drew the hundreds of protesters and media to Huntsville in June for the lethal injection of convicted killer Gary Graham. Graham’s claims of innocence and an unfair trial spotlighted Texas as the nation’s execution capital and support of the death penalty by Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee. Satterwhite had a spiritual adviser as his only personal witness. No one from the victim’s family attended. Outside, half a dozen protesters stood quietly. Satterwhite already had been arrested eight times and had served a prison term for burglary and robbery by assault when he was charged with the March 12, 1979, killing of Davis, 54, after walking into the Lone Star Ice and Food Store in San Antonio under the guise of buying a pack of cigarettes and a soft drink — a 79-cent purchase. Davis was found seated on a toilet, a bullet through each temple.
“I wouldn’t say I’m totally innocent,” Satterwhite said from death row. “I’m guilty of some things.” Asked about the shooting, he replied: “There’s a possibility I could be the person that did it. … I can’t say I did or didn’t.” Satterwhite and an accomplice, Sharon Bell, were pulled over for speeding a day after the Davis shooting and $600 robbery and officers found a gun in their car. Bell said it was hers and she was arrested for unlawfully carrying a weapon. Interviewed later by police, Bell fingered Satterwhite as the killer. Testifying at his trial, she told of seeing Satterwhite holding the gun against Davis’ head as she was leaving the store and heard the victim plead for her life. Other witnesses identified the pair as being in the store just before the slaying. Authorities said they were responsible for a string of robberies in San Antonio, including another where a clerk was killed.
“He’s a very cold-blooded psychopath, one of the worst I ever prosecuted, just because he had no regard for his victims,” said Bill Harris, the former Bexar County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Satterwhite. Bell, from San Antonio, received a 20-year prison term for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. She was released in 1986. “To me, it was total discrimination,” Satterwhite said, complaining Bell received favorable treatment because of her gender. “They never tried any deal with me. I’m the dude. I’m the male.” In 1988, the Supreme Court threw out Satterwhite’s death sentence because he was not allowed to visit with a lawyer before taking a psychiatric test. At a second trial, a Bexar County jury convicted him and again decided he should be put to death.