John Sawyers was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Ethyl Delaney
According to court documents John Sawyers would break into the home of Ethyl Delaney, 67, the woman would be murdered before her home was robbed. Sawyers had gone to Ethyl Delaney home numerous times in the past
John Sawyers would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
John Sawyers would be executed by lethal injection on May 18 1993
John Sawyers Photos
John Sawyers Case
An inmate was executed by injection early today for beating a woman to death with a frying pan in 1983.
The inmate, John Christopher Sawyers, 37, went to his death after the United States Supreme Court rejected two appeals on Monday.
Mr. Sawyers was convicted of killing Ethyl Delaney, 67, during a robbery at her Houston home in which he stole money, three rings and her car.
Mr. Sawyers told the police that he had ripped off Ms. Delaney’s pants, slapped her, put her on her bed and hit her four times over the head with a cast-iron skillet. The fourth blow, he said, broke the handle. No Final Statement
Mr. Sawyers’s eyes were closed when witnesses entered the death chamber early today. He opened them only briefly when asked if he had a final statement. “No,” he said.
Mr. Sawyers was the 59th person to be executed in Texas since 1976, when the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume.
Among other things, Mr. Sawyers’s lawyer argued that the defense lawyer’s peformance at the trial had been inadequate and that the judge should have instructed the jury that alcohol may have been a factor in the crime.
According to testimony, Mr. Sawyers pawned the rings for about $200. The police found the pawnshop tickets when he was arrested after he had an accident while driving the stolen car.
Ms. Delaney was a notary public and a property manager. Mr. Sawyers, a mill worker, was her neighbor and had previously gone to her home to get papers notarized
