Karl Hammond was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Donna Lynn Vetter
According to court documents Karl Hammond, who was recently released from prison for a sexual assault and robbery, would break into the home of Donna Lynn Vetter. The young woman would be sexually assaulted and murdered before Hammond robbed the home
Karl Hammond would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Karl Hammond would be executed by lethal injection on June 22 1995
Karl Hammond Photos
Karl Hammond Case
A convicted killer prosecutors once called ‘the butcher’ died early Wednesday by lethal injection in the second execution carried out in as many days by the state of Texas.
Karl Hammond, 30, was convicted in the 1986 rape and torture-slaying of Donna Lynn Vetter, a 22-year-old secretary at the San Antonio FBI office. His execution was the 12th carried out this year by Texas. ‘I know it’s hard for people to lose someone that they love so much, and I think it’s best for me to say nothing at all,’ Hammond said just moments before he was given a lethal injection. Hammond had repeatedly claimed his innocence.
Betty Mathews, a minister who had visited with Hammond frequently and witnessed the execution, prayed loudly until a doctor pronounced Hammond dead at 12:23 a.m. local time. Dan Thornberry, an assistant district attorney in San Antonio, said Hammond’s crime was especially brutal. ‘He broke into her apartment, beat and raped her, and then stabbed her to death,’ the prosecutor said. Thornberry said Hammond’s palm prints and his bare foot prints were found in the victim’s blood. He said Hammond’s palm print was found on the murder weapon.
Hammond briefly escaped from the county jail during his 1987 trial, but he was apprehended the next day. The prosecutor at the time bought a gun and moved his family out of their home while Hammond was briefly free.
Early Tuesday, John Fearance Jr., 40, was executed for the murder of a Dallas man 18 years ago
He was pronounced dead at 12:22 a.m. following a lethal injection. Before the dose was administered, he blamed a psychotic episode for the December 1977 slaying of Larry Faircloth, who was stabbed repeatedly after Fearance broke into his Dallas home. ‘I made mistakes 18 years ago but I am not responsible,’ Fearance said. ‘I had a bad psychotic break and lost control, lost my life. I have no hate toward humanity, didn’t mean to,’ he said. ‘Forgive me. I am ready to meet my maker.’ When the lethal dose was administered, the condemned man looked up, said a ‘Hail Mary,’ gasped and then fell silent.
Fearance, whose final appeal was turned down by the Supreme Court late Monday. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Fearance’s conviction in 1980, but he was retried and again sentenced to death in 1981.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/06/21/Texas-executes-convicted-killer/8766803707200/
