Richard Duncan was executed by the State of Texas for a double murder
According to court documents Richard Duncan would go to the home of John and Ruth High and would murder the elderly couple. Duncan had opened a gas jet and placed a candle on a table in the hopes the home would catch fire and explode however this did not happen
The murder went unsolved for six years until police received a call focusing their attention on Richard Duncan who would be arrested
Richard Duncan would be convicted and sentenced to death
Richard Duncan would be executed by lethal injection on December 3 2003
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When Was Richard Duncan Executed
Richard Duncan was executed on December 3 2003
Richard Duncan Case
Richard Charles “Chuck” Duncan, convicted for the 1987 murder of his boyfriend’s parents, was executed Wednesday night inside the Huntsville “Walls” Unit. Money is believed to be the motive for the crime. Duncan, 61, was hoping to share the $500,000 in life insurance Gary High would have received after his father, John, and mother, Ruth, were killed. Duncan and Gary were business partners in a struggling computer software company.
Duncan was going to make a final statement Wednesday night, but said, “Now that I see my family here and everything, all I want to say is I love you all so much. I’m innocent and you know that. You’re all so beautiful.” As the lethal injection started, Duncan continued to look toward the five friends her referred to as family, saying, “They’re so beautiful. Aren’t they?” He then gasped several times before falling silent. He was pronounced death at 6:21 p.m.
Wendy High Thomas, granddaughter of John and Ruth High, read a statement from the family after the execution. “Today, we finally feel that justice has been served,” she said. “All of us have had very trying days, especially our dad. We only hope this day will bring some closure for us, but it will never replace our loss or the precious lives that have been taken from us.”
Friends of Duncan stood by their belief that an innocent man was executed. “The state of Texas has just executed another innocent man,” Vernon Stobbs said, standing outside the prison after the execution. “It appears in Texas that a person is guilty until proven innocent.”
The case went unsolved for almost six years until Houston police received an anonymous phone call that indicated Duncan was the killer. Police identified the caller as Robert Alexander, who was involved with both Duncan and Gary High. The three were intimately involved and lived together. Alexander was granted immunity, and the police arranged for him to tape telephone conversations with Duncan, who was then living in Seattle. Duncan made incriminating statements during his phone calls and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
http://itemonline.com/articles/2003/12/03/news/local/news8.txt