Stanley Baker was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Wayne Walters
According to court documents Stanley Baker would enter a store where he fatally shot the clerk Wayne Walters. Baker would take money from the store and steal Walters vehicle
Stanley Baker would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Stanley Baker would be executed by lethal injection on May 30 2002
Stanley Baker Photos
Stanley Baker FAQ
When Was Stanley Baker Executed
Stanley Baker was executed on May 30 2002
Stanley Baker Case
Convicted killer Stanley Baker was executed this evening for fatally shooting a video store clerk eight years ago in College Station. “I don’t have anything to say,” Baker said when the warden asked if he had a last statement. “I’m just sorry about what I did to Mr. Peters and that’s all,” he said, misidentifying his victim. Baker had no witnesses and no witnesses from the victim’s family attended.
As the drugs began taking effect, he remarked, “My arm feels cold… got some pain in my left arm, I guess that’s the poison.” Baker coughed, gasped and slightly wheezed. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m., nine minutes after the lethal does began.
Baker had the murder weapon, was driving the victim’s truck and had about $50 taken from the store when he was arrested a couple of hours after shooting Wayne John Walters, 44. Police also had blood evidence and a piece of a tooth that tied Baker to the crime. “When I was firing the shotgun, I broke my tooth and I left some DNA evidence behind,” he chuckled as he pointed to a chipped front tooth during a recent interview on death row.
Baker was the second condemned Texas prisoner put to death this week, the fifth this month and 15th this year.
He was arrested by a state trooper in Bastrop, about 70 miles west of College Station. When he surrendered, he had a cut lip from the recoil of the shotgun and a bloody shirt. “I really was depressed all the time,” he said. “I just wanted it to end. It’s weird the way it happened. It’s like I went insane.” Dressed in green fatigues, Baker walked into the adult video store Sept. 28, 1994, carrying a 12-gauge shotgun. Walters surrendered his keys without resistance but Baker opened fire. The third shot hit Walters in the back of the head as the clerk was laying on the floor.
Authorities believed Baker had bigger plans. His notebook found in the stolen truck listed his goals for the year as “30 victims dead, 30 armed robberies, and steal a lot of cars.” Bill Turner, the Brazos County district attorney who prosecuted Baker, said he believed the cut lip and bloody shirt changed Baker’s immediate plans to walk armed into a Winn-Dixie supermarket where Baker recently quit work as a stock clerk after a dispute. Documents found at Baker’s home indicated he wanted to kill the store manager and others and leave no witnesses behind. “Though I’ve given four years to your store, I’ve long felt my efforts were unappreciated,” Baker said in an obscenity-filled resignation letter.
When arrested, he had hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a brass-knuckled stiletto, a bulletproof vest, a garrote and survival gear. At his home, police found a map of New York City and a notation from Baker describing it as “the ultimate hunting ground,” Turner said. “I really think we were lucky there was one person dead,” the prosecutor said Wednesday. “I think if he hadn’t chipped his tooth, he would have gone on about his way, gotten to Winn-Dixie and caused a lot of problems. “Some people kill out of meanness or they want your money. To me, this guy was more about killing people to prove he was a bad guy. He wanted the world, at that time, to know he was a bad guy.”
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case in late March. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, in a pair of 17-0 votes Tuesday, refused to recommend his sentence be commuted to life in prison and refused a reprieve request. “I’m just glad it’s about over. I’m looking forward to the last meal, but not the part that comes after,” he laughed. “It’s going to happen. I might as well accept it.”
Baker was born in Paris, France, where his Army father was stationed. He grew up in San Antonio, spent four years in the Army and moved to College Station. He joined the National Guard and spent two years taking classes at Blinn College. He said he wanted to be a history teacher.
Baker, who did not testify at his 1995 trial, said he was at a loss to explain what set him off. “I ask myself that, too,” he said.
At least five executions are scheduled for June, putting Texas on a pace for the year to nearly equal the record 40 executions carried out in 2000.