William Chappell was executed by the State of Texas for a triple murder
According to court documents William Chappell was convicted of indecency with a child and was mad that his ex girlfriends family testified against him. While appealing his conviction and out on bond Chappell would go to the ex girlfriends home and murder Martha Lindsey, her husband Elbert Sitton, and her daughter Alexandra Heath
William Chappell would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
William Chappell would be executed by lethal injection on November 20 2002
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When Was William Chappell Executed
William Chappell was executed on November 20 2002
William Chappell Case
William Wesley Chappell, sentenced to death for the murders of three people in Ft. Worth in 1988, is scheduled to be executed tonight in the death chamber at the Huntsville “Walls” Unit. Should his execution be carried out, Chappell, 66, will be the oldest man executed in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1982.
Chappell was convicted of killing Alexandra Heath, 27, her mother, 50-year-old Martha Lindsey and Lindsey’s husband, 71-year-old Elbert Sitton. Tarrant County prosecutors believe Chappell killed the three in revenge for their roles in his conviction on child indecency charges the year before.
In 1983, Chappell — then in his early 40s — was dating Jane Sitton, Heath’s half-sister. She was either 14 or 15 at the time and had a 3-year-old daughter. After the two broke up, Lindsey went to police and claimed Chappell had molested Jane Sitton’s daughter. He was indicted on the child indecency charge in May of 1984. Three years later, he was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail. Chappell was released on bond pending an appeal of the conviction.
As he left the courtroom, Chappell made a comment to the Sitton and Lindsey families that appeared more chilling after the killings. Looking at the families, he told Lindsey “it wasn’t over yet” and that he “would get her for that.” He later repeated the threat to his wife, Sally Hayes, adding he wanted to “do away” with Lindsey and her entire family. Prosecutors say Chappell attempted to do just that.
During her testimony at her husband’s trial, Hayes — who has since divorced Chappell — said he spent several months after a failed attempt to burn down Lindsey’s house in January 1988 gathering weapons and working on a silencer for a gun. On the night of May 3, Hayes testified, Chappell dressed in dark clothing, makeup and a wig and had her drop him off at Lindsey’s home. When she returned 20 minutes later, Chappell climbed in the van and said he had “shot Jane, her mother and her daddy.” Actually, he had shot Alexandra, her half-sister, by mistake.
When police arrived, Heath was already dead from a number of gunshot wounds. Lindsey died two days later. Though mortally wounded, Sitton survived in the hospital for two months and was able to give a description to emergency room staff of the attacks and the man who shot them.
Though the evidence against Chappell was considerable, it took three trials for his death sentence to be assessed. His first conviction was thrown out by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1996 on the grounds his jury had been improperly selected. A second trial, which began in October of 1993, ended in a mistrial. Chappell was found guilty of capital murder by a third jury on Oct. 9, 1996, and sentenced to death the same day.
Barring a stay of execution, Chappell will be executed sometime after 6 p.m. A third execution, scheduled for Thursday, has been called off. Thirty-four-year-old James Clark, sentenced to death for a murder committed in Denton County, received a stay from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Monday afternoon.
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