QUINTON JONES EXECUTED IN TEXAS ON MAY 19, 2021

            On this date, May 19, 2021, Quintin Jones was executed by lethal injection in Texas, for the 1999 killing of his great aunt, Berthena Bryant. However, Jones also committed other murders. Please hear from one of the victim’s daughter at the bottom.

Quintin Jones received the lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the September 1999 killing of Berthena Bryan.

Quintin Phillippe Jones (July 15, 1979 – May 19, 2021) was an American man from Livingston, Texas, who was executed for the 1999 killing of his great aunt, Berthena Bryant. Bryant's family and over 180,000 other people petitioned Texas Governor Greg Abbott for clemency to commute his death sentence to a life sentence. He was executed on May 19, 2021, the first execution in the US in almost 30 years without any media presence.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintin_Jones_(prisoner)

Biography

Jones experienced 'brutal conditions' during his childhood, suffering neglect by his parents, sexual assault by his siblings, and extreme poverty. His mother threatened him with a gun and he was forced at age 7 by his older siblings to have sex with his stepsister. He shot himself twice, once in the hand to placate gang members and later in the chest in a suicide attempt. He became addicted to drugs by his early teens.

Crime

On September 11, 1999, Jones murdered his great aunt, 83-year-old Berthena Bryant, bludgeoning her to death, after she refused to give him money to purchase cocaine. He was high on heroin and cocaine during the murder.

Trial

Jones admitted to the killing during the trial and showed remorse. The Bryant family gave evidence in the trial of Jones' mental illness and addiction. Jones was sentenced to death and spent 21 years on death row with 23 hours a day in solitary confinement.

Michael Mowla, Jones' attorney, later filed a habeas corpus motion in Texas state court, arguing that prosecutors gave unscientific testimony during the trial, violating Jones' rights. Texas state law only allows the death penalty on the argument of “future dangerousness”, Jones had no record of violence in prison.

The online news media Austin American-Statesman have highlighted racial bias in his sentencing. They have compared Jones to Riky “Red” Roosa who was convicted of murdering two people and was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole. Jones, who is black, was sentenced to death for one murder.

Clemency petition

Bryant's family, with help from several other people and organisations, petitioned for Texas Governor Greg Abbott to grant clemency to Jones. They began an unsuccessful petition which reached over 180,000 signatures. Abbott had previously given clemency in 2019 to Thomas “Bart” Whitaker for the murder of his mother and brother, after his father Kent Whitaker, who was shot during the attack, pleaded for clemency.

• Mattie Long, sister of murder victim Berthena Bryant, wrote in the clemency petition to Governor Abbott "I have forgiven him, I love him very much... I am writing this to ask you to please spare Quintin's life".
• Writer Suleika Jaouad called for clemency. Jones supported her through treatment for leukemia with a 30% chance of survival in her 20s. She wrote a book about her friendship with Jones, 'Between Two Kingdoms'.
• Benjamin Jones, Quintin's twin brother stated in the clemency petition “Both of us have long forgiven Quin. Please don’t cause us to be victimized again through Quin’s execution.”
• Jones worked with the New York Times to ask for clemency from Governor Abbott stating 'I'm writing this letter to ask you if you could find it in your heart to grant me clemency, so I don't get executed on 19 May. I got two weeks to live, starting today.'.
• On May 10, he was featured in the New York Times essay 'Quintin Jones Is Not Innocent, But He Doesn’t Deserve to Die'.

   

"If a man is a danger to the community, threatening it with disintegration by some wrongdoing of his, then his execution for the healing and preservation of the common good is to be commended.  Only the public authority, not private persons, may licitly execute malefactors by public judgment. Men shall be sentenced to death for crimes of irreparable harm or which are particularly perverted." St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 11; 65-2; 66-6. http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2016/01/saint-thomas-aquinas-on-death-penalty.html

Execution

Jones was executed by lethal injection at 6:40 PM CDT on May 19, 2021. While members of the media were scheduled to be present to witness the execution, they were not admitted to the prison by authorities due to a communication error, making it the first execution in nearly 30 years without a media presence.

Before his execution, Jones made this final statement:

I would like to thank all of the supporting people who helped me over the years. To mad Maddie, my twin Sonja, Angie, and all the homies. AKA money and Peruvian queen including crazy Dominican. I was so glad to leave this world a better, more positive place. It's not an easy life with all the negativities. Love all my friends and all the friendships that I have made. They are like the sky. It is all part of life, like a big full plate of food for the soul. I hope I left everyone a plate of food full of happy memories, happiness and no sadness. I'm done, warden.

My father Clark Edward Peoples, Jr. as senselessly murdered by Quintin Jones in Fort Worth, Tx in 1999. Quintin has been on death row for 20+ years and is to be executed this Wednesday by the state of Texas. What he gruesomely did to my father is being omitted and it makes me sick to my stomach. I have to let the full story by told.

VIDEO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-8XmqdXE3s

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