Garcia White Scheduled for Execution in 1989 Houston Triple Murder
Garcia White, a 61-year-old Texas man linked to five murders, is set to be executed on Tuesday evening for the brutal 1989 killings of 16-year-old twin sisters, Annette and Bernette Edwards, and their mother, Bonita Edwards. The family was found fatally stabbed in their Houston apartment, a crime that went unsolved for six years until White confessed to the killings.
White, a former college football player and fry cook, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the Texas state penitentiary in Huntsville. His execution would mark the 19th in the U.S. this year and the fifth in Texas, the nation’s leading state for capital punishment.
Details of the Crime
The horrific events occurred in December 1989 when White visited the Edwards’ apartment to smoke crack with Bonita Edwards. After an altercation, White fatally stabbed Bonita. When the twin girls came out of their room, White attacked them as well. Testimony revealed that White broke down the locked door to the girls’ bedroom before killing them.
In addition to the Edwards family murders, White later confessed to the 1995 fatal beating of grocery store owner Hai Van Pham and the killing of another woman, Greta Williams, in 1989.
Prosecutors: White is a ‘Serial Killer’
“This is the type of case that the death penalty was intended for,” said Josh Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writs Division with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. “Garcia White committed five murders in three different transactions, and two of his victims were teenage girls.”
Prosecutors assert that White’s crimes warrant the ultimate punishment, describing him as a serial killer responsible for the deaths of five individuals.
Defense Challenges Execution, Citing Intellectual Disability
White’s attorneys have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, citing claims that Texas courts have ignored evidence of White’s intellectual disability, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty under a 2002 Supreme Court ruling. His lawyers argue that White’s case has been mishandled and that significant medical evidence was not properly considered.
In addition, White’s defense team claims DNA evidence suggests another man may have been present at the crime scene, and that White’s actions could have been influenced by a cocaine-induced psychotic break. His attorneys also allege that Texas has established new sentencing procedures in capital punishment cases, and White is entitled to a review of his death sentence under these revised guidelines.
State Responds to Appeals
The Texas Attorney General’s Office has pushed back against these claims, stating that White has failed to provide sufficient evidence to support his assertion of intellectual disability. The office also emphasized that White’s claims regarding another suspect and his drug use have already been addressed and dismissed by previous courts.
In their filing to the Supreme Court, the state argued that “White presents no reason to delay his execution date any longer,” adding that the victims’ families deserve justice for White’s crimes.
