Karla Faye Tucker (November 18, 1959 – February 3, 1998) was an American woman sentenced to death for killing two people with a pickaxe during a burglary. She was the first woman to be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

in the United States since

Velma Barfield Margie Velma Barfield ( née Bullard; October 29, 1932 – November 2, 1984) was an American serial killer who was convicted of one murder, but who eventually confessed to six murders in total. Barfield was the first woman in the United States to ...

in 1984 in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, and the first in Texas since

Chipita Rodriguez Josefa "Chipita" Rodriguez (December 30, 1799 – November 13, 1863) was convicted of murder and hanged in San Patricio County, Texas, at the age of 63. More than a century later, on June 13, 1985, the Texas Legislature passed a resolution not ...

in 1863. She was convicted of murder in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in 1984 and executed by lethal injection after 14 years on death row. Due to her gender and widely publicized conversion to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, she inspired an unusually large national and international movement that advocated the commutation of her sentence to

life without parole Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

, a movement that included a few foreign government officials.

Early life

Karla Tucker was born and raised in Houston, Texas, the youngest of three sisters. Her father Larry was a

longshoreman A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

. The marriage of her parents was troubled, and Tucker started smoking cigarettes with her sisters when she was eight years old. During her parents' divorce proceedings when she was 10 years old, Tucker learned that her birth was the result of an extramarital affair. By age 12, she had begun taking drugs and having sex. She dropped out of school at age 14 and followed her mother Carolyn, a rock

groupie The term groupie is a slang word that refers to a fan of a particular musical group who follows the band around while they are on tour or who attends as many of their public appearances as possible, with the hope of meeting them. The term is us ...

, into prostitution and began traveling with the

Allman Brothers Band Allman may refer to: Music *The Allman Brothers Band, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame southern rock band, formed by Duane and Gregg Allman *The Allman Joys, an early band formed by Duane and Gregg Allman *The Gregg Allman Band People *Allman (surnam ...

The Marshall Tucker Band The Marshall Tucker Band is an American rock band from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Noted for incorporating blues, country, and jazz into an eclectic sound, the Marshall Tucker Band helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. W ...

, and the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, jus ...

. At 16, she was briefly married to a handy man named Stephen Griffith. When she was in her early 20s, she began hanging out with bikers and met a woman named Shawn Dean and her husband Jerry Lynn Dean. The couple introduced her in 1981 to a man named Daniel Ryan Garrett (Danny Garrett). Then 21 years old, Tucker started dating 35-year-old Garrett.

Murders

After spending the weekend using drugs with Garrett and their friends, Tucker and Garrett entered Jerry Dean's apartment in Houston, Texas around 3 a.m. on Monday, June 13, 1983, intending to steal a motorcycle that Dean was restoring there. James Liebrandt, a friend, went with them to Dean's apartment complex. Liebrandt reported that he went looking for Dean's El Camino while Tucker and Garrett entered the apartment with a set of keys that Tucker claimed Shawn Dean had lost and Tucker had found. During the burglary, Tucker and Garrett entered Dean's bedroom, where Tucker sat on him. In an effort to protect himself, Dean grabbed Tucker above the elbows, whereupon Garrett intervened. Garrett struck Dean numerous times in the back of the head with a

ball-peen hammer A ball-peen or ball pein hammer, also known as a machinist's hammer, is a type of peening hammer used in metalworking. It has two heads, one flat and the other, called the peen, rounded. It is distinguished from a cross-peen hammer, diagonal-peen ...

that he found on the floor. After hitting Dean, Garrett left the room to carry motorcycle parts out of the apartment. Tucker remained in the bedroom. The blows Garrett had dealt Dean caused him to begin making a "gurgling" sound. Tucker wanted to "stop him from making that noise" and she then picked up a three-foot

pickaxe A pickaxe, pick-axe, or pick is a generally T-shaped hand tool used for prying. Its head is typically metal, attached perpendicularly to a longer handle, traditionally made of wood, occasionally metal, and increasingly fiberglass. A stand ...

that was lying against the wall and began hitting Dean. Garrett then re-entered the room and dealt Dean a final blow in the chest. Garrett left the bedroom again to continue loading Dean's motorcycle parts into his

Ford Ranchero The Ford Ranchero is a coupe utility that was produced by Ford between 1957 and 1979. Unlike a standard pickup truck, the Ranchero was adapted from a two-door station wagon platform that integrated the cab and cargo bed into the body. A total o ...

. Tucker was once again left in the room and only then noticed a woman who had hidden under the bed covers against the wall. The woman, Deborah Ruth Thornton, had argued with her husband the day before, went to a party and ended up spending the night in Dean's bed. Upon discovering Thornton, Tucker grazed her shoulder with the pickaxe. Thornton and Tucker began to struggle, but Garrett returned and separated them. Tucker proceeded to hit Thornton repeatedly with the

and then embedded the axe in her heart. Tucker would later tell people and testify that she experienced multiple intense orgasms with each blow of the pickaxe. The next morning, one of Dean's co-workers who had been waiting for a ride entered the apartment and discovered the victims' bodies. Police investigation led to the arrests of Tucker and Garrett, five weeks after the killings.

Trial

In September 1983, Tucker and Garrett were

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of ...

for murder and tried separately for the crimes. Tucker was charged with the murders of both Dean and Thornton, but after she testified against Garrett at his trial, the charge for the murder of Thornton was dropped. Garrett was not charged with Thornton's death, either. Tucker entered a plea of not guilty and was jailed awaiting trial. Soon after being imprisoned, Tucker took a Bible from the prison ministry program and read it in her cell. She later recalled, "I didn't know what I was reading. Before I knew it, I was in the middle of my cell floor on my knees. I was just asking God to forgive me." Tucker became a Christian in October 1983. She later married by proxy her prison minister, Reverend Dana Lane Brown, in 1995 and held her Christian wedding ceremony inside the prison.

Conviction

Though the death penalty was hardly ever sought for female killers, Tucker, along with Garrett, was sentenced to death in late 1984. Garrett died of

liver disease Liver disease, or hepatic disease, is any of many diseases of the liver. If long-lasting it is termed chronic liver disease. Although the diseases differ in detail, liver diseases often have features in common. Signs and symptoms Some of the si ...

in 1993 while awaiting execution. Tucker shared her death row cell at the

Mountain View Unit Mountain View Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison housing female offenders in Gatesville, Texas. The unit, with about of land, is located north of central Gatesville on Farm to Market Road 215. The prison is located in a 45 ...

with Pam Perillo, whose own sentence was eventually commuted. Between 1984 and 1992, requests for a

retrial A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. A new trial may potentially be ordered for some or all of the matters at issue in the original trial. Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the decision of the court that ordered ...

and appeals were denied, but on June 22, Tucker requested that her life be spared on the basis that she was under the influence of drugs at the time of the murders. Tucker said that she was now a reformed person, and if she had not taken the drugs the murders would never have been committed. Her plea drew support from abroad and also from some leaders of American conservatism. Among those who appealed to the State of Texas on her behalf were Bacre Waly Ndiaye, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

commissioner on summary and arbitrary executions; the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

;

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

;

Italian Prime Minister The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...

; the

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U ...

Newt Gingrich;

televangelist Televangelism ( tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning " ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are ministers, whether official or self-pr ...

Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is an American media mogul, religious broadcaster, political commentator, former presidential candidate, and former Southern Baptist minister. Robertson advocates a conservative Christian ...

; and Ronald Carlson, the brother of Tucker's murder victim Debbie Thornton. The warden of Texas's Huntsville prison testified that she was a model prisoner and that, after 14 years on death row, she likely had been reformed.American Justice – Dead Woman Walking: The Karla Faye Tucker Story The board rejected her appeal on January 28, 1998. Hours before the execution,

Texas Governor The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

refused the final 11th-hour appeal to block her execution.

Execution

While on death row, Tucker was incarcerated in the

Gatesville, Texas Gatesville is a city in and the county seat of Coryell County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,135 at the 2020 census. The city has five of the nine prisons and state jails for women operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. ...

. She became

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

(TDCJ) Death Row Inmate #777. HuntsvilleUnitHuntsvilleTX

On February 2, 1998, state authorities took Tucker from the unit in Gatesville and flew her on a TDCJ aircraft, transporting her to the

Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Ins ...

. For her

last meal A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be. Contemporary restrictions in the United States In the United States, most states gi ...

, Tucker requested a banana, a peach, and a garden salad with ranch dressing. She selected four people to watch her die, who included her sister Kari Weeks, her spouse Dana Brown, her close friend Jackie Oncken, and Ronald Carlson. At one time, Carlson had supported the execution, but after a religious conversion he decided that he was now opposed to all executions. The witnesses for the murder victims included Thornton's husband Richard, Thornton's only child William Joseph Davis, and Thornton's stepdaughter Katie. Tucker's execution was also witnessed by members of the

, Warden Baggett, and various representatives of the media. Her last words were: She was executed by lethal injection on February 3, 1998. As the deadly chemicals were being administered, she praised Jesus Christ, licked her lips, looked at the ceiling, and hummed. She was pronounced dead at 6:45 p.m. C.S.T., eight minutes after receiving the injection. She was buried at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston. Tucker was the first woman executed in the State of Texas in 135 years, when

was executed by hanging in 1863 during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, and the second woman executed in the United States since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976.

Aftermath

In the year following her execution, conservative commentator

Tucker Carlson Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television host, conservative political commentator and writer who has hosted the nightly political talk show '' Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News since 2016. Carlson began ...

questioned Governor Bush about how the

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) is a state agency that makes parole and clemency decisions for inmates in Texas prisons. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The BPP was created by constitutional amendment in 1935. It determines wh ...

had arrived at the determination on her

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

plea. Carlson alleged that Bush, alluding to a televised interview which Karla Faye Tucker had given to talk show host

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys, an Emmy and 10 Cable ACE Awards. Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. ...

, smirked and spoke mockingly about her. A full-length movie was released in 2004 about the life of Tucker entitled ''Forevermore'' starring actress Karen Jezek. The captain of the "Death House Team," Fred Allen, was interviewed by

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with u ...

for the 2011 documentary '' Into the Abyss''. Within days after Tucker's execution, one of over 120 he managed, he suffered an emotional breakdown. He resigned his job, giving up his pension, and changed his position on the death penalty. "I was pro capital punishment. After Karla Faye and after all this, until this day, eleven years later, no sir. Nobody has the right to take another life. I don't care if it's the law. And it's so easy to change the law."

Depictions

Music

* The Tomorrowpeople (1999). "America's Deathrow Sweetheart" (Gibson/Powerchurch) on the album '' Marijuana Beach'' livia Records* Indigo Girls (1999). "Faye Tucker" (

Amy Ray Amy Elizabeth Ray (born April 12, 1964) is an American alto singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls. She also pursues a solo career and has released six albums under her own name, and founded a record company, Daem ...

) on the album '' Come On Now Social'' pic Records*

Richard Dobson Richard James Joseph Dobson II (March 19, 1942 – December 16, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter and author. Dobson was part of the outlaw country movement and spent time in the 1970s with Townes Van Zandt, Mickey White, Rex "Wrecks" B ...

(1999). "Ballad of Chipita and Karla Faye" (Richard Dobson) on the album ''Global Village Garage'' &T Musikproduktion*

Mary Gauthier Mary Veronica Gauthier ( ; born March 11, 1962) is a Grammy-nominated American folk singer-songwriter and author, whose songs have been covered by performers including Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Kathy Mattea, Boy George and Jimmy Buffett. She ...

(2001). "Karla Faye" (Mary Gauthier/Crit Harmon) on the album ''Drag Queens in Limousines'' unich Records BV*

David Knopfler David Knopfler (born 27 December 1952) is a British singer-songwriter. He was born in Scotland and raised in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, from the age of two. Together with his older brother Mark Knopfler, John Illsley, and Pick Withers, he fo ...

(2002). "Karla Faye" (David Knopfler) on the album ''Wishbones'' aris Records/Edel GmbH/Koch Entertainment

Theatrical plays, films, and television

* ''A Question of Mercy: The Karla Faye Tucker Story'' (1998), TV documentary directed by Rob Feldman. * ''Dead Woman Walking: The Karla Faye Tucker Story'' (1999), American Justice TV episode

Bill Kurtis Bill Kurtis (born William Horton Kuretich; September 21, 1940), is an American television journalist, television producer, narrator, and news anchor. Kurtis was studying to become a lawyer in the 1960s, when he was asked to fill in on a tempora ...

/Towers Productions * ''

Crossed Over ''Crossed Over'' is a 2002 Canadian television film directed by Bobby Roth, and starring Diane Keaton as Beverly Lowry and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Karla Faye Tucker. It is based on Lowry's memoir ''Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir''. Cast *Dian ...

'' (2002), film starring

Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough as Stacy Hamilton in '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). Sh ...

and

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...

. * ''Karla Faye Tucker: Forevermore'' (2004), film directed by Helen Gibso
full video online
* ''The Power of Forgiveness: The Story of Karla Faye Tucker'' (2000) A documentary on forgiveness. * ''Karla'', an off Broadway play about the death of Tucker was written and produced by Steve Earle. * Karla Faye's story was part of the Deadly Women Season 4 episode "An Eye For An Eye."

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, T. (1999). Devil May Care, ''Talk'' Magazine, September 1999, p. 106. * Clark, T. (2000). ''Texas procedures on death penalty reprieves.'' CNN Law Center. June 22, 2000. * King, L. (1998). ''Karla Faye Tucker: Live from Death Row.'' CNN Transcript # 98011400V22. * Strom, L. (2000). ''Karla Faye Tucker set free: life and faith on death row.'' New York, NY.

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

: Shaw Books. * Lowry, Beverly (2002). ''Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir.''

Vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

External links

Crime Library
�� Karla Faye Tucker: Texas' Controversial Murderess
"Death in Texas"
by Sister

Helen Prejean Helen Prejean ( ; born April 21, 1939) is a Catholic religious sister and a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. She is known for her best-selling book, '' Dead Man Walking'' (1993), based on her experiences with t ...

Commentary
by

Florence King Florence Virginia King (January 5, 1936 – January 6, 2016) was an American novelist, essayist and columnist. While her early writings focused on the American South and those who live there, much of King's later work was published in ''Nati ...

in ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...

'' *
Karla Faye's Original Memorial Home Page
LifeWay Church© 1990

by victim Debbie Thornton's husband Richard A Thornton
Bill Kurtis' "American Justice" Television Documentary

NEW VOICES: Victim's brother says execution left him with "horror and emptiness"
.

Death Penalty Information Center The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on disseminating studies and reports related to the death penalty. Founded in 1990, DPIC is primarily focused on the application of ...

(only mention of the name of Ron Carlson, brother of Deborah Carlson). Link contains dead link. Retrieved on October 25, 2011.
Journey of Hope: Ron Carlson …From Violence to Healing
– Article and facts about Ron Carlson, retrieved October 29, 2012

Article on the life and death of Karla Faye Tucker

article on the life and death of Karla Faye Tucker {{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Karla Faye 1959 births 1998 deaths 1983 murders in the United States 20th-century executions by Texas 20th-century executions of American people American Christians American female criminals American female murderers American murderers American people convicted of murder Axe murder Executed American women Executed people from Texas People convicted of murder by Texas People executed by Texas by lethal injection People executed for murder People from Houston Stabbing attacks in the United States Women sentenced to death 20th-century American criminals 20th-century American women