Frances Elaine Newton ( McLemore; April 12, 1965 – September 14, 2005) was an American convicted murderer who was

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

in the state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

for the April 7, 1987 murder of her husband, Adrian, age 23, her son, Alton, age 7, and her daughter, Farrah, 20 months. Frances Newton was just shy of her 22nd birthday when she committed the murders for which she was executed. She was 40 years of age. She was convicted on November 17, 1987, for killing her three family members "execution style", however Frances claimed not to be guilty even in her last moments alive. It is reported that Adrian and Frances had marital problems, and that Adrian struggled with substance abuse.

Forgery conviction

In December 1985, Newton was sentenced to three years of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

for

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

Details of killings

All three victims were shot with a .25

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge ( ...

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

which belonged to a man that Newton had been seeing at the time. Newton claimed that a drug dealer killed the three. The Houston police presented evidence that Newton's husband was a drug dealer and was in debt to his supplier. Newton maintained her innocence from her first interrogation in 1987 until her execution in 2005. Prosecutors revealed that Newton had purchased

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...

policies for her husband, her daughter and herself approximately one month before the triple homicide. The policies were valued at $50,000 each. Newton named herself as the beneficiary for her husband's and daughter's policies. She claimed that she forged her husband's signature in order to prevent him from discovering that she set aside money to pay the premiums. Prosecutors cited these facts as the basis for her motive. Newton was also found to have placed a paper bag containing the murder weapon in a relative's home shortly after the murders. On October 25, 1988, Newton was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death; she spent nearly 17 years on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting executio ...

before being executed by lethal injection on September 14, 2005.

Death row

Two hours before her first scheduled execution on December 1, 2004, Texas Governor

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...

granted a 120-day reprieve to allow more time to test forensic evidence in the case. There were also conflicting reports as to whether a second gun was recovered from the scene;

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets and the like; the science or art of designing and acceler ...

reports appeared to demonstrate that a gun recovered by law enforcement and allegedly connected to Newton after the offense was the murder weapon. A relative of Newton who was incarcerated shortly after the murders claimed a person he shared a cell with boasted of killing the family. Numerous individuals, including three members of the convicting jury, expressed concern over evidence that was not presented during the trial. On August 24, 2005, the

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin, is composed of a presiding judge and eight judges. Article V ...

turned down a motion for a

stay of execution A stay of execution ( Law Latin: ''cesset executio'', "let execution cease") is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is bei ...

. It turned down another appeal on September 9 for

writ of habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

. It was her fourth application. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 7–0 on September 12 not to recommend that her sentence be commuted to life imprisonment, despite evidence raising doubt about her guilt and a letter from her husband's parents asking that her life be spared. The same day the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...

refused an appeal of her sentence. Her new attorney, David Dow, asked Governor Perry for a 30-day stay to prove that Newton was wrongly linked to the murder weapon. The

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

declined without dissent two appeals on September 13.

Execution

The execution was carried out as scheduled on September 14, 2005, by lethal injection. Newton spent a little more than years on death row before her execution, and was the third woman executed in Texas since the resumption of capital punishment in the state in 1982. The first and second were Karla Faye Tucker and Betty Lou Beets. Like Beets before her, Newton made no final statement and did not have a

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 Contrary to the common belief t ...

request. Newton's story was featured in the ''

Fatal Attraction ''Fatal Attraction'' is a 1987 American psychological thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by James Dearden, based on his 1980 short film '' Diversion''. It follows Dan Gallagher ( Michael Douglas), an attorney who cheats on his ...

'' episode, "A Lethal Love". It is the seventeenth episode of the program's third season. It has also been featured on ''

Deadly Women ''Deadly Women'' is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) Television, network. The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted ...

''. Newton also appeared as herself in the 2006 television documentary "Women on Death Row", where her guilt is put into question and her innocence was discussed before she was executed.

General references

* *
Report
from National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Report
from Texas Moratorium Network
Last Statement
''

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 ...

''. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
Frances Elaine Newton
''The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney''. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.

References