Texas Murderer ‘Declines’ Final Words Before Execution

Texas has executed a man convicted of murdering three people during a failed 2005 robbery after he declined to give a final statement moments before receiving a lethal injection.

LeJames Norman, 40, was pronounced dead at 6:44 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

When the warden asked whether he wanted to make a final statement, Norman shook his head and said nothing.

His execution came more than 20 years after the killings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, at a home in Edna, Texas.

Norman had pleaded guilty to capital murder in the case.

According to court records, Norman and Ker’Sean Ramey went to the home on Aug. 25, 2005, believing they would find cocaine they could steal.

Instead, prosecutors said the robbery ended in gunfire.

All three people inside were fatally shot.

No cocaine was found. (apnews.com)

Investigators said Norman fled after the killings and remained at large for months.

He was arrested roughly five months later while attempting to return to the United States from Mexico.

Norman ultimately pleaded guilty to capital murder rather than contesting his guilt before a jury.

The plea meant jurors were tasked primarily with determining his punishment.

They chose the death penalty.

His attorneys spent years challenging that sentence through state and federal courts.

Among the issues raised in later appeals were arguments involving Norman’s mental health, his childhood and whether jurors had received a full picture of mitigating circumstances before sentencing.

Those arguments ultimately failed to overturn the death sentence.

Hours before Norman’s execution Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final request to stop it. (supremecourt.gov)

The denial cleared the way for Texas officials to proceed.

Norman’s sister, two of his children and a friend witnessed the execution from an adjacent room.

No relatives or friends of Roberts, Peacock or Lopez attended, according to the Associated Press.

Norman was strapped to a gurney and given a lethal dose of pentobarbital, the drug Texas uses for executions.

Witnesses said he took several deep breaths, appeared to yawn and made several snoring sounds before becoming still.

A physician later entered the chamber and pronounced him dead at 6:44 p.m. (apnews.com)

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice maintains a public record of executions carried out by the state.

Norman became the fifth person executed in Texas in 2026. (tdcj.texas.gov)

His case is not completely finished from a historical standpoint because another man convicted in the same murders remains on death row.

Ker’Sean Ramey was also convicted and sentenced to death for his role in the killings.

Ramey’s execution is currently scheduled for the following week, meaning Texas could carry out two executions stemming from the same triple murder within days of each other.

Court records describe the killings as part of a planned burglary targeting what the men believed was a stash of cocaine.

The intended drugs were never recovered because investigators found no cocaine at the residence.

The victims nevertheless lost their lives.

Norman’s execution also came during an unusually active period for capital punishment in the United States.

Another execution had been scheduled in Georgia for the same week.

Stacey Humphreys, who was convicted of killing two real estate agents, had been scheduled to die before a judge halted the execution after his attorneys cited a newly enacted Georgia law allowing some victims of childhood abuse to seek reconsideration of their sentences. (apnews.com)

Texas remains one of the states that carries out executions most frequently.

The state resumed executions in 1982 after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed revised death-penalty laws to take effect nationally.

Since then, Texas has executed hundreds of prisoners — more than any other state during the modern era of capital punishment. (tdcj.texas.gov)

Norman’s execution closed a legal process that stretched across two decades.

The murders happened in 2005.

Norman was captured months later, pleaded guilty, was sentenced to death and then spent years pursuing appeals through state and federal courts.

By Wednesday evening, those appeals had run out.

Asked whether he wanted to leave behind any final words before the execution began, Norman chose silence.