LeJames Norman, 40, has been executed in Texas for the 2005 triple murder of three people during an attempted robbery at a home in Edna, south-west of Houston.
Norman was put to death by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville on Wednesday, September 16. He was the fifth person executed by Texas this year.
The US Supreme Court rejected a last-minute application from Norman’s lawyers to halt the execution on the same day.
Norman was sentenced to death for the fatal shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38. The victims were inside a home they shared in the rural Jackson County community, about 100 miles from Houston.
According to court records, Norman and his co-defendant, Ker’Sean Ramey, entered the property believing cocaine was being kept there. When they failed to find drugs, the men killed the three occupants, prosecutors said.
Norman fled on foot and was arrested about five months later while attempting to cross back into the United States from Mexico. He pleaded guilty to capital murder, leaving a jury to determine his punishment.
Ramey was also convicted and sentenced to death. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists his execution for September 23.
State records say Norman was 19 at the time of the killings, which took place on August 24, 2005.
