Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: James Emery "Skip" Paster - Texas Execution - September 20, 1989

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217

    James Emery "Skip" Paster - Texas Execution - September 20, 1989




    Summary of Offense: Convicted for the October 25, 1980 contract killing of Robert Edward Howard.

    Victim: Robert Howard

    Time of Death: 12:17 a.m.

    Manner of execution: Lethal Injection

    Last Meal: Declined last meal

    Final Statement: "I hope Mrs. Howard can find peace in this."

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Elvis impersonator Paster executed for Houston contract killing

    HUNTSVILLE - A former rock musician, who thought he was another Charles Manson and said the death penalty was appropriate in cases like his, was executed today, the third execution in Texas this year.

    James Emery Paster, 44, was pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m., seven minutes after the lethal solution started flowing.

    He was executed for the Oct. 25, 1980, contract killing of Robert Edward Howard, 38, of Houston, a Brown & Root Inc. machinist gunned down as he left a Gulf Freeway club.

    "I hope Mrs. Howard can find pleasure in this," Paster said shortly before his death. It was not clear whether he was referring to the victim's mother or his ex-wife, who had paid for his killing.

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Tuesday morning rejected Paster's plea for a third postponement of his execution, and Texas Resource Center attorneys decided not to appeal further.

    Characterized as "Satan personified" in prison records, Paster also was serving life terms for the rape-murder of two Houston-area women and was linked to two slayings elsewhere.

    A multiple recidivist who served time in California and Alabama on a variety of charges, Paster's first confinement was at 16 in the Los Angeles area, where he raped his mother and 23-year-old sister.

    He said he killed Howard for the $1,000 the victim's ex-wife offered. He wanted the money to buy woofers to use with his guitar.

    Dorothy M. Howard, the victim's 74-year-old mother who still lives in South Houston, had said late Tuesday, "He (Paster) doesn't deserve to be on this earth. He's getting his just due. It's good riddance for this universe. I don't know if God agrees, though."

    Prison officials said Paster was calm throughout his last day. Prior to being notified about 10:30 a.m. that his execution would be carried out, he talked with fellow condemned prisoners Noble Mays and Johnny Paul Penry.

    Mays, 36, and Paster attempted to escape from death row earlier this year by greasing themselves with hair tonic and trying to slip through ventilating ducts.

    Paster was taken to the holding cell outside the death chamber at the Huntsville "Walls Unit" about 4 p.m. After ordering a final meal of T-bone steak, salad, French fries and watermelon, Paster watched television, prison spokesman Charles Brown said.

    Paster was given life sentences for his part in the December 1980 rape-murder of Cynthia Darlene Johnson, 18, of Conroe, who had a nail driven up her nose by Paster to ensure her death, and the November 1980 rape-slaying of Diane Trevino Oliver, 27, of Channelview.

    One co-defendant in those murders, Stephen McCoy, was executed in May, while the other, Gary LeBlanc, is serving 35 years, a plea bargain for his testimony.

    Johnson and Oliver were killed because McCoy and LeBlanc had seen Paster murder Howard, and he wanted to ensure their loyalty by watching them murder someone, authorities said.

    "He is absolutely the worst kind of man, because you can't see him coming," said R.K. Hansen, who prosecuted Paster in 1983. He said Paster had an engaging personality and was extremely talented - traits that masked his dangerousness: "He thought he was Charles Manson."

    Describing him as "a sick, sick individual who had no respect for humanity," Hansen said Paster's lack of remorse was evident.

    When authorities asked what Johnson was wearing when she was abducted, Paster responded, "Man, she was just some girl that was going to die, and you want me to remember what she was wearing?"

    In a death row interview, Paster said, "Had I ever known this individual (Howard), had a drink or beer with him, I wouldn't have done it. It made it easier, like hitting someone on the highway. I never got out of the car.

    According to court testimony, Howard's wife, Trudy, hired Paster and brothers Gary and Eddie LeBlanc so she could collect on her husband's insurance. Two months after the murder, Trudy Howard, a former truck driver, married Eddie LeBlanc.

    The case went unsolved for nearly three years until Gary LeBlanc, wired with recording devices, got Trudy LeBlanc to discuss the matter. She and Eddie LeBlanc are serving life sentences for their part in Howard's death.

    But Howard's mother insists, "Trudy did not have any knowledge, much less any part in it."

    She blamed Eddie LeBlanc and said he threatened to harm Trudy and the Howards' two sons if she told authorities the truth.

    http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/ar...id=1989_650944

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •