Convicted Killer Dies Screaming

Convicted killer dies screaming

High court denies 11th-hour appeal

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE -- Screaming profanity, convicted killer Monty Delk was executed Thursday night for the
murder of an East Texas man gunned down more than 15 years ago.

Delk, strapped to the Texas death chamber gurney, shouted gibberish and obscenities before the lethal
drugs knocked him unconscious.

"I am the warden," he shouted as Warden Neill Hodges asked him whether he had any final statement.
"Get your warden off this gurney and shut up," Delk said.

After spouting more profanity, Delk blurted out, "You are not in America. This is the island of Barbados.
People will see you doing this."

He stopped in mid-sentence as the drugs took effect. He became silent, his mouth and eyes both wide
open. Six minutes later, he was pronounced dead at 7:53 p.m.

His victim's widow nearly fainted while watching Delk die and had to be taken away in a wheelchair.

Delk's execution, the fifth this year in Texas, was delayed more than an hour while the U.S. Supreme
Court considered an 11th-hour appeal. It came about five hours after a federal appeals court agreed with
state attorneys and lifted a reprieve that would have blocked the execution.

Delk's lawyer, John Wright of Huntsville, contended Delk, who turned 35 Sunday, was too mentally ill to
assist in his own defense and was incompetent to be executed.

Delk was condemned for killing Gene Olan "Bubba" Allen II of Grapeland. Allen's body was found in a
remote area of Anderson County, about 140 miles north of Houston. He had been shot in the head with a
shotgun.

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