Garcia Glenn White, an inmate on death row, was executed Tuesday night for the brutal stabbing deaths of 16-year-old twin sisters Annette and Bernette Edwards, alongside their mother, Bonita Edwards.
White, 61, was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m. CDT after receiving a lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville.
Before White was executed, he sang verses from a hymn, “I Trust in God.”
White also apologized for the Edwards’ killings, saying, “I regret, I apologize, and I pray that you can find peace, comfort and closure in your heart for the wrong I have done and the pain I have caused you, and anybody else I’ve caused pain to. I just want to apologize; I take responsibility for it,” reported Newsweek.
The triple murders took place on a cold December 1989 night when White entered the Edwards’ home under the false pretense of socializing with Bonita. Prison records show that when the Edwards’ twin sisters emerged from their bedroom after hearing a loud disturbance, White violently attacked them, sexually assaulting one of the sisters, Bernette, after breaking down a locked door. None of the women survived White’s violent attack.
For years, the case of the Edwards family murders remained unsolved until White’s confession in 1995, following his arrest for the murder of grocery store owner Hai Van Pham. The chilling details of his confession revealed a long pattern of violence in White’s history, as he was later implicated in several additional murders around Texas as well.
White’s execution marks the sixth in the United States in just over a week, following a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to decline intervention in his case without comment. White’s appeals focused on claims of intellectual disability and procedural errors during his trial. Defense attorneys argued that the Texas appeals court had consistently rejected evidence that could have mitigated his sentence, including DNA findings suggesting another person may have been present at the crime scene, according to a report from Fox 4.
White’s legal team maintained that he was experiencing a cocaine-induced psychotic episode during the killing spree. Despite these claims, the courts did not find sufficient grounds to halt or postpone the man’s execution, rejecting arguments that White should be classified as intellectually disabled, a designation that would bar execution under Supreme Court precedent established in 2002.
In a statement from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, officials reiterated that White failed to provide convincing evidence for his claims of intellectual disability and that the previous courts had ruled sufficiently on the use of his evidence regarding another potential suspect involved in the murders.
White’s execution marks the fifth by the state of Texas this year.
Travis James Mullis, a 38-year-old man found guilty of the stomping murder of his three-month-old son, was executed by lethal injection on the evening of September 24, also at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. He was declared dead at 7:01 p.m. CDT, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas currently has three more upcoming executions scheduled. The next is scheduled for October 17, when Robert Roberson III will be executed for his involvement in the death of his 2-year-old daughter that occurred in January 2002.
Roberson III has continuously claimed his innocence, with his argument leaning heavily on the lack of validity in the “shaken baby syndrome” evidence used against him in court.
His case has drawn attention from organizations such as the Innocence Project, a nonprofit that works at “restoring freedom” to innocent inmates who are wrongfully convicted for their crimes.
“Texas set Robert Roberson’s execution for Oct. 17, despite new evidence that he is an innocent man wrongly convicted under the now-debunked shaken baby syndrome (SBS) hypothesis. Mr. Roberson would be the first person in the U.S. executed based on the discredited SBS hypothesis unless the courts or Gov. Abbott intervenes,” The Innocence Project claimed in a recent report arguing for Roberson III’s case.
