Frances Elaine Newton ( McLemore; April 12, 1965 – September 14, 2005) was

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

by lethal injection in the state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

for the April 7, 1987, murder of her husband, Adrian, 23, her son, Alton, 7, and daughter, Farrah, 21 months.

Forgery conviction

In December 1985, Newton was sentenced to three years of probation for forgery.

Details of killings

All three victims were shot with a .25 caliber pistol which belonged to a man that Newton had been seeing at the time. Newton claimed that a drug dealer killed the three. The Houston police presented evidence that Newton's husband was a drug dealer and was in debt to his supplier. Newton maintained her innocence from her first interrogation in 1987 until her execution in 2005. Three weeks before the slayings, Newton had purchased life insurance policies on her husband, her daughter, and herself. These were each worth $50,000. She named herself as beneficiary on her husband's and daughter's policies. Newton claimed she forged her husband's signature to prevent him from discovering that money had been set aside to pay the premiums. Prosecutors cited these facts as the basis for her motive. Newton was also found to have placed a paper bag containing the murder weapon in a relative's home shortly after the murders. On October 25, 1988, Newton was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death; she spent nearly 17 years on death row before finally being executed by lethal injection on September 14, 2005.

Death row

Two hours before her first scheduled execution on December 1, 2004,

Texas Governor The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...

Rick Perry granted a 120-day reprieve to allow more time to test forensic evidence in the case. There were also conflicting reports as to whether a second gun was recovered from the scene; ballistics reports appeared to demonstrate that a gun recovered by law enforcement and allegedly connected to Newton after the offense was the murder weapon. A relative of Newton who was incarcerated shortly after the murders claimed a person he shared a cell with boasted of killing the family. Numerous individuals, including three members of the convicting jury, expressed concern over evidence that was not presented during the trial. On August 24, 2005, the

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin, is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight judges. Article V of ...

turned down a motion for a stay of execution. It turned down another appeal on September 9 for

writ of habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

. It was her fourth application. The

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) is a state agency that makes parole and clemency decisions for inmates in Texas prisons. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The BPP was created by constitutional amendment in 1935. It determines wh ...

voted 7–0 on September 12 not to recommend that her sentence be commuted to life imprisonment, despite evidence raising doubt about her guilt and a letter from her husband's parents asking that her life be spared. The same day the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

refused an appeal of her sentence. Her new attorney, David Dow, asked Governor Perry for a 30-day stay to prove that Newton was wrongly linked to the murder weapon. The Supreme Court of the United States declined without dissent two appeals on September 13.

Execution

The execution was carried out as scheduled on September 14, 2005, by lethal injection. Newton spent a little more than years on death row before her execution, and was the third woman executed in Texas since the resumption of capital punishment in the state in 1982. The first and second were Karla Faye Tucker and

Betty Lou Beets Betty Lou Beets (March 12, 1937 – February 24, 2000) was a murderer executed in the U.S. state of Texas. She was convicted of shooting her fifth husband, Jimmy Don Beets, on August 6, 1983. Early life Born Betty Lou Dunevant to Margaret Louis ...

. Like Beets before her, Newton made no final statement and did not have a

last meal A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be. Contemporary restrictions in the United States In the United States, most states gi ...

request. Newton's story was featured in the '' Fatal Attraction'' episode, "A Lethal Love". It is the seventeenth episode of the program's third season. It has also been featured on ''

Deadly Women ''Deadly Women'' is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network. The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted by forme ...

''. Newton also appeared as herself in the 2006 television documentary "Women on Death Row", where her guilt is put into question and her innocence was discussed before she was executed.

General references

* *
Report
from National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Report
from

Texas Moratorium Network Texas Moratorium Network (TMN) is a grassroots non-profit organization with the primary goal of mobilizing statewide support for a moratorium on executions in Texas. It has about 20,000 members, about 85 percent of whom reside in Texas. History ...

Last Statement
''

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

''. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
Frances Elaine Newton
''The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney''. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.

References