Published: May 04, 2006 11:56 pm      

Irving man executed for rape, murder of 5-year-old girl

Not only did convicted murder Jackie Barron Wilson not acknowledge killing 5-year-old Lottie Margaret “Maggie” Rhodes, he proclaimed his innocence in his final words.

Looking at his family and friends witnessing his execution, Wilson told them to take care of themselves.

“Thank you for being there for me and all these people here will find the one who did this damn crime,” he said. “I am going home to be with God.”

After the lethal dose began, he looked at one point at his family and laughed, a short time later, he sputtered and died. He was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m., eight minutes after the drugs began to flow.

Wilson, 39, was condemned the rape and murder of 5-year-old Rhodes. After breaking into her bedroom, he kidnapped her from her home in Arlington in the early morning hours of Nov. 30, 1988, then sexually assaulted the little girl before killing her.

Authorities said Wilson, who lived in nearby Irving, strangled Maggie before running over her with a car.

Being allowed to say good-bye to his family was more than he deserved, according to Toni Godbee Latham, mother of the victim. Latham witnessed the execution and gave a press conference afterward.

“He was able to go to sleep,” she said, her voice cracking as she fought back tears. “I didn’t see him suffer any pain or anything remotely (close) to what my daughter went through.

“He took that right away from her,” she said. “I am thankful that justice was finally carried out the way it should be. Her death has not gone unpunished.”

Rhodes’ battered body was found about five miles from her home a few hours after she was kidnapped. She was face down in a muddy ditch next to a rural road in Grand Prairie.

Wilson has said he knew Rhodes but denied he kidnapped or killed her.

Next on the execution schedule is Derrick O’Brien, one of five gang members condemned for the rape-slayings of two Houston teenage girls in 1993. He is set to be executed May 16.

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.