By Kristin Edwards
Staff Reporter
August 12, 2008 11:43 pm
—
Leon David Dorsey, who was convicted of the April 4, 1994, shooting deaths of a 26-year-old male and a 20-year-old male at a Dallas Blockbuster video was executed Tuesday.
Dorsey was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Walls Unit.
Dorsey is the seventh death row inmate to be executed in Texas this year since the lethal injection has been reinstated.
According to Michelle Lyons, TDCJ public information officer, Dorsey had recently made threats to harm a correctional officer prior to his execution, but fortunately did not follow through with his threats.
“Leon Dorsey was executed Tuesday without putting up a fight,” she said. “He did not have to be forcibly taken into the execution chamber, and the entire execution was carried out without incident.”
During his very brief last statement, Dorsey did not acknowledge Gerald and Nanci Armstrong or Joan Coleman, the parents of Dorsey’s two victims in the Blockbuster shootings, James Armstrong and Brad Lindsey.
His only words before his last statement – “Hey, sis,” – were directed to his sister, Tameka Finklea.
“I love all y’all, I forgive all y’all, and I’ll see y’all when you get there,” he said. “Do what you’re gonna do.”
While Joan Coleman did not make a formal statement following the execution, Gerald and Nancy Armstrong released a letter to the media which addressed their feelings about Dorsey’s execution.
“Losing James has been and always will be painful; it doesn’t get any easier, but we’ve gotten stronger,” the letter read. “Viewing Dorsey’s execution will not bring any happiness, but we’ve lived to see justice for James 14 years later and today we pray for Dorsey’s father.”
In a segment of the letter which appears to have been written by Nanci Armstrong, more detail is offered regarding her feelings about Dorsey.
“While Gerald has said it was different for him, I have struggled with forgiving Dorsey for killing our son,” she said. “Perhaps Dorsey is as evil as Charles Manson and has no remorse, but I knew that I had to forgive him.
“I could do it in my head, but not in my heart.”
According to information released by the Texas Attorney General’s office, James Armstrong and Brad Lindsey were shot and killed at a Dallas Blockbuster, and the person who shot them also stole $392 from the business.
While Dorsey actually admitted committing the robbery and murders to his girlfriend and to an acquaintance, Dorsey was not immediately charged with the crime.
Dorsey confessed to the 1994 murders in 1998, when new evidence led police to re-question him.
Five months after committing the Blockbuster killings, but before he had been charged with them, Dorsey killed a convenience store clerk during a robbery in Ennis, Texas.
Dorsey pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
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