A Texas inmate is facing a scheduled death row Tuesday evening for fatally stabbing his estranged wife and drowning their 6-year-old daughter in a bathtub nearly 14 years ago.
Gary Green, 51, prepares to receive a lethal injection to kill Lovetta Armstead, 32, and her daughter, Jazmen Montgomery, in their Dallas home in September 2009.
The girl’s father, Ray Montgomery, said he was not cheering for Greene’s execution but saw it as a measure of justice.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP
“This is justice for the way my daughter was abused,” Montgomery said.
As of late Monday, Greene’s attorneys had not filed an appeal to stop his execution, which was scheduled for Tuesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas.
In earlier appeals, Green’s attorneys contended that he was intellectually disabled and had a lifelong history of mental illness.
Green’s attorneys wrote in 2018, “These weaknesses likely rendered (Green) incapable of creating the requisite intent to kill capital.”
Those appeals were rejected by the US Supreme Court and lower appeals courts.
The Supreme Court has banned the death penalty for the mentally retarded, but not for the severely mentally ill.
Authorities said Green killed the two after Armstead tried to annul their marriage.
On the day of the murder, Armstead wrote two letters to Green telling her that although she loved him, she had to “do what’s best for me.”
In his own letter, which was angry and confused, Green expressed his belief that Armstead and his children were involved in a plot against him.
“You asked to see the monster so here he is the monster you made me. … They’ll take 5 lives today I’m the 5th,” Green wrote.
Armstead was stabbed more than two dozen times while Greene dunked the judges in the bathtub at the home.
Authorities said Green also planned to kill Armstead’s other two children, then 9 and 12. Green stabbed the younger boy but both survived.
“Told Green because we’re too young to die and we’re not going to tell anyone about it,” the 9-year-old told witnesses about how he convinced Green to save their lives.
Josh Healy, a prosecutor with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office that prosecuted Greene, said the boys were incredibly brave.
Green “was an evil guy. It was one of the worst cases I’ve ever been a part of,” said Healy, now a defense attorney in Dallas.
Montgomery said he still has a close relationship with Armstead’s two sons. He said both lead productive lives and one has a daughter who looks like Jazman.
“I think they’re still suffering a lot,” said Montgomery, who is a special education English teacher.
Montgomery, a deacon at his church in Dallas, said he continues to live his life as if his daughter is still here, including throwing her a party every birthday. He also threw a high school graduation party for her, including a parade to her gravesite and a backyard barbecue with the family.
“It was my way of dealing with it, to remember that he’s still here. I prayed over his grave one day and I told him I’ll never let his name die,” Montgomery said.
Greene’s execution is one of two scheduled in Texas this week. Another inmate, Arthur Brown Jr., will be executed Thursday.
Greene will be the fourth incarcerated in Texas this year and the eighth in the United States.
Green is one of six Texas death row inmates who are part of a lawsuit to stop the state’s prison system from using expired and unsafe execution drugs. Three inmates have been executed this year, despite an Austin civil court judge initially agreeing to the demand.