Texas Execution: Gary Greene faces execution for death of estranged wife and daughter

A Texas inmate faces a scheduled execution Tuesday night for stabbing his estranged wife and drowning his 6-year-old daughter in a bathtub nearly 14 years ago.

Gary Greene, 51, will receive a lethal injection following the September 2009 deaths of Lovetta Armstead, 32, and her daughter, Jazzmen Montgomery, at her home in Dallas.

The girl’s father, Ray Montgomery, does not support Greene’s execution, but believes the justice system is working.

“Justice for the way my daughter was tortured. Justice for the way Lovetta was murdered,” Montgomery said.

As of late Monday, Greene’s attorneys have not filed an appeal seeking to stay his execution, which was scheduled for Tuesday night at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas.

On an earlier appeal, Green’s attorneys argued that he had an intellectual disability and had a lifelong history of mental disorders.

Green’s attorney said in 2018, “These obstacles likely prevented[Green]from forming the intent necessary to commit murder.

These appeals have been dismissed by the United States Supreme Court and lower courts of appeals.

The High Court has banned the death penalty for persons with intellectual disabilities, but not for persons with severe mental illness.

Authorities said Green killed the two after Armstead tried to annul the marriage.

On the day of the murder, Armstead wrote two letters to Greene telling him that although he loved Greene, he “must do what is best for me.”

In his own letter, which was angry and rambling, Green expressed his belief that Armstead and her children were involved in a plot against him.

“Because you asked to see a monster, he is the monster you made me….they will take the lives of five people today I am the fifth,” Greene wrote.

Armstead was stabbed over 20 times while Green drowned Jazzman in the home’s bathtub.

Authorities say Green also intended to kill Armstead’s two other children, then aged 9 and 12.

“We talked[to Greene]because we were too young to die and we weren’t going to talk about it to anyone,” the 9-year-old said in testimony about how he persuaded Greene to save his life. rice field.

Josh Healy, one of the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office prosecutors who convicted Greene, said the boys were incredibly brave.

Green “was a bad guy. It was one of the worst cases I’ve ever been involved in,” said Healy, now an attorney in Dallas.

Montgomery said he still has a close relationship with Armstead’s two sons. I was.

“I think they’re still in a lot of pain,” said Montgomery, a special education English teacher.

Montgomery, a deacon at his church in Dallas, said he continues to live his life, including throwing parties every birthday so his daughter is still here. I threw a high school graduation party for her, including a parade and a backyard barbecue with her family.

“That was my way of coping, to make her feel like she was still here. One day I prayed in front of her grave and told her I would never let her name die.” said Montgomery.

Greene’s execution is the first of two scheduled in Texas this week. Another inmate, Arthur Brown Jr., is scheduled to be executed Thursday.

Greene will be the fourth prisoner to be executed in Texas and the eighth in the United States this year.

Green is one of six death row inmates in Texas participating in a lawsuit that seeks to stop the state’s prison system from using what it claims is an expired and unsafe execution drug. Three of the prisoners were executed this year, despite civil court judges preliminarily agreeing with this argument.