Texas executes death row inmate after COVID-related reprieve

The US state of Texas has executed a man for 2009 murders of his family members. He was the first to get a stay of execution due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

John Hummel, 45, received a lethal injection at the Huntsville penitentiary in the southern state on Wednesday and was pronounced dead 13 minutes after he was injected.

Hummel was sentenced to death in 2011 over the killing of his pregnant wife, his 5-year-old daughter and his father-in-law before setting fire to their home in Fort Worth, Texas.

After he was arrested at the California-Mexico border, he confessed to the slaying of his wife before beating the other two victims, records show.

According to prosecutors, he wanted to start a new life with another woman.

Hummel was originally scheduled to be executed on March 17, 2020, but an appeals court pushed back the deadline "in light of the current health crisis."

Reports said the Texas court also pointed out that an execution requires "enormous resources," including mandating that dozens of prison guards, lawyers, witnesses, and members of his family and the victims' to be present, increasing the risk of spreading COVID-19.

As a result of the pandemic, executions were suspended for months throughout the United States.

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas sought to stop Hummel's execution because prison officials failed to invite reporters to witness a May execution, as has been customary for decades.

Texas reopened its execution chamber on May 19 to execute Quintin Jones, a 41-year-old man sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of his great-aunt.

Last July, Texas also executed Billy Joe Wardlow for a 1993 East Texas robbery and murder. That’s an exceptionally low number for Texas, which leads the United States by far in executions.

US media reports said the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has said excluding the onsite reporters in May was a mistake, and has assured that media will be allowed in the future to observe as the state wields its greatest power over life.

Since the start of the year, with the exception of Texas, the US federal government has carried out executions -- three, just before former president Donald Trump left office.

Four other men are scheduled to be executed in Texas in 2021.

SS