Texas’ oldest death row inmate executed by lethal injection

HOUSTON, Texas

The US state of Texas’ oldest death row inmate was executed Thursday night for killing a police officer during a traffic stop nearly 32 years ago.

Carl Wayne Buntion, 78, was administered a lethal injection at the State of Texas execution chamber in Huntsville, Texas, located 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Houston. He died at 6.39 p.m. local time (2339 GMT).

He had been on death row three decades for the June 1990 murder of 37-year-old James Irby, an 18-year veteran of the Houston Police Department.

“I wanted the Irby family to know one thing,” said Buntion in his last written statement. “I do have remorse for what I did.”

“I hope to see you in heaven some day, and when you show up, I will give you a big hug,” Buntion’s statement continued.

Officer Irby had pulled over a car Buntion was riding in, and as Irby spoke to the driver, Buntion exited the passenger side of the vehicle and fatally shot Irby once in the head and twice in the back.

“I wish James was here to see this,” said the victim’s widow, Maura Irby, in a television interview before the execution. “It is good to close the chapter on my husband’s murder. We can now put this away.”

Buntion was convicted of capital murder in 1991 and spent the past 30 years on death row filing numerous appeals which were all thrown out.

The latest appeal was rejected on April 15.

“Mr. Buntion is a frail, elderly man who requires (specialized) care to perform basic functions,” argued his attorneys. “He is not a threat to anyone in prison and…(is) no longer capable of being dangerous.”

The wheelchair-bound Buntion was reportedly suffering from hepatitis C, cirrhosis and chronic liver disease.

The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said executing him would violate the US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment.

"The spectacle of executing a frail, elderly man who requires specialized care, including the use of a wheelchair, to perform basic functions, is deeply troubling and would be yet another stain on the State of Texas and its notorious use of the death penalty,” said the organization’s executive director, Kristin Houlé Cuellar, in an interview before the execution.

“After spending more than 30 years on death row, Carl Wayne Buntion does not pose a threat to anyone,” added Cuellar. “It serves no legitimate purpose to execute him now.”

Buntion is the first Texas death row inmate executed in 2022.

“I hope Jimmy will finally rest in peace and then we can all kind of breathe a sigh of relief,” said Maura Irby, “And just keep him in our prayers now and in our hearts.”

There are nearly 200 inmates currently on death row in the state of Texas. Of those, six are women.

Walter Moody Jr., 83, was the oldest inmate executed in the US in modern times. He was put to death in Alabama in 2018.