Texas executes Quintin Jones, 41, by lethal injection for beating his great aunt, 83, to death in 1999 after she refused to lend him money: No press witness death because of 'communication error'

 A Texas man convicted of fatally beating his 83-year-old great aunt when she refused to lend him money was executed on Wednesday evening - ending a ten-month pause in executions.

Quintin Jones, 41, received the lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the September 1999 killing of Berthena Bryant.

Jones beat Bryant with a bat in her home in Fort Worth before snatching $30 from her purse to buy drugs, prosecutors said.

He is the first inmate in the Lone Star State to be put to death since Billy Joe Wardlow was executed by lethal injection on July 8, 2020 for a robbery and murder in East Texas in 1993.

Jones was given the lethal dose of pentobarbital at about 6.28pm and was pronounced dead 12 minutes later.

He took four or five deep breaths followed by 'a long deep snore,' an official said.

Jones became the 571st inmate to receive lethal injection in Texas since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982. 

There were four other executions scheduled for earlier this year but those executions were delayed or rescheduled. 

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Quintin Jones, right, is pictured in prison with another of his great-aunts, Mattie Long, who is the sister of his victim

Reporters had to rely on accounts about the execution from prison officials and transcripts of video from the execution chambers to report on Jones' execution.

His execution was the first without a media witness since 1982 after reporters were mistakenly not told that the execution was happening.

The Associated Press indicated that glitch may have been a violation of state law or Texas Department of Criminal Justice policy.

Reporters from The Associated Press and local newspaper The Huntsville Item were scheduled as media witnesses but were not escorted by corrections agency officials from an office across the street from the prison.

'The Texas Department of Criminal Justice can only apologize for this error and nothing like this will ever happen again,' state prison agency spokesman Jeremy Desel said later.

Desel said he didn't immediately know if the glitch was a violation of state law or a violation of agency policy.

Jones made a brief statement thanking his supporters and expressing love for them.

'I was so glad to leave this world a better, more positive place,' he said, according to a prison transcript of his remarks. 'It's not an easy life with all of the negativity.

'I hope I left everyone a plate of food full of happy memories, happiness and no sadness.'

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Jones himself made an emotional video appeal published by The New York Times two weeks before his death begging for clemency

Some of Bryant's family members, including her sister Mattie Long, had said they did not want Jones to be executed.

Long wrote in a letter that was part of Jones's clemency petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that Bryant's death devastated her but pleaded for officials to spare his life.

'Because I was so close to Bert, her death hurt me a lot. Even so, God is merciful. Quintin can't bring her back. I can't bring her back. I am writing this to ask you to please spare Quintin's life,' 

In the letter, Long also claimed she and Bryant were the reason the convicted killer was still alive.

'Quintin's mother did not want him when he was born. Quintin did not have a good mother to raise him up,' she wrote.

'Quintin's mother warned Quintin that she was going to get a gun and shoot him. My sister, Bert, and I are the reason that Quintin is alive today.' 

The board denied Jones's clemency petition on Tuesday. 

Texas governor Greg Abbott and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to delay the execution.

Calls for clemency from campaigners including the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) were also unsuccessful.

Jones himself made an emotional video appeal published by The New York Times two weeks before his death begging for clemency.

'Dear Gov. Abbott, this is Quintin Jones, Texas death row inmate that's been incarcerated for 20 years. I know you don't know me. I'm writing this letter to ask you if you could find it in your heart to grand me clemency, so I don't be executed on May 19,' he said while choking back tears.

He said that that he was a different person than he was 20 years ago because he had become 'more thoughtful' and he loved himself more.

'It took me years to forgive myself. Another thing that helped me out was my great-aunt, Aunt Mattie,' he said. 'It was her sister, so by her loving me enough to forgive me, it gave me the strength to try to do better and want to do better.'

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Mandy Patinkin, the Tony- and Emmy-award-winning actor, also recorded a video letter asking for a stay in the execution on behalf of Jones

Mandy Patinkin, the Tony- and Emmy-award-winning actor, also recorded a video letter asking for a stay in the execution on behalf of Jones.

'We are not asking for Jones' freedom or forgiveness. He has not forgiven him for the murder of his great aunt, Berthena Bryant, when he was a drug-addicted and angry 20-year-old man,' the actor said.

'Instead, we ask you to see that in his time on death row, Jones has transformed himself into a kind and thoughtful man. We ask that you allow him to spend the rest of his natural life in prison.'

On Wednesday, Jones's lawyer filed a civil rights complaint against the board, alleging race played 'an impermissible role' in its denial of Jones's petition. 

A U.S. District Judge dismissed the complaint, writing that Jones did not present direct evidence of that allegation.

Helena Faulkner, a Tarrant County assistant criminal district attorney whose office prosecuted Jones, said not all of Bryant's family members had opposed the execution.

In his final appeals, Jones´ attorney, Michael Mowla, argued that Jones was intellectually disabled and that his death sentence was based on since discredited testimony that wrongly labeled him as a psychopath and a future danger. 

Mowla also said Jones´ history of drug and alcohol abuse that started at age 12 and physical and sexual abuse he suffered were never considered at his trial.

The Huntsville Item reported that John Hummel is the next prisoner scheduled to be executed on June 30. He was convicted for the murder of three people in their Kennedale home.