Summary:

On Good Friday, March 28, 1997, Robert Cook was driving to his home in Livingston,

That same day, Pursley and his family were visiting relatives in Shepherd. After getting into an argument with his wife, Pursley left the house on foot.

Testimony at trial supported the prosecution’s theory that Cook must have stopped and offered Pursley a ride. After spending some time with Cook in his home, Pursley had Cook drive out into the woods where Pursley savagely beat Cook to death, took his rings and left the body.

Pursley was later seen by several witnesses driving Pursley’s bloodstained car.

Pursley used Cook’s rings to buy drugs and admitted to several people that he had beaten a person to death. DNA evidence and witnesses linked Pursley to the crime.

Citations:

Pursley v. Dretke, 114 Fed.Appx. 630, Slip Copy, 2004 WL 2617939 (5th Cir. 2004)(Habeas)

Final Meal:

A cheeseburger, four fried pork chops, french fries, two dinner rolls, a piece of cheesecake and iced tea with sugar

Final Words:

"Yes. I would like to address the victim's family. I received your poem and I ma very grateful for your forgiveness. I still want to ask for it anyway. I have Jesus in my heart and I am sorry for any pain I caused you all. Thank you for your forgiveness. I am sorry. Ashlee, Pam -- I am going to miss you all. I love you all. Give everybody my love. Give everybody my love, O.K.? Mother, James, Justin, Corey, Brent, grand-babies and Daddy - I love you Pam. I love you Ashlee, Pammy and Irene. I will see you all on the other side. Couple friends on death row who have helped me; Shy town and Crazy Jay...I love you all and for all your support. Uncle Ray too. I am saved and I am going home, O.K.? You all stay strong. You all stay strong. That is all."

ClarkProsecutor.org

Texas Attorney General

MEDIA ADVISORY

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - Lonnie Wayne Pursley Scheduled For Execution

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Lonnie Wayne Pursley, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, 2005.

On January 20, 1999, Pursley was convicted and sentenced to death for the March 29, 1997, capital murder of Robert Cook in Polk County. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On Good Friday, March 28, 1997, Robert Cook was driving to his home in Livingston, That same day, Lonnie Wayne Pursley, his wife, and their children were visiting family at their home in Shepherd. After getting into an argument with his wife, Pursley left the house on foot. Testimony at trial supported the prosecution’s theory that Cook must have stopped and offered Pursley a ride. After spending some time with Cook in his home, Pursley had Cook drive out into the woods where Pursley savagely beat Cook to death, took his rings and left the body. Pursley was later seen by several witnesses driving Pursley’s bloodstained car. Pursley used Cook’s rings to buy drugs and admitted to several people that he had beaten a person to death. DNA evidence and witnesses linked Pursley to the crime.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• Aug. 7, 1997 — A Polk County grand jury indicted Pursley for capital murder.

• Jan. 20, 1999 — A jury found Pursley guilty of capital murder, and the court later sentenced him to death.

• July 31, 2000 — Concurrent with his direct appeal, Pursley filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the state trial court.

• Jan. 31, 2001 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Pursley’s conviction and sentence.

• June 27, 2001 — The Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Pursley’s application for state habeas relief.

• Aug. 10, 2001 — The trial court entered an order setting Pursley’s execution date for November 30, 2001.

• Aug. 29, 2001 — Pursley filed a motion in federal district court seeking a stay of his execution.

• Sep. 12, 2001 — The federal district court granted Pursley’s motion for stay.

• June 27, 2002 — Pursley filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court.

• Sep. 25, 2003 — The federal district court denied habeas relief.

• Nov. 18, 2004 — The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Pursley permission to appeal.

• Jan. 11, 2005 — The trial court entered an order setting the execution date for May 3, 2005.

• Feb. 16, 2005 — Pursley petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari review.

• April 18, 2005 — The U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari review.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Pursley has prior convictions for burglary of a habitation, theft by appropriation and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. #437783, 5 year sentence from San Jacinto County for 1 count of Burglary of a Habitation, 07/08/87 released on Parole, 12/21/90 returned from Parole with a new conviction; #571873 on a 10 year sentence from San Jacinto County for 1 count of Theft By Appropriation; 06/14/91 released on Parole; 08/24/92 returned from Parole with new conviction; #621739 on a 20 year sentence from Polk and San Jacinto County for 1 count of Burglary of a Habitation; 1 count of Burglary of a Vehicle and 1 count of Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle; 11/28/95 released on parole.

ProDeathPenalty.com

On March 29, 1997 Lonnie Pursley and a co-defendant murdered Robert Earl Cook, 47, inside the Deer County subdivision in Livingston, Texas.

They took the victim into a wooded area where they beat him to death and robbed him.

Pursley had received a five year sentence for burglary charge and was released on parole in 1987.

He was returned to prison in 1990 on a ten year sentence for theft and was paroled six months later.

Just over one year later he was returned to prison with a twenty year sentence for a burglary charge of which he served just over three years before being paroled again a year and a half before he murdered Robert Cook.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson

Txexecutions

Lonnie Wayne Pursley, 43, was executed by lethal injection on 3 May 2005 in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of a 47-year-old man.

Robert Cook had plans to spend time with his mother on 29 March 1997, but he failed to show up. When Cook failed to come home from work the next two nights, his mother called the police. Cook's niece and next-door neighbor, Sheila Dupree, told police in their investigation that on the night of 28 March, she observed a large man smoking a cigarette in the doorway of Cook's Livingston trailer home. She saw Cook sitting inside with an emotionless expression on his face. Dupree also observed that the following day, the gate on Cook's property was not closed properly, and his car was gone.

Other witnesses reported seeing Pursley, then 35, driving a turquoise car matching the description of Cook's vehicle on 29 and 30 March. Several of these witnesses observed that the vehicle had blood on the inside and outside of it, and that Pursley had blood on his clothing.

On 6 April, a passer-by discovered Cook's body in a wooded area at the dead end of a dirt road, approximately 2½ miles from Cook's home. Cook had been beaten to death by blows to the chest and abdomen. Cook's car was discovered in a wooded area on 15 April. There was a large amount of blood spattered throughout it. Pursley was arrested on 20 April.

At the trial, witnesses testified that on the night of 28 March, Pursley and his family were visiting his in-laws' house in Shepherd. Pursley got into an argument with his wife and left the house on foot. Prosecutors surmised that Cook, who was driving home from work on US Highway 59, saw Pursley walking on the road and stopped to offer him a ride. Pursley's cousin, Richard Winfrey, testified that Pursley told him he had beaten someone to death in his car and had hidden the car in the woods off of a dirt road.

Winfrey further testified that Pursley asked him for fake identification so he could leave the country. Prosecutors said that Pursley used some rings he took from the victim to buy drugs. The prosecution also presented evidence that Pursley's DNA was found on a cigarette but from the ashtray of Cook's car.

Pursley had numerous prior convictions for burglary and theft. He had been sent to prison three times from 1987 to 1992, each time being released on parole and committing new crimes while on parole. (At the time, early release was common in Texas due to strict prison population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.) At the time of the murder, he was on parole after having served 3 years of a 20-year sentence for burglary.

A jury convicted Pursley of capital murder in January 1999 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in January 2001. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

On an anti-death-penalty web site, Pursley claimed that the witnesses' testimony against him was perjured and that the evidence against him was "fabricated, botched, tainted, and yes, even planted!"

Shortly before being led into the death chamber, Pursley was handed a statement from his victim's relatives, in which they offered their forgiveness. "I received your poem, and I am very grateful for your forgiveness," Pursley said to Cook's relatives in his last statement. "I still want to ask you for it anyway. I have Jesus in my heart, and I am sorry for any pain I caused you all. Thank you for your forgiveness." Cook's sister, sobbing, replied, "We forgive you." Pursley also thanked his friends and expressed love to them. His daughter became so overwrought that she was escorted from the viewing chamber. The lethal injection was then begun, and Pursley was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Lonnie Pursley - Texas - May 3, 2005 6:00 p.m. CST

Lonnie Pursley, a white man, is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on May 3, 2005 for the March 1997 murder of Robert Earl Cook, a white man, in Deer County. It is alleged that Pursley beat Cook to death on March 28, 1997. At trial, Pursley was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death.

The death penalty is a draconian punitive measure that a has been shown to be overtly capricious and discriminatory, as well as prone to occasional error. Even in the absence of its conflict with morality and these critical flaws, capital punishment ceases to possess any type of substantive benefit over long-term incarceration that could be used to justify its use.

The problem at hand is far deeper than Pursley. Remedying the very ills that led Pursley to murder should be Texas’ primary concern, not extinguishing his life. Sending Pursley to death will not contribute to the resolution of these issues, nor will it in any way undo his criminal past. By taking the life of Pursley, Texas is merely contributing to a culture of violence that breeds the very type of behavior that it is seeking to prevent through Pursley’s execution. The vicious cycle must stop.

Please write to Gov. Rick Perry and request that he stop the execution of Lonnie Pursley.

Texas man apologizes for crime at execution

Reuters News

Tue May 3, 2005

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas man apologized for the pain his crime caused his victim's family as he was executed on Tuesday for a 1997 murder. Lonnie Pursley, 43, thanked the family of victim Robert Earl Cook for a poem of forgiveness they sent him shortly before he received a lethal injection. "I received your poem and I am very grateful for your forgiveness. I still want to ask for it anyway," he said to witnesses while strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber. "I have Jesus in my heart and I am sorry for any pain I caused you."

The poem by Cook's nephew, Jamie Hollis, read in part, "A soul that is lost, pays no greater cost, than to leave this world, without being forgiven." "No, not by my family or me, for we forgive," it said.

Pursley was condemned for beating Cook to death near the east Texas town of Livingston on March 29, 1997, then taking his rings and trading them for drugs.

He was the sixth person put to death this year in Texas, which leads the nation in capital punishment. The state has four more executions scheduled this year. Texas has executed 342 people since resuming the death penalty in 1982 after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a four-year national ban.

For his final meal, Pursley requested a cheeseburger, four fried pork chops, french fries, two dinner rolls, a piece of cheesecake and iced tea with sugar.

3-time parolee executed for fatal beating

Dallas Morning News

Tuesday, May 3, 2005

HUNTSVILLE – An apologetic convicted killer Lonnie Wayne Pursley was executed Tuesday for the robbery and fatal beating of an East Texas man while he was on parole for a third time. In a final statement, Pursley thanked relatives of his victim for a statement delivered to him shortly before he was taken to the death chamber in which they offered their forgiveness. "I'm very grateful for your forgiveness," he said.

His victim's sister, between sobs, replied, "We forgive you." "I've got Jesus in my heart. I'm sorry for any pain I've caused," he said. Pursley, 43, then turned toward his own witnesses and expressed love to them. "I'm going to miss you all. Give everybody my love. I'll see you all on the other side," he said.

Pursley thanked fellow death row inmates for their support, adding, "I'm saved and I'm going home. OK? Y'all stay strong." He gasped and snored as the drugs took effect. Pursley was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m. CDT, eight minutes after the drugs began flowing. His daughter, who was among the witnesses, became very emotional and was escorted from the chamber prematurely.

Pursley became the sixth Texas prisoner executed this year. Two more are scheduled to die later this month. The former cook and laborer was a ninth-grade dropout who authorities said used rings he took from the slaying victim, 47-year-old Robert Earl Cook, of Livingston, to buy drugs.

Cook's nephew, Jamie Hollis, said in the family statement that while they forgave Pursley and "cannot gain joy from another human being losing his life," it was more important that Pursley ask for forgiveness "from our Father in heaven that determines where we spend eternity."

The execution was carried out moments after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by Pursley's attorneys to postpone the punishment. In their appeal, lawyers argued prosecutors improperly withheld from Pursley's trial attorneys information that the physician who performed the autopsy on Cook had been dismissed while working at the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office for sloppy performance and mismanaging of autopies. According to the appeal, the information was favorable to the defense and "could have been used to impeach her credibility and competence." The high court last month had refused to review Pursley's case.

Court documents indicated that in 1997 Cook was driving on U.S. Highway 59 near Shepherd, in San Jacinto County, where Pursley got into an argument with his wife while attending a gathering at his mother-in-law's house. Prosecutors speculated Pursley was walking along the highway and Cook, who was known to pick up hitchhikers, offered a ride. When Cook was missing after two days, his mother filed a police report. His badly beaten body was found about a week later in a wooded area at the end of a dead-end road about 21/2 miles from his trailer in Polk County. Nine days later, Cook's blood-spattered turquoise car was found in an adjacent San Jacinto County in a wooded area.

At Pursley's trial, witnesses testified they saw him driving a car matching the description of Cook's car, that the car had blood on the inside and outside, and that Pursley's clothes were bloody. A cousin testified that Pursley told him he was "pretty sure he had beaten someone to death in his car," according to court documents. DNA evidence found on a cigarette butt in the ashtray of Cook's car was used to link Pursley to the vehicle.

Pursley, who declined to speak with reporters on death row, said on a prison pen pal Web site that the case and testimony against him were false. "Most of the evidence used against me was fabricated, botched, tainted, and yes, even planted!" he wrote.

At his trial, however, he refused to cooperate with his lawyers and turned down an offer of a life prison term in exchange for a guilty plea. Polk County jurors who decided he should be put to death heard of his previous convictions for burglary and theft, his three prison terms and paroles and "determined there would be no more victims," his defense attorney, Stephen Taylor, said. "It made a lot of difference with the jury," he said of Pursley's record.

Pursley's repeated paroles, despite increasingly longer sentences, were attributed in part to bed shortages and court-imposed population limits at Texas prisons before a billion-dollar construction program eased the crowding problems.

Victim's Relatives Forgive Remorseful Convicted Killer Before Execution

CharismaNews.com

May 10, 2005

An apologetic convicted killer received forgiveness from his victim's relatives just before he was recently executed for the robbery and fatal beating of a Texas man. In his final statement a week ago, Lonnie Wayne Pursley thanked the family of Robert Earl Cook of Livingston for a statement delivered to him shortly before he was taken to the death chamber in Huntsville, Texas, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

"I received your poem and I am very grateful for your forgiveness. I still want to ask for it anyway. I have Jesus in my heart and I am sorry for any pain I caused you all. Thank you for your forgiveness," he said, "The Huntsville Item" reported.

Cook's sister, between sobs, replied: "We forgive you." Pursley, 43, then turned toward his own witnesses and expressed love to them. Pursley also thanked fellow death row inmates for their support. "I am going to miss you all. I love you all. Give everybody my love, OK? ... I will see you all on the other side," Pursley said. "I am saved and I am going home, OK? You all stay strong. You all stay strong."

Pursley was sent to death row in 1999 for the March 1997 robbery and fatal beating of Cook, 47, while he was on parole for a third time. Cook's nephew, Jamie Hollis, said in the family statement that while they forgave Pursley and "cannot gain joy from another human being losing his life," it was more important that Pursley ask for forgiveness "from our Father in heaven that determines where we spend eternity."

The execution was carried out moments after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by Pursley's attorneys to postpone the punishment, the AP reported.

Man set to die for 1997 murder

Repeat offender was paroled three times before arrest in case

Denton Record Chronicle

Monday, May 2, 2005 - Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Lonnie Wayne Pursley kept going to prison for longer and longer terms but also kept getting paroled because of a shortage of prison space in Texas in the 1990s. Then, in 1999, a jury in Polk County convicted him of capital murder and sentenced him to death for the fatal beating and robbery of a 47-year-old East Texas man.

Mr. Pursley, 43, is scheduled to receive lethal injection tonight. He would be the sixth Texas prisoner executed this year. The U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to review his case. Attorneys trying to halt Mr. Pursley's punishment were back in the courts, challenging the trial testimony of a medical examiner.

Mr. Pursley, a Houston native who grew up in Coldspring in San Jacinto County, was on parole for a third time when he was arrested, tried and condemned for the death of Robert Earl Cook of Livingston. Court documents indicated that Mr. Cook was driving on U.S. Highway 59 near Shepherd, in San Jacinto County, where Mr. Pursley had gotten into an argument with his wife while attending a gathering at his mother-in-law's house.

Prosecutors speculated that Mr. Pursley was walking along the highway and Mr. Cook, who was known to pick up hitchhikers, offered him a ride. Both wound up at Mr. Cook's trailer home March 28, 1997, and at some point the pair drove into the woods in the northeast part of Polk County where Mr. Cook was beaten to death and robbed of his rings. Witnesses told authorities they saw Mr. Pursley driving Mr. Cook's car later and that he traded the rings for drugs.

Mr. Pursley, who declined to speak with reporters, said on a prison pen pal Web site that the case and testimony against him were false. "Most of the evidence used against me was fabricated, botched, tainted, and yes, even planted!" he wrote. "There was not anything planted," Polk County Sheriff Kenneth Hammack, who was a Texas Ranger at the time and investigated the slaying, said last week. Mr. Pursley turned himself in after a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Stephen Taylor, one of Mr. Pursley's trial lawyers, said his client was less than cooperative in helping develop a defense. "He wouldn't tell us anything," Mr. Taylor said. "He never told us how they got together, what happened, anything. We don't know what happened to trigger the incident, how they happened to get to the victim's residence, if he was at the victim's residence and how he came into possession of the victim's car. ... It was very difficult."

In 1987, Mr. Pursley received five years in prison for burglary and was paroled three years later. Within six months he wound up back behind bars with a 10-year term for theft but was paroled after 14 months. The following year, he picked up a 20-year term for burglary but was out in 3 ½ years. Sixteen months later, Mr. Cook was killed. Because of bed shortages and court-imposed population limits, Texas corrections officials in the late 1980s and into the 1990s were forced to release convicts early.