No last statement offered by condemned killer

By Stewart Smith - Huntsville Item

October 26, 2006

Gregory Lynn Summers offered no final words before his execution by lethal injection Wednesday night at the Huntsville Unit. Three of Summers’ friends came in support of him, each dressed in a pink shirt and black slacks. They offered tears and prayers to the condemned, hands pressed firmly upon the glass. As Summers’ final moments passed his friends could be seen huddled together, sending out one final silent good-bye. He was pronounced dead at 9:16 p.m.

Summers, 48, was convicted in a murder-for-hire scheme to kill three people, his parents Mandell Eugene Summers and Helen Summers, both 64, and his uncle, Bill Mack Summers, 60. Each were stabbed to death inside their home in Abilene, which was later set ablaze. It is reported that Summers promised to pay co-defendant Andrew Cantu, who was also convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, the sum of $10,000 for killing his family members. Summers’ execution marked the 22nd execution in Texas this year.

Attorneys for Summers tried Wednesday to block the punishment by challenging the constitutionality of the lethal injection method, accusing prosecutors of hiding evidence and raising questions about testimony from a trial witness who implicated Summers. The U.S. Supreme Court three weeks ago refused to review his case. Additional appeals delayed the execution about three hours past its scheduled time of 6 p.m. CDT. Three appeals went to the high court late Wednesday, and all were rejected. “When I went to trial, all they proved was there were three murders,” Summers said in recent interview on death row. “But they can’t show I did this with Cantu because it never happened.”

Gene and Helen Summers adopted their son when he was 3 days old. He was their only child. Prosecutors said Summers had hoped to collect $24,000 in insurance benefits. Relatives told authorities Summers was having financial problems and Gene Summers finally had decided to stop bailing him out financially. Billy Mack Summers, Gene Summers’ brother, was mentally retarded and was living with the couple when they all were killed in June 1990.

“These were real people that we all loved very, very much,” Arbie McAliley, the victims’ niece, said after watching Summers die. “Justice was served, we believe in our hearts. There was nothing inhumane about this at all tonight. “He got a better treatment than what he gave our three loved ones. It was brutal what they did. The only regrets we have is we had to sit and wait for something we knew was coming.”

Txexecutions.org

Gregory Lynn Summers, 48, was executed by lethal injection on 25 October 2006 in Huntsville, Texas for hiring the murder of three members of his family.

Around midnight on 11 June 1990, Abeline firefighters discovered three bodies in a burning house. Mandell Eugene "Gene" Summers, his wife, Helen, and his brother, Billy Mack Summers, had all been stabbed to death. The telephone line to the house was also cut.

On 15 June, police were contacted by Keenan Wilcox. Wilcox said that an acquaintance of his, Gregory Summers, then 32, tried to hire him to murder his parents and mentally retarded uncle and to burn their house down. He said that Summers offered to pay him from insurance money and cash in the house. On 19 June, another tipster called the police. This man said that his brother, Andrew Cantu, 22, told him that he was hired for $10,000 to commit the murders, but he didn't receive the money.

At Cantu's trial, Ramon Gonzales, 19, and Paul Flores testified that they agreed to commit a burglary with Cantu. According to their testimony, Flores cut a hole in a back window screen and crawled into the house. By the time they crawled inside, Cantu was already stabbing Gene Summers, who was lying in bed. Cantu threatened to kill them if they attempted to leave, then proceeded to the living room to stab Helen Summers, who was sleeping in a recliner.

Cantu ordered Gonzales and Flores to search the home for the $10,000 that Summers promised to leave for them in a dresser drawer, then he proceeded to a front bedroom, where he stabbed Billy Mack Summers. Gonzales and Flores then told Cantu that they couldn't find the money, so he ransacked the house looking for it, to no avail. Cantu then doused the bedroom with lighter fluid and set it on fire. As they drove away, Cantu ordered Flores to get rid of the knife. Flores threw the murder weapon out of the car window. A woman found it while mowing her lawn.

Prosecutors alleged that Summers stood to collect $24,000 in life insurance from the death of his parents. At his trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Summers had previously collected insurance payoffs from fires at his grandmother's house and a vehicle. Numerous relatives and acquaintances testified about Summers' difficult relationship with his father and about his many threats to kill him and burn his house down with him in it.

Witnesses also testified to his history of violence against his family, including kicking his first wife in the stomach when she was pregnant, beating his second wife, holding a gun to her head, and forcing her to beg for her life on her knees, and beating his sons.

A jury convicted Summers of capital murder in August 1991 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in June 1994. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Andrew Flores Cantu, who had a prior burglary record, was also convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. He was executed on 16 February 1999. Ramon Gonzales was convicted of burglary and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He has been out on parole since 1999. Information on Paul Flores was not available for this report.

"I had nothing to do with this," Summers said in an interview from death row the week before his execution. "They know that ...I am so outraged that a system in a country that's supposed to be civilized can sit back and watch an innocent man be convicted and be sent to the death chamber, and nobody gives a damn," Summers said. "When I went to trial, all they proved was there were three murders," he said. "But they can't show I did this with Cantu because it never happened." "My parents were the greatest," Summers said of the couple who adopted him when he was three days old. "I didn't have to worry about not being wanted or a mistake or anything like that." Summers said he knew Andrew Cantu's brother, who had worked for his father.

Summers' execution was delayed about three hours by final appeals efforts. When the warden asked whether he had a final statement, Summers answered, "no." The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 9:16 p.m.

ProDeathPenalty.com

Mandell Eugene Summers, Helen Summers, and Billy Mack Summers were fatally stabbed and left in a burning building. Evidence at trial revealed that Gregory Lynn Summers hired Andrew Cantu for $10,000 to murder Summers's relatives--father, mother, and mentally retarded uncle, respectively--for financial gain. Summers expected to collect $24,000 in insurance proceeds. The family had adopted Summers when he was three days old.

Andrew Cantu told a friend named Max that he [Cantu] had a job to do -- kill three old people; he explained that the intended victims were Gregory Summers' parents and Cantu asked for the friend's assistance. Max declined to help in any way, using the fact that he was on probation as an excuse. Later that same night, Cantu borrowed his brother's black sweat pants and sweat shirt, and paced in and out of the house as if waiting for someone, but no one arrived.

Early on June 11, 1990, Summers and Cantu were riding in Summers' truck and approached Max and asked him to contact his cousin, Ramon Gonzales. He was unable to contact him, but Gonzales heard that Max had tried to reach him, and thinking that Max was having gang troubles, Gonzales came to Abilene from Haskell with a friend, Paul Flores.

Gonzales had previously only briefly met Cantu, and Flores met him that day. While riding around with Gonzales, Flores, and Max, Cantu asked if they would "waste" three old people whose adopted son wanted them killed. Cantu added that he would be paid with money, jewelry, and guns in the house, and from insurance policies collected later. When the others refused to help, Cantu changed the subject to burglary of a house. Gonzales and Flores agreed to join in the burglary. Max declined, saying he was on probation.

Gonzales dropped Cantu off at his house then took Max home. Max attempted to dissuade the others from assisting Cantu and believed they were homebound when last he saw them. However, Gonzales and Flores returned to pick up Cantu, who had again borrowed his brother's black sweat pants and shirt, explaining to his brother that he was going to pull a "heist."

The three then went to a grocery store where Cantu purchased lighter fluid, gloves, pantyhose, and a cap. The cashier later identified Cantu and remembered some of the items he purchased. Cantu had earlier that day bought a knife from Flores. They then rode around before setting out for the house to be burglarized. Sometime near midnight, they drove through an alley behind the Summers' residence. Cantu was dropped off in the alley behind the house and cut the telephone line. Gonzales picked up Cantu, drove to a nearby street and parked. The three got out and walked toward the alley behind the Summers' home. Cantu carried the knife and lighter fluid.

A neighbor, seated on her unlit porch, saw three men and remembered that one was carrying a knife which shone in the streetlamp's light. The three men entered the Summers' yard through a back gate. Cantu cut a hole in a back window screen and crawled into the house. By the time Gonzales and Flores had crawled inside, Cantu was already stabbing Gene Summers, who was lying in his bed. Cantu threatened to "waste" Gonzales and Flores if they attempted to leave, then proceeded to the living room where he repeatedly stabbed Helen Summers as she sat sleeping in a recliner. Cantu ordered Flores and Gonzales to search the house for the promised money before proceeding to a front bedroom where he murdered Billy Mack Summers. Angry that Gonzales and Flores had not found it, Cantu ransacked the house looking for the money himself but found none of the promised money. Before leaving the scene, Cantu doused the bedroom with lighter fluid and set it on fire.

As they drove from the scene, ambulance and fire truck sirens could be heard heading in the direction of the Summers' home. When Cantu ordered Flores to "get rid" of the knife, Flores, called "slow poke" for his mental prowess, threw it out the car window. This infuriated Cantu. The bloody knife was found by a woman mowing her lawn.

The three went to the home of Cantu's uncle, where Cantu chided Gonzales and Flores for their failure to find the promised money and searched them for it, accusing them of theft. Cantu threatened to kill Flores and Gonzales if they had the money or talked about the incident. Flores and Gonzales returned to Haskell.

The following morning, June 12, 1990, in a highly uncharacteristic manner, Cantu asked his brother if he had seen the news. Alerted by the strangeness of the question, his brother watched the midday news and learned about the triple murders. Knowing Cantu and that the victims were Greg Summers' parents, he asked him whether he had been involved in the murders. Cantu denied involvement. Later that week, his brother again asked Cantu if he had any part in the murders; disgusted by the answer, he called the police and made a statement on June 19, 1990.

Max also asked Cantu about the murders; Cantu confessed that he had committed them and complained about not having been paid. On June 15, 1990, a man contacted the police. He said he was an acquaintance of Summers, reported that Summers had approached him in the recent past, attempting to hire him to murder his parents and uncle, and to burn their house down. Summers offered to pay the man from insurance money and case in the house. His suspicions were aroused upon reading the details of the murders and the victim's identities in the newspaper.

While in custody, Summers befriended another inmate who assisted Summers with legal work and prepared documents for Summers. When the inmate realized that Summers was using documents prepared by him as false evidence, he contacted prison officials and told them of his encounter with Summers. During their interactions, Summers told the inmate of Summers's part in the murders. Andrew Cantu was also convicted of capital murder and was executed in 1999. Sandra Mitchell, a relative of the victims said, "I just think it has gone on too long. It should have happened 10 years ago."

UPDATE: Gregory Summers was executed today for initiating a murder-for-hire plot that authorities said led to the fatal stabbing of his parents and an uncle. "These were real people that we all loved very, very much," Arbie McAliley, the victims' niece, said after watching Summers die. "Justice was served, we believe in our hearts. There was nothing inhumane about this at all tonight. He got a better treatment than what he gave our three loved ones. It was brutal what they did. The only regrets we have is we had to sit and wait for something we knew was coming."

Democracyinaction.org

Gregory Summers, TX, October 25
Do Not Execute Gregory Lynn Summers

Texas The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Gregory Lynn Summers on Oct. 25. Summers was convicted of murder for his role in allegedly conspiring to kill three family members for money. Summers allegedly hired Andrew Cantu to kill his adoptive mother, father, and uncle for financial purposes. Cantu entered the home of the Summers family, where he fatally stabbed Mandell Eugene Summers, Helen Summers, and Billy Mack Summers.

During the trial, the prosecutors called William Spaulding to testify, an inmate whom Summers befriended while in custody. Spaulding testified only after he discovered that Summers had betrayed him, making Spaulding’s testimony unreliable. Also, Andrew Cantu, who was executed in 1999, never testified. His two accomplices, both of whom stood to gain from testifying, claimed that Cantu had made a deal with Summers, but no evidence of this agreement exists.

Furthermore, the state called Dr. Grigson to testify during the sentencing phase, where he stated that Summers may represent a future danger. However, Dr. Grigson had falsely testified for the state in another trial, making him unreliable as well. Dr. Grigson has since been expelled from the American Psychiatric Association and the Texas Society for Psychiatric Physicians for ethics violations. He has testified in about 150 capital punishment cases, where he has almost always sided with the prosecution. In many of these testimonies, Dr. Grigson has stated that the defendant is 100 percent sure to be a future danger, often without even interviewing the defendant.

One member of the APA board stated, “[Dr. Grigson] oversteps the bounds of his professional competence.” This person went on to say that no person could say with 100 percent certainty that a person is a future danger to society. The court also allowed the state to produce several other witnesses who offered nothing of substance to the case, only character assessments of Summers. None of these witnesses could establish that Summers and Cantu made a deal about the murders.

Gregory Summers did not participate in the physical murder of his family members. His sentence rests upon unreliable testimony, and no direct evidence links him to Andrew Cantu. With unreliable testimony from Spaulding and Dr. Grigson, as well as no clearly established connection between Cantu and Summers, one cannot argue that Summers is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Summers has never committed a violent crime, and cannot even be linked to the murderer in this case.

Please write to Gov. Rick Perry on behalf of Gregory Summers

Texas Attorney General

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Media Advisory: Gregory Summers Scheduled For Execution

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Gregory Lynn Summers, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Wednesday, October 25, for hiring another man to kill his adopted family in 1990. A Denton County jury sentenced Summers to death in August 1991 for hiring Andrew Cantu to murder the three family members. Cantu was convicted and sentenced to die in April 1991; Cantu was executed in February 1999.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

Around midnight on June 11, 1990, Abilene firefighters discovered three bodies in a burning house. The victims were Summers’ father, Mandell Eugene “Gene” Summers; his mother, Helen Summers; and his uncle, Billy Mack Summers. The three were stabbed to death, and their home set ablaze. The investigation of the murders led to the indictment and arrest of Gregory Summers and Andrew Cantu for capital murder.

Late at night on June 10th, Cantu and two other men went to a grocery store where Cantu purchased lighter fluid, gloves, pantyhose and a cap. The three men then drove to the Summers’ residence. Cantu cut the telephone line to the house, and the three men went inside the home. Cantu stabbed Gene Summers, who was lying in his bed; then went to the living room where he stabbed Helen Summers; followed by a trip to a front bedroom where he stabbed Billy Mack Summers.

Cantu and the two accomplices searched the house for money but found none. Cantu ordered one of the accomplices to get rid of the murder weapon. The man threw it out the car window. The knife was found by a woman mowing her lawn. In a conversation with a man who was not at the murder scene, Cantu admitted that he killed the three people and complained that he had not been paid for the killings.

On June 15, 1990, police were contacted by an acquaintance of Gregory Summers who reported that Summers had tried to hire him to murder Summers’ parents and uncle and to burn their house down. The acquaintance said Summers offered to pay him from insurance money and cash in the house. The acquaintance suspicions were aroused after reading a newspaper story about the details of the murders and the victims’ identities. Relatives and friends testified about Summer’s difficult relationship with his father and about Summers’ numerous threats to kill Gene Summers and burn his house down with him in it.

SUMMERS’ HISTORY

The testimony from various members of Summers’ family established a pattern of horrible brutality suffered at his hands. He assaulted his first wife, kicking her in the stomach while she was pregnant. He terrorized his hospitalized grandmother for money. He battered his young sons. His second wife testified that Summers beat her, and once drove her to secluded woods where he forced her to beg on her knees for her life as he held a cocked gun to her head. Numerous family members testified that they feared Summers. Evidence was also introduced that while incarcerated, Summers threatened to have an inmate killed. Two psychiatrists testified that Summers is a continuing threat to society who cannot be reformed.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• 06/11/90 -- Andrew Cantu killed Summers’ adoptive parents and retarded uncle at Summers’ behest.

• 08/16/90 -- A Taylor County grand jury returned 3 capital murder indictments against Summers.

• 01/16/91 --Taylor County grand jury indicted Andrew Cantu for capital murder.

• 05/29/91 -- Andrew Cantu was found guilty of capital murder.

• 05/31/91 -- The Cantu jury answered the special questions and the trial judge sentenced Andrew Cantu to death.

• 06/13/91 -- Summers’ motion for change of venue was granted; all three cases transferred to the 16th District Court in Denton County.

• 08/09/91 -- Guilt-innocence phase began in two of the cases (one was not tried and remains pending.)

• 08/21/91 -- Summers was convicted of capital murder.

• 08/23/91 -- The jury answered the special issues and Summers was formally sentenced to death by the 350th District Court judge.

• 09/10/91 -- Summers filed a motion for a new trial and notice of appeal.

• 09/13/91 -- Summers’ cases were transferred back to Taylor County.

• 08/24/92 -- Summers filed a direct appeal raising 33 points of error.

• 06/08/94 -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Summers’ conviction and sentence.

• 06/23/94 --Summers asked for a rehearing of the Texas court’s opinion in one of the two cases on direct appeal.

• 10/07/96 -- The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review.

• 10/01/97 -- Summers filed an application for a state writ of habeas corpus raising 22 issues.

• 11/12/97 --On Summers’ state writs, Judge Holloway of Taylor County found that no contested issues of fact exist.

• 02/16/99 -- Andrew Cantu was executed for his part in the murders.

• 10/11/99 -- The trial court recommends that the writs be denied.

• 02/22/01 -- Pursuant to Court of Criminal Appeals, the trial court entered findings recommending the denial of relief.

• 03/28/01 -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denies relief on writs.

• 04/04/01 -- Summers filed his federal habeas corpus petition raising 19 claims in the U.S. District Court.

• 11/15/01 -- Summers filed an amended federal writ petition.

• 03/24/04 -- The federal district court dismissed Summers’ federal habeas petition.

• 04/23/04 --Summers filed notice of appeal in the Fifth Circuit.

• 05/10/04 -- The federal district court granted certificate of appealability (“COA”) on three claims only.

• 08/03/04 --Summers filed an application for additional COA to include seven additional claims in the Fifth Circuit.

• 12/08/04 --Summers filed his brief on the merits in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

• 12/02/05 --The 5th Circuit Court denied motion for additional COA and affirms district court’s denial of habeas relief.

• 12/16/05 -- Summers files a motion for rehearing by all members of the 5th Circuit Court.

• 01/27/06 -- Summers’ petition for rehearing was denied by the 5th Circuit Court.

• 03/15/06 -- The 350th District Court of Taylor County, Texas, scheduled Summers’ execution for Wednesday, October 25, 2006.

• 04/27/06 -- Summers petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari review of the Fifth Circuit Court's opinion.

• 10/02/06 -- The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review.

Todsstrafe-usa.de

Greg will be 43 on March 14th. He has been on DR since he was 33 for a crime he has always denied being involved in. In fact, since he was in there, he has always been trying hard to prove his innocence.

He was born in Abilene, Texas, but there's no one who takes care of him in his country. The only people he visits with and write to are in Europe. Thus he spends very long periods in total solitude.

He likes talking and reading, only in English so far... He is very open minded, loves art and music. When piddling was allowed he used to paint. Now he can only make black and white drawings.

Greg Summers' case is now at a very delicate phase: Greg's appeal filed to the State Court in 1999 has just been denied and his lawyers have to urgently file a new petition to the Federal Court within August 1st. No one knows how long it's going to take before hearing the judge's reply nor how his response will be. It may take one year or a few months before the judge's reply and an execution date.

What we are trying to do is: achieving as much support as possible here in Europe in order to be prepared in case of a Federal Court's denial or in case Greg is given a date of execution.

Summers v. State, 941 S.W.2d 922 (Tex.Cr.App. 1996) (Direct Appeal).

Summers v. State, 941 S.W.2d 922 (Tex.Cr.App. 1996) ().

Summers v. Dretke, 380 F.3d 844 (5th Cir. 2004) (Habeas).

Summers v. Dretke, 380 F.3d 844 (5th Cir. 2004) (Habeas).

Gregory Lynn Summers