Execution Life and Death Row

It's a sense of relief that he's going to be gone

and that's going to be taken care of.

This is justice. They were evil kids.

Hope is a wonderful thing, but never lie to yourself.

I can just tell you what I saw,

a kid trying to be strong for his family.

Mama, mama.

No, sister. He says mama already, he says daddy already,

he doesn't say sister.

When's all your testing end?

-Thursday.

-Thursday.

OK, so you know I'm not going to be around on Thursday, right?

And you know why, right? Why?

Execution?

Yes. And do you understand about the execution?

What's going to happen?

He's going to die.

Who's going to die?

-Richard.

-And do you know how?

No.

-Do you want to know, cos you know I'm going to be watching it?

-Yes.

OK, so they have him laying on a table

and I walk into this small room and he will have

his arms and legs kind of attached to the table.

Richard will have a chance to talk and say some things if he wants to.

Then after he's done, if he does say anything, then they'll put a

drug in his arm. That's a drug that stops his heart and stops everything

in his body. He goes off to sleep and doesn't wake back up.

How do you feel about that? Are you OK with that?

I mean, well, it should be done because, I mean...

I don't know. It should happen, it should be done. I don't know!

BABY CRIES

It should be done, you are correct.

Do not be afraid to speak how you feel.

It was a robbery and then it turned into a kidnapping where,

you know, three people were forced into a car at gunpoint.

And it turned into a murder.

It turned into, you know, an attempted triple murder.

You know, in the beginning of that,

the course of that crime, that was not planned.

You know, it really should've never gotten to the point that it got.

And, you know, I'm so sorry that it got to that point.

I really can't make excuses for it but...

'Today's date is September 3rd, 2002.

'And we are in Cherokee County Sheriff's office.

'Present in the room are myself and Richard Cobb.

'I've got a warrant for your arrest for offence capital murder.

'What can you tell us about that?'

TV REPORT: 'In 2002, Richard Cobb and Buenka Adams kidnapped

'three people from a convenience store in Rusk.

'One of their victims wound up dead and Cobb and Adams,

'aged 19 and 20 at the time, were sentenced to death for his murder.

'Adams was executed in April last year,

'now Richard Cobb faces death by lethal injection on Thursday.'

I was 19 and looking for a job and never had worked

a day in my life, so I got the job at the convenience store.

And it was my third day on the job, I was still in training.

Candace, my friend that was training me, was in the store also.

'Last night, September 2nd, did you and

'Buenka Adams talk about robbing the BDJ store?'

'Yes.'

We had a gentleman that would come into the store.

His name was Kenneth and he would come in and help us

take out the trash and help sweep the floor.

The whole wall is our family.

Here's Kenneth.

I think that was his junior year in high school.

Kenneth had a car wreck at the age of 19.

Kind of set him back to where he had to start life over

and relearn to tie his shoes and walk and eat and speak and all that.

Right now, as far as I'm concerned, he's still here with us.

This is a 12-gauge shotgun.

It's typically used for hunting animals, big game.

'Did Adams have the shotgun when he went through the front door?'

'No.'

'No, OK, so you had the shotgun?'

'Yeah.'

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

I'd have been glad to put them to death. Naturally.

You said you didn't want to get into those feelings.

Well, I, no. There were several...

-Be careful.

-Yeah.

The two guys that went in to rob the place didn't know Kenneth was there.

When they approached the girls, there was two girls working

and Kenneth heard them talking

and he came from the other side of the store and said, what's going on?

'OK, Richard. let's start back at the beginning.

'So Adams went in first, what did you do?'

'He grabbed the cash and stuff and he kept on looking at me

'for some kind of approval, or whatever.

'Then he said, "All right, get the keys, we're going for a ride."

'What happened after y'all got in the car?'

LABOURED BREATHING

'Take just a second, Richard. Catch your breath.'

'Then we went down some back road.'

It was a full moon that night. As we were going down this road,

it felt like we were, like, 100 miles away from anybody.

When we pulled up down here, this is where we parked the Cadillac.

We get ten yards away from the car...

Richard was standing there with the gun pointing towards me.

Buenka had told me to get on the ground.

And I was raped by Buenka.

To load the shotgun you put the shells in, into the chamber

and pull it back. It brings one into the chamber

and then loads into the barrel and it's ready to shoot.

They had told us to get on our knees and face that direction.

Kenneth was back there a few feet behind me,

and they just told him to sit still.

'He said, "You take out the first one and I'll take out the second two."

'So, in my shotgun, I couldn't really see too good

'and plus I didn't want blood splattered all over me.'

I can remember Kenneth just saying, "Man, I'm ready to go home.

"Why don't y'all just let us go? This is just crazy."

He had no clue what they were doing. Next thing I know, the gun went off.

GUNSHOT

I hear Kenneth, "They shot me. They got me.

"Oh, my God, y'all hit me. You shot me."

'I heard Kenneth...start screaming.'

'You fired once, hitting Kenneth?

'And he fired several times, hitting the girls?

Once you shoot the gun, the shell's spent, you eject it,

it comes out, the other one's ready to go in.

The impact threw me forward and it felt like my left shoulder

was blown off and my body was ringing all over.

'Buenka Adams and Richard Cobb shot all three of their victims.

'Kenneth Vandever was killed and 23-year-old Candace Driver

'and 19-year-old Nikki Ansley were left for dead, but they both

'managed to get to their feet and run to nearby homes for safety.'

I wish I could just go to sleep and never think of all of it again.

I have dreams of being shot all the time.

I sit in a cage pretty much 22, 23 hours out of every single day.

Get to go out to a barren day room and spend an hour doing chin-ups.

Or whatever exercise.

Or, you know, walking around, mainly just pacing around.

You can make excuses all day long but, you know, it-it-it happened.

What's done is done, it can never be taken away, you can't change it.

You know, always at the forefront of my mind is

there's not going to be any second chance,

the State doesn't care to rehabilitate me, you know?

I'm an un-regenerable speck of cancer that needs to be

excised from humanity before I grow and develop into something darker.

Like tomorrow, it's very likely that I'll be executed.

You know, as we speak, you know,

I've been awake for something like 37, 38 hours.

For the past probably two weeks, you know,

I've spent a lot of time just retreating into myself,

trying to divorce myself from, you know, this forum.

You know, from this mortal coil and just

trying to renounce a lot of it and trying to

get ready for whatever type of transcendence might come, you know?

And just try to detach yourself from all the attachments,

the desires, you know, the anger, the resentment, the remorse.

HE SIGHS

Yeah, I'm angry.

I'll always be angry.

I wish that I could say that I'm the mum,

that I forgive and could forget.

I can't forgive this, I don't want to forgive this.

Put yourself in my shoes. If it was your child, your father,

your mother, your infant, what would you want?

It's a nightmare we all relive.

It will never go away,

just because the second one's being put down

does not mean that it's over.

We always look over our shoulder now.

Once something like this happens to you, or an immediate family,

you always look over your shoulder.

I cannot comprehend any parent,

if something like this happen to their child

and not want them dead.

And sometimes maybe I'm too direct but, you know,

if you had a child,

or do you believe in the death penalty yourself?

Good. Do you believe in it? Do you believe in it?

I don't really discuss it, sorry, it's kind of an impartiality thing.

Well, do you have a child, a young daughter?

I can't discuss it, sir, I'm sorry.

I mean, if I interviewed next week someone who's for,

-against the death penalty, I mean.

-Yeah, well, maybe, you know...

She doesn't want somebody to go through what she went through

to realise what the death penalty's about.

That's all I can say.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-Thank y'all very much.

Mama, is Richard going to get executed at the same time Buenka did?

-And what does executed mean?

-Die.

And it's exe-CU-tion.

SHE LAUGHS

-Execution.

-Very good.

An offender's day on execution starts around 7.00, or 8.00am.

That's when a special visitation would begin.

That time is extended so family and friends would be

able to come in and have a long extended stay with that individual.

There is going to be correctional officers that are nearby,

constantly documenting what that individual is doing.

A little bit before noon,

the person is transported to the Huntsville Unit.

The offender will then be unloaded, finger printed,

and then they're placed in a small holding cell that's

just outside the execution chamber.

Sometimes they're quite talkative,

other times you have individuals that don't speak at all.

And do people get upset?

In what respect?

Emotional.

Very rarely.

'Tonight here in Huntsville, Texas,

'the execution capital of the United States, a man by the name

'of Richard Cobb will be murdered by the State of Texas.'

-RADIO:

-'Richard Cobb has been under what's called the death watch

'for about three days.

'The prison tells us he's been spending a lot of time

'visiting with his family, he's also been writing notes,

'but we don't know who those notes have been to, or what they've said.

'He's been consulting with his lawyer.

'One of Cobb's two living victims,

'Nikki Daniels, is here to witness the execution.

'We're also expecting to hear from family of Ken Vandever,

'he was the man who was killed in that 2002 robbery.

'Earlier in this newscast...'

As far as the punishment,

I can see both sides of people's thinking about the death penalty.

I think in cases such as this one

where it is totally clear cut...

I think that the death penalty was definitely in order.

I just wished it hadn't taken so long.

About 4.45, the US Supreme Court reviewed the appeal and

they subsequently denied that appeal.

So at this point, we'll be moving forward with

the execution a little after 6.00pm.

Right now, Cobb is in a holding cell just outside the execution chamber.

He's about 15 feet away.

He's making telephone calls again to family and friends,

there's also a spiritual advisor that's there,

and he'll also have an opportunity to meet with his attorney as well.

-Thanks, guys.

-Thanks, Jason.

I have been thinking that he may ask for forgiveness,

so I have decided that I'm going to carry in a paper with me.

And nobody knows this yet.

I'm actually going to have to fold it up real small

and put it down there where it's just not real noticeable.

Cos nobody knows and I don't want anybody to know in the actual

walls of the execution room that if he does present it

then I'm going to hold up my sign and have it on the window...

that says that.

OK, y'all ready? We all need to go.

You don't have anything in your pockets?

There is nothing left standing in the way.

A Cherokee County man will die for murder, kidnapping

and sexual assault.

We're going to have the latest on the execution of Richard Cobb

coming up in a live report.

Brooke says as soon as you find out he's officially dead,

even before cut-in, let her know.

We typically hear that the execution's going to move forward

from the Warden's office.

At that point, I'll let the media know.

We'll then walk over from our office across the street

into the Walls Unit.

-PROTESTOR:

-'The murder of Richard Cobb is about to begin

'in The State of Texas.'

The Warden will walk back to the area where the offender is

being held and he'll tell the offender it's time.

They will open up the door and the offender will walk out

and go into the execution chamber.

There's a small step that they'll get up

and then get on the gurney and lay down.

They're strapped in.

A special team will then come in and insert the IVs

into the individual's arms.

Once all of that is up and operational

then the witnesses are brought in. The door is shut.

The Warden will ask the offender if they have any last statement.

Once he's finished, then the drugs begin to flow.

Killing me is not going to give anyone the peace

that they're looking for.

All it's going to do is continue the cycle, the cycle of violence.

It's not going to stop, you know, it's just going to continue.

There's not going to...from every negative situation, from every

dark situation, there's room for growth. No matter what it is.

All of the anger, all of the pain, all of the hatred,

that's never going to go away, it's, it's always going to be there.

If they kill me, it's always going to be there regardless.

What's done is done, it can never be taken away.

It felt like my left shoulder had blown off

and my body was ringing all over.

I watched them walk over to me and as they were standing over me

they said, "Are you bleeding, Nikki, are you bleeding?

"If you don't answer us we're going to blow your head off."

I never moved, never answered them.

And they kind of nudged me with their foot.

And then they just kicked over and over and over again.

It felt like they would never stop kicking.

When they finally got done kicking, they had

squatted down to where my head was and they had

picked my ponytail up,

to pick my head up off the ground.

And they got real close to my face

and got this lighter down within three inches

of my eyes and I can still feel the heat coming off of that lighter.

I remember looking at both of them and seeing four eyes staring

right back at me and they were just staring at me.

After a few seconds they said, she's dead, we can go.

OK, can you please say and spell your first and last name?

Sure, it's Jason Clark, J-A-S-O-N, Clark, C-L-A-R-K,

Spokesperson for The Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Richard Cobb was executed tonight

and he was pronounced deceased at 6.27pm.

I had these gut feelings that I thought

he was going to be remorseful, I thought he was going to be apologetic,

I thought he was going to, or I was hoping he was going to address me.

If he was going to ask for forgiveness, I was going to let him

know that I forgive him.

Cobb did make a last statement.

He said, "Life is death, death is life, I hope that some day

"this absurdity that humanity has come to an end, life is too short.

"I hope that anyone that has negative energy towards me

"will resolve that, life is too short to harbour feelings of hatred

"and anger, that's it."

He then lifted his head and said, wow and used an expletive

and then lost consciousness and was pronounced deceased at 6.27pm.

So I gather this is too easy for him,

think it should have been, you know, tougher?

Well, if I had a say and the law could change for what

I said, it was way too easy.

Yes, it needs to be harsher and I think all of our kids in schools

and all need to see it, maybe then it would turn them

away from wanting to do any of this crime.

Do you think it ought to be televised?

No, it needs to be done on a courtroom lawn.

Courtroom lawn.

And if you want to do that, let's do it half-time at the football games,

hope we can get some people there then.

Whenever it was his last breaths, he turned to my direction

and was not looking directly at me, but was looking my way where

he could see me and I'm glad that he did because it, yeah...

I'm glad I was the last visual he probably

-saw in there before he died.

-Yes.

I did not show him my sign.

I did not feel that he deserved to know that I forgave him, he did

not deserve anything, he deserved to be...

..die brutally and he didn't.

-So now we're going to go eat dinner.

-Have a drink.

And celebrate.

Is there anything that you would like to say to the Cobb family?

We don't know any of the Cobb family.

The process we've been through makes you...

It has changed us and it makes you hard.

We certainly know how they feel,

because we have lost a son as well.

And it hurts.

-Let's go.

-Thank you for being here.

When he found out that the stay did not go through he called me

at 5.30 and he said, Mom, he said, it's on,

he said I didn't get a stay, he said now you listen to me.

And Richard, when Richard would get nervous,

or scared he'd talk real fast.

He said, understand, Mom, this was not your fault.

I love you, I have always loved you, I will love you beyond.

But he said do not think that this

was your fault, it was a bad decision that I made.

He dreamed every night of that murder.

He would see it all act out every time.

Your State has executed 234 death row inmates,

more than any other Governor in modern times.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

What do you make of that mention of the execution of 234 people

drew applause?

I think Americans understand justice

and it's a State by State issue.

But in The State of Texas, you kill one of our children,

you kill a police officer, you're involved with another crime

and you kill one of our citizens,

you will face the ultimate justice and that is you will be executed.

My school, all they know is that there's a family emergency

and I'm just going home, they're not going to find out what it is.

They, they're all assuming that maybe,

like they're all assuming that it's maybe,

like a sibling has some type of terminal disease, or cancer

and we're just waiting for them to, like take their last breath.

I don't want this to affect me throughout my college career,

people finding out what it is and oh,

I'm that girl whose brother's on death row.

I don't need people's pity because of my brother,

I want them to treat me as I am, or how I act at school,

I don't want them to think of me any differently.

My parents provided me with every opportunity,

they gave me what I needed to make good decisions, I choose to make bad

decisions and that's me and I place no blame on no-one else but me.

Well, I'm in a hotel right now. I'll be here for like a week

until all this is over.

I know that this is overwhelming but,

-um, Anthony really stands out from...

-OK.

..from a lot of the clients I, I've seen and I, I can't predict,

as much as I know about the case it's, it's very difficult, um...

OK, well you know you can call any time, Mr Ellis.

His attorney, Mr Richard Ellis,

he's actually taken Anthony's case personal, he believes that he should

not be on death row, he said that it could go to the wire, meaning

to the end on, on Thursday, but he

believes that he should get a stay.

You know, we, we still have 72 hours, you know,

before it happens, I mean we're still counting down.

Barring any last minute intervention, Houston cop killer

Anthony Haynes will be executed by lethal injection.

Haynes is on death row for the 1998 shooting of off-duty officer

Sergeant Kent Kincaid of The Houston Police Department.

The officer WAS off-duty but pulled Haynes over,

identified himself as a police officer, was reaching for his

badge in his back pocket when he was shot by Haynes in the left eye.

I think it's easier to be in prison on death row as a younger

person because you haven't experienced life, you don't

have the, you don't have, I wasn't married, I didn't have kids,

I did, I got to experience life on a certain level, but I wasn't grown.

In my dreams, it's all about the past, even though

consciously I don't think about it, I dream about old friends,

old family members, high school, eating good food, you know,

spending time with my friend, my girlfriend and family, you know?

It's all about the past, always.

As a kid, he played soccer. He played a little

flag football, and he was always involved,

really involved, deeply involved in the ROTC programme, so whenever they

had summer camps, or things to do, he would always be involved in that.

Most of the kids who get into that programme, those programmes,

are geared to go toward, to the military when they, when they

graduate from high school and Anthony was on that road.

You know, when I found out what had happened it's just,

it's just, you know, hard to accept, hard to accept.

GUNFIRE

EDIS presented Kincaid's mother with his cap,

his wife was presented with The United States flag.

Kincaid's brother-in-law read a statement

prepared by the officer's widow, Nancy.

"For the people that didn't know Kent very well

"he was truly a wonderful person.

"His family always came first, he loved hanging out at home

"with me and the girls, he loved his job, he loved the challenge

"of the job and the satisfaction of helping other people.

"Thank you for your thoughts and prayers."

I feel like I don't really remember my Dad.

But, like, it's like wanting that

relationship, I think, more, that makes me sad now.

I think about a lot when I someday get married,

he won't be there to walk us down the aisle.

Yeah, I...

I just get mad about missing out on everything with him.

I would say not a single moment goes by that he's not on our mind,

or something reminds us of him, or we wish that he was here,

and people always ask, like what it,

what it's been like growing up without our dad?

And I always kinda say, like we're still growing up without our dad.

I mean, I still have dreams about him

and I'm almost mad at him,

because he doesn't realise how much we've missed him.

And he, or he doesn't realise how long he's been gone.

It was May 22nd 1998 and Kent and I,

we were invited to some friend's home.

For some reason he was, like you know, I'd really like to stay home.

I said you know, we don't,

we don't get out very much, we don't socialise with our friends

as much as we used to, we need to do this, you know?

So, we decided to go to a local sports bar, which was

just across the highway, not, not too far.

Within, I don't know, a minute after we left,

we had turned down the street and a truck had passed us,

a pick-up truck

and something hit our windshield.

So, my husband decided well, he turned around and he followed them

and we did not know that these kids had been out

earlier in the evening robbing people at gunpoint.

He followed for, for a while, they said it was 13 blocks,

so I finally turned down the street, let him pass.

The guy immediately follows me into the street and blocks me in a

driveway at a perpendicular angle.

So, put my truck in reverse and

I jumped over the kerb and we end up being driver's side, the driver's

side. He comes to me and he's talking about my window.

I'm, like the window what?

He's at least six feet tall and he says, I'm a cop,

but as he says I'm a cop,

he reaches for his hip,

I can't see what he reaching for,

but just my personal life experience tell me he's going for a weapon.

So I fire one shot.

-GUNSHOT

-Ready! Aim!

GUNSHOT

My husband was just laying there on his back

not moving.

So, I didn't know what to do, I started to,

I just started screaming for the neighbours to come out.

And I, I mashed the gas, I mean I, I put it in first and I hurried up

and got and I got up off that street.

SHE SIGHS

As I came round the corner here, I saw the vehicle parked,

turned out to be Sergeant Kincaid's jeep.

I saw a male laying on the ground in the middle of the road right

here and there was a female that was, um, cradling him

and was crying and screaming.

Yeah, he was laying here, I reached out and grabbed,

checked his pulse.

She was sitting right here cradling his head,

I checked his pulse real quick, he did have a faint pulse.

Um, when the hospital helicopter came and they airlifted him,

I stayed back to answer questions as best I could,

um, cos I was a witness to everything

and then we went to the hospital.

His condition was very grave, he had a gunshot to his, to his head,

right between his eyes, um, was laboured breathing, it was,

he was obviously losing life very quickly, you know?

It was a, it was a horrific scene, for sure,

especially when you find out it's an officer that's down then absolutely,

I mean it's, yeah, it's a brotherhood,

somebody gets hurt and you feel it.

Lots of police officers were there

and doctors were there

and they told me that there was...they couldn't save him.

There's nothing they could do.

I told them the next morning.

They were so little, I just don't understand why,

I mean they didn't understand.

It was, it was hard to tell them, but I had to,

I mean you have to do what you have to do.

I haven't kept count of how many journeys I've made to visit Anthony.

They search your car,

search everything in it, you,

you have to have your whole body searched and I can't touch him,

I haven't been able to touch him in 13 years.

He, like, kind of lives are family spirits.

Like, we're supposed to be his anchor, he's like ours.

I try to leave things on a happy note,

because by the end of the visit, as to getting a little teary, but it's

like, deep breaths and I'm fine and then I try to leave with a smile.

I want him to see me leave with a smile.

I make sure the last thing he saw of me was a smile.

We had a great visit, yeah,

we took pictures and he talked about when he was young,

some of his youngest memories.

-So his spirits were good?

-Oh, always, always in good spirits.

As crazy as it may sound to some, I firmly believe that five

years ago God spoke a word to me

and God told me you're not going to die there,

you're not going to die there.

I know, I know for some people they looked at me, how can he say that?

I have no doubts, I've been serving God long enough,

God does not lie, so...

So tomorrow, your visit tomorrow is the last

opportunity you'll have to talk to him?

-Correct.

-OK.

But I don't feel it's my last opportunity, I mean,

I honestly believe that I will see him next week.

'I only have one friend

'that actually stayed there with me from day one.'

He's in good spirits,

he's very positive about the whole thing

and, I mean, it's good to see, but...

I don't know, it's kinda scary at the same time.

You could have a negative outlook or a positive outlook.

My outlook is always positive.

I didn't expect it to come this close,

but I have a hopeful expectation I'll get a stay

and Friday, I'll still be alive.

And when that happens, I give all glory to God. Nobody else.

Not a man, not a court, all glory to God, you know?

I just... I don't want to see him...

I don't want to see him die.

Hi, Mr Ellis.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles,

that was the clemency, right?

OK.

My mum, she's having a hard time dealing with this.

My mum does not share the faith that...that I have.

I think she believes,

but not on the same level that I do.

So there's still that doubt in her mind.

She's preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, you know?

The Board of Pardons and Paroles,

they just denied his clemency.

So now it's up to the Supreme Court.

The Governor can give a stay.

He's only done it once in his 248 executions,

but anything's possible.

I will.

Bye.

I got to stay strong for Alie.

Oh!

This is so difficult.

'To determine death, jurors must decide if Haynes is a future

'threat to society and that nothing mitigates against the death penalty.'

He looked like a little kid back then, you know.

He was 19 years old,

but he looked to be about maybe 16 or 17, the way he looked.

It's amazing, here in Texas, a lot of things

go on in courtrooms that probably wouldn't go on in other places.

The judge that was presiding over the jury selection was,

you know, cleaning his gun in court, you know?

That kinda gave me a premonition

as to how things would wind up

in the courtrooms here in Harris County.

And I think the defence team did not do their job.

'On the day of his sentencing he told the judge

'he still had his faith in God and when he left the courtroom

'he threw up his hand in the air and gave a wave to his family.'

People, when they're born into this world,

they're not born to be killers,

I don't think.

So at the time when I would think about Anthony as a little boy,

I thought, I don't think his family even thought that he

would grow up to do something like that, you know?

He was probably a good little boy,

you know, a sweet baby.

Am I relieved with the punishment?

I don't know if that's a good word to say.

Our feelings are very torn when it comes to death row

because, on one hand, you think that you're going feel this,

like, huge sense of relief and part of you does

because you know you will never have to encounter him again.

But then, of course, on the other hand, we're human beings.

Like, you do feel guilt and you feel...

I mean we probably feel more remorse for him

than he does for us, I don't know.

But...it's a lot of mixed emotions.

You don't know what to feel

and you're kind of just angry that you have to feel any of them.

I don't think I'm going to die tomorrow.

I don't believe that at all.

I'm looking forward to the fried chicken

and the telephone privileges,

so that's what I'm looking at right now, you know?

I'm not worried at all.

I'm praying for you.

I made arrangements today.

I pray to God it doesn't come to that. Yeah.

And I'm just... My aunt and Donald will handle the obituary,

or whatever anybody wants to help.

I can't do that, I can't deal with that.

I mean I want it to just... just hurry up and

get it over with if it did came to that on Saturday,

or Monday but, you know...

Donald wants to allow for people to come

in town and I'm like, "Where have these people been for 13 years?"

I mean, why are we waiting for people to come in town?

But I know that's selfish.

'Tomorrow, I've been designated as...'

..one of the witnesses, should the execution occur.

And it was very hard for me at first to make that decision.

But, you know,

I'm Anthony's father

and I love Anthony and we have a spiritual connection

and I'm going to be there for Anthony till the end.

Till the end, I'll be there.

If you were at worship on Sunday, you know that sister Pauline read

a letter on behalf of brother Anthony Haynes.

We are praying for his mother,

sister Patricia Davis who is here on tonight, amen?

CONGREGATION: Amen.

And, what I want to do, I want us to stand

-and pray as a church family, for sister Davis, amen?

-Amen.

Amen. Because we just learnt

that God is able to do anything but fail, amen?

Then God, we come with a special prayer request.

We've been fasting and praying, believing for brother Haynes.

God, we pray now for sister Davis, God,

and the remainder of their family.

His father and those others who are affiliated.

God, we know that nobody can do anything like you.

So God, we pray now, by your divine will,

if it's your will, that you deliver like only you can.

And God, we know that you're able, if you only would, God.

God, we pray for your mercy, like only you can.

We know that you are able, Lord God.

And we can get a miracle, O God.

God, we pray now that you touch the hand of every judge,

or anybody else who has anything to do with the case because, God,

we know that you are a lawyer who's never lost a case.

And so, God, we're coming in faith, nothing wavering,

knowing that you are able to work miracles!

Yeah.

God, we need your peace.

We need your peace.

We need your peace, God.

We need your peace.

I thank you for coming to see me.

All right, God bless you.

'Good morning, the state of Texas is today preparing to carry out

'the execution of Anthony Haynes.

'Haynes, due to die by lethal injection, was convicted

'of shooting dead an off-duty police officer in Houston in 1998.

'Haynes, 19 at the time of the shooting,

'claims he did not know his victim...'

-Can you give me a moment?

-Sure.

OK.

-What's your first name?

-Jason.

-Jason, J-A-S-O-N?

-Uh-huh.

-What's your last name, Jason?

Clark, C-L-A-R-K.

Anthony Haynes did make a statement, he said,

"God told me that I will not die on death row.

"He told me to believe in the impossible.

"He put something in my path to keep me focused.

"God proved himself to be faithful,

"he delivered me from the death chamber. To God be the glory."

Yeah, around 4pm today, we received notice from

the US Supreme Court that Anthony Haynes received

a stay of execution.

So, tell me, when you guys got the news, what sort of happened?

It was around 3.45pm that we received the news

that the US Supreme Court had stayed the execution of Anthony Haynes.

We confirmed that stay of execution and the offender was notified.

And a little after 4pm, he was put into a transport van

and brought back to the Polunsky Unit.

The appeal that was filed at the last minute

related to ineffective counsel and so the US Supreme Court

stopped the execution, so they could review that a little bit closer.

You've been with the Kincaid family all afternoon,

tell me how they're doing.

Well, they're frustrated, they're disappointed,

but supportive of the system and respectful of the system.

We understand that everyone has rights in this country.

The United States Supreme Court has decided that they wanted a stay

at this point to look at something else and we respect that process.

Is there anything else you want to add?

Just that we hope that people keep

the Kincaid family in their prayers.

This is a roller coaster for them and

we know that they want closure, if you can have possible closure

when you've lost your husband, or your father, or your friend.

You know, the whole time I've been locked up, you know,

I've been treated like a... like an animal many times,

I mean, they don't treat you like a man at all.

And it's kind of ironic that the day that they're going to kill you

all the attitudes change.

I get over there, they take my handcuffs off,

I'm walking round free,

they look at me and say, "Haynes,

"if you don't cause trouble, we don't cause trouble."

There was a big old plate with cookies, pies, a cup cake,

pastry, this is all for you and sweet tea, hot coffee, ice water,

some other kind of drink, you know - "This is all for you, Haynes."

But after I got the stay, all the attitudes changed.

When I first got there the warden, he comes in,

he wants to shake your hand, talk to you,

but when I got my stay, I tried to shake one of the officers' hands -

"No, we're going to be professional now."

So I didn't get to eat, I didn't get to eat my meal,

I got back on the van and came back.

But it was like a weight just lifted off my shoulder,

I was just filled with joy, I was just happy.

We thought it would be done and over with that day

and knowing that it wasn't

and knowing that this would all come back up

in two months or in two years

and not knowing when was really frustrating.

I was kind of mad that it didn't happen, just because...

..I just wanted it over with,

I didn't want to have to deal with it all again in the future.

I understand that, you know, Kent Kincaid was a lot more

than the person I encountered on that street that night, you know?

I know...

I know I took someone's father,

someone's husband.

You know, when I think about my relationship with my father

it's very strong,

but that's something that I took away from his daughters, you know?

Two little innocent girls, right?

I think about Nancy

and she watched her husband get shot

and that has to be very, very, very traumatic, right, you know?

But I cannot take back what I did.

I'm sorry, you know?

I'm not sorry just cos I'm locked up -

I genuinely regret what happened, you know?

I wish it never had happened.

I'm sorry.