LeJames Norman set to be executed Wednesday in Huntsville
LeJames Norman is scheduled to be executed Wednesday in Huntsville for the 2005 shooting deaths of three people in a home in Edna, Texas. The execution would be the fifth in Texas this year.
Norman, 40, was sentenced to death in the fatal shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, inside the home they shared. He is scheduled to die by injection of the sedative pentobarbital at 6 p.m. CDT at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
Norman and Ker’Sean Ramey believed there was cocaine in the house and hoped to steal it, according to court records. They never found any drugs and fatally shot three people in the home. Lopez was shot four times, including three in the back of his head. Peacock was shot twice in the head. Roberts was shot five times to the chest, neck and head.
Norman was arrested about five months after the killings while trying to cross back into the U.S. from Mexico. He pleaded guilty to capital murder, leaving a jury to decide his punishment.
Ramey was also convicted in the shootings and sentenced to death. His execution is set for next week.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday voted against commuting Norman’s sentence to a lesser penalty or recommending a 90-day reprieve of execution. After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday denied a motion from Norman’s attorneys for a stay of execution based on claims regarding actions by the prosecution, his attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.
In 2017 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Norman’s appeal raising questions about the competence of his trial attorneys.
