HOUSTON, July 25 (UPI) -- Texas executed a man who shot a toddler to death as part of an inheritance scheme.
Remorseful and prayerful, Allen Wayne Janecka was executed Thursday for the 1979 murder of the 14-month-old boy in his crib.
"For many years I have done things my way, which has caused a lot of pain to me, my family and many others," Janecka, 53, said as he lay on the death chamber gurney, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Janecka, who spent 22 years on death row, was the 20th prisoner Texas put to death this year. He was the second inmate executed in the slayings of Houston toddler Kevin Wanstrath and his parents.
Recruited by a middle man, Janecka was the "hit man" who erased a man's four immediate family members in return for a few thousand dollars. The scheme was designed for the man to inherit the bulk of his family's $800,000 estate.
