AMARILLO, Texas -- An 18-year-old man who yelled in court, 'I didn't kill her,' was condemned to death by injection in the rape-murder of a 76-year-old nun.
Johnny Frank Garrett, whose trial was punctuated earlier by emotional outbursts from him and his mother, listened impassively Thursday to the jury's pronouncement in the murder of Sister Tadea Benz.
Neither Garrett nor his attorneys had any comment after the verdict was read by Judge George Dowlen, although the defense lawyers conceded they were not surprised by the death sentence.
'I feel all right. You're not happy when you try to put someone to death,' said prosecutor Danny Hill, who told jurors Garrett was the 'perfect example of why the state Legislature authorized the death penalty.'
Garrett's conviction will be appealed automatically and he has 30 days to petition for a new trial.
The victim, a Franciscan nun, was raped and killed Oct. 31, 1981, in her room at the St. Francis Convent, across the street from Garrett's house.
Defense attorney Bill Kolius argued Garrett was a suspect merely because he lived across the street from the slaying scene and had a criminal record.
But police said Garrett confessed to the crimes. One investigator testified Garrett admitted 'he said the Lord's Prayer while on top of the sister.'
Garrett repudiated the confession, although he said he burglarized the convent 12 hours before the slaying.
Eight deputy sheriffs provided security in the emotion-charged courtroom when the jury filed in to announce Garrett's fate. Earlier, Garrett and his mother, Charlotte Jo Cameron, cried after the jury left to begin deliberations on his sentence.
'Johnny, I love you, I love you,' Mrs. Cameron shouted to her son amid sobs.
During her testimony she had pleaded with the jury, 'Please don't kill him, please don't.'
When the jury returned with its guilty verdict late Wednesday, Garrett angrily swept a book from the defense table and exclaimed to his attorney, 'I didn't kill her, man!'
