HUNTSVILLE, Texas, April 29 -- Texas prison officials have carried out the state's sixth execution of the year, putting Frank B. McFarland to death by injection for the rape and murder of a north Texas woman in 1988. McFarland was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m. CDT.
McFarland's final statement was: 'I owe no apologies for a crime I did not commit. Those who lied and fabricated evidence against me will have to answer for what they have done. I know in my heart what I did. I call upon the spirits of my ancestors to clear a path. I'm coming home.' McFarland was condemned for the Feb. 1, 1988, murder of Terry Lynn Hokanson in Hurst, a suburb of Fort Worth. Hokanson was sexually assaulted and stabbed 25 times, but still managed to stumble out of some woods and seek help from three teenage boys. A second man allegedly involved in the crime turned up dead later in another Texas city. The accomplice's girlfriend told police he had confessed to the crime before his death and told her he had acted with McFarland. At McFarland's sentencing, state prosecutors offered evidence of his violent history, including an attempted sexual assault with a knife. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block the execution. McFarland had contended that he was denied effective counsel at trial and on appeal. McFarland was the 150th Texas inmate put to death since capital punishment resumed in 1982. A small group of protestors gathered outside the prison to mark the milestone and call for an end to capital punishment. ---
Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
