HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Jan. 5 -- A former handyman has been executed at Huntsville for the sexual assault and murder of an elderly West Texas woman. John Glenn Moody was declared dead at 8:33 p.m. today after receiving a lethal injection for the July 3, 1988, slaying of 77-year-old Louise Mauldin in her Abilene home.
Moody issued a statement saying: 'I'd like to apologize and ask for forgiveness for any pain and suffering I have inflicted upon all of you, including my family. All of you. I am very sorry.' He repeated to execution witnesses, including his brother and the victim's daughter-in-law and grandson: 'I'm very sorry. I've got to go now. I love you.' The execution was delayed for some two-and-a-half hours while Moody's attorney attempted to obtain a stay based on a challenge of Texas' clemency process. According to records from the state Attorney General's Office, Mauldin was found nude with a telephone cord wrapped tightly around her neck. Her homewas in disarray and two rings that she normally wore were missing, along with her purse and wallet. Two days after the crime, Moody was booked into jail on a charge of public intoxication. The stolen rings were found in his pants pocket, and police discovered his bloody fingerprint on the victim's telephone. Moody had done yard work for Mauldin in the past, and canceled checks indicated she had paid him for cleaning and yard work he had done in April and May of 1988. Prosecutors offered evidence of past criminal conduct by Moody, including robbery and burglary in Ohio, and sexual assault and theft in West Virginia. Moody was the first death row inmate executed in Texas this year and the 165th since the state resumed the death penalty in 1982. ---
Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
