HUNTSVILLE, Texas, March 7 (UPI) -- A Texas killer was executed Thursday for the 1993 murders of two men while he was out on bond on a murder charge in another case.
Gerald Wayne Tigner, Jr., 29, was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. CST after receiving a lethal injection for the murders of James Williams, 22, and Michael Watkins, 32, during a shooting spree at Waco, Texas, on Aug. 31, 1993.
In his final statement, Tigner said he was wrongly convicted for the slayings.
"I got convicted on a false confession because I never admitted to it, but my lawyer did not put this out to the jury," he said. "I did not kill those drug dealers. I send love to my family and friends; my east side family and friends. I am being real with the real. That's all that counts in my heart."
Tigner signed two confessions after his arrest, and during his two trials, eyewitnesses testified that they saw him shoot and kill Williams and Watkins. Tigner was convicted and sentenced to death in a 1994 trial and then again in 1997.
Tigner was driving with two other men when they came upon Watkins and Williams in another car and Tigner told them to stop, according to police. When an argument broke out over money, Tigner fired into the car and then retrieved another gun.
On his way back to the victims' car, Tigner stopped by Watkins, who had fallen out and was crawling away, police said. He straddled him and shot him in the head. Watkins was shot 10 times and Williams suffered seven gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy.
Tigner was the sixth convicted killer executed this year in Texas.
