Texas Woman Executed For Starving Girlfriend’s Child To Death
38-year-old Lisa Ann Coleman was put to death Wednesday night for the torture and starvation death of her girlfriend's 9-year-old son.
Coleman was convicted in 2006 for the July 2004 kidnapping and death of Davonte Williams, her girlfriend's son. The boy's mother, Marcella, was also arrested in connection to the boy's death. Court documents noted that Davontae's body was underweight and emaciated to the point of being shocking, weighing just under 36 lbs., around half of a 9-year-old's normal weight. Davonte's growth was stunted due to the starvation and he had over 250 injuries on his body including burns from cigars and cigarettes as well as scars from being tied up.
Both Coleman and Williams were put on trial for Davonte's death, with Coleman receiving the death penalty due in part to her criminal history, and Williams accepting a plea deal for a life sentence. Coleman's original attorney cited the different sentences as an example of why capital punishment should be reformed, saying,
She (Marcella) was as culpable in the death of Davontae Williams as my client, and that is what seems unfair,
Coleman spent her final day in a holding cell, meeting with visitors and occasionally crying and laughing, according to officials. The Supreme Court denied her final appeal just two hours before her sentence was set to be carried out. She died 12 minutes after being injected with pentobarbital, becoming the second woman executed in Texas this year, and the 15th woman executed since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Via USA Today