Derrick Jackson

Derrick Leon Jackson, 42, was executed by lethal injection on 20 July 2010 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of two men in their apartment.

On Monday, 12 September 1988, Alan Wrotenbery, 31, failed to appear for his job as a music teacher at Deer Park Elementary School in east Harris County. The school principal contacted the manager of the Greenway Plaza-area apartments in central Houston where Wrotenbery lived. The manager unlocked the apartment and went inside. He saw nothing disturbed in the living room or kitchen, but upon proceeding to one of the bedrooms, he found a body covered with blood. He promptly left and called 9-1-1.

Police officers arrived and found Wrotenbery's body on the floor of his bedroom. He was wearing only a pair of swimming trunks. In the other bedroom, officers found the nude body of his roommate, Forrest Henderson, 31, lying face-down in his bed. Blood was all over the bedroom walls, doors, and curtains. Police found a bloody metal bar in the hallway and a bloody knife in the kitchen sink. Both victims' wallets were missing, and Henderson's car was gone. There were no signs of forced entry into the apartment.

A forensic pathologist testified that Alan Wrotenbery suffered a severed carotid artery, cuts to the vertebrae, and at least three blows to the back of the head with a narrow, blunt instrument, such as a pipe. Forrest Henderson had a six-inch skull fracture caused by blunt force, and multiple stab wounds on his torso. He also had a shallow, non-fatal cut on his neck and defensive wounds on both arms. The victims had been dead for more than eight hours before they were found.

Police collected blood samples and fingerprints from the crime scene, including a fingerprint from a glass tumbler in Henderson's bedroom and a bloody print found on his bedroom door. They also picked up a DNA sample from blood stains on some bathroom towels. Despite this evidence, they were unable to develop leads to a suspect.

David Trujillo, who lived next door to the victims, told police that at around 4:45 a.m. on 11 September, he was awakened by the sound of Wrotenbery screaming "Oh my God. No. No." several times. He also heard what sounded like someone being hit numerous times with a pipe or baseball bat. After 30 minutes of silence, he heard the water running for about 45 minutes. Trujillo never heard Henderson's front door open or anyone leave.

Trujillo later testified that he often saw "street trash" entering and leaving the apartment when Henderson lived there alone, and that screaming and fighting were common there. The rowdiness subsided after Wrotenbery moved in, he said.

On the morning of 13 September, Houston police spotted a car going more than 90 mph on the freeway following a burglary at a mall. The car crashed in a vacant lot. The driver fled on foot into an apartment complex and escaped. The car was identified as Henderson's. No other evidence was recovered from it.

In 1995, the Houston Police Department upgraded to a new fingerprint system with an expanded database. Using this new system, they obtained a match with Derrick Jackson, who was sent to prison in 1992 with a 12-year sentence for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Following this identification, police also matched the blood and DNA evidence from the crime scene to Jackson.

On the night of the murders, Henderson and Wrotenbery, who were both tenors in the Houston Grand Opera, attended a practice session downtown. Afterward, Wrotenbery returned to the apartment while Henderson visited some Montrose bars. Police claimed that Henderson picked up Jackson in a bar and brought him home. They characterized Jackson as a predator who targeted gay men.

A jury convicted Jackson of capital murder in March 1998 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in May 2000. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Jackson denied involvement in the murders in an interview from death row. "It's obvious I'm getting framed," he said. "I'm not your bad guy. People who know me know I'm a good guy ... I hate the fact that I'm being blamed and will be killed, but it's more sadness than hate."

At his execution, Jackson did not make eye contact either with his own family or the victim's relatives. He declined to make a last statement. The lethal injection was given, and he was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.