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Submitted: 8/4/21 • Approved: 8/4/21 • Last Updated: 8/7/21 • R444197-G0-S3
Jay Kelly Pinkerton was born on Valentines Day in 1962, in Texas, to Gene and Margie Pinkerton. Mr. Pinkerton died on May 15, 1986 in Huntsville, Walker County, Texas at the age of 24.
An article in the Tyler Courier Times (August 5, 1985) states Mr. Pinkerton has received his 2nd execution date for the rape-slaying of Sarah Donn Lawrence while burglarizing her home in Amarillo, Texas on October 26, 1979. He was also convicted of the murder of Sherry Welch in Amarillo. She was stabbed to death while working at a furniture store. The State of Texas halted executions temporarily but resumed them in 1982. According to TDC records, at the age of 24, he was the youngest inmate ever executed at that time.
He had received 2 previous stays of execution pending appeals but stated he was "at peace and prepared to die" when he received the reprieves. He was 17 years old when he committed his crimes.
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The Times Herald
Port Huron, Michigan
15 May 1986, Thu • Page 10
Mother's appeal fails; Texas killer is executed HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP)
Jay Kelly Pinkerton, convicted of the mutilation-slaying of one woman and the murder of another, said goodbye to his father and was executed today by injection, nine months after escaping the same fate by just 26 minutes. Pinkerton, 24, was pronounced dead at 12:25 a.m., said Assistant Attorney General Monroe Clayton, just hours after federal judges rejected an appeal hand-delivered by Pinkerton's mother. His father, Gene, the only relative to witness the execution, gripped an aluminum rail in the death chamber a few feet from his son. "Be strong for me," Pinkerton told his father. "I want you to know that I'm at peace with myself and with my God. I talked to everybody on the phone. I got to talk to Mom. Say goodbye to Mom. Keep your spirits up for me." Then he chanted: "I bear witness to Allah. I ask for your forgiveness." "Bye, Jay," his father said. "I love you, Dad," replied Pinkerton, who then said, "I feel dizziness. I feel dizziness." He yawned, his eyes closed, and he died. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday twice refused to block the execution. After the first rejection, Pinkerton's mother, Margie, carried a personal appeal from her son to U.S. District Judge Hayden Head of Corpus Christi. Head, who was in Houston for a meeting, denied the appeal about 25 minutes later. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and the Supreme Court then also refused to stop the execution. Pinkerton, an apprentice meat cutter, was executed for raping and mutilating Sarah Donn Lawrence in 1979 during a burglary of her Amarillo home when he was 17 years old. Mrs. Lawrence, 30, was stabbed more than 50 times and her throat was slashed.
Contributed on 8/4/21 by deanakh1
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Record #: 444197