A Mississippi man was officially executed yesterday for the 1990 slaying of his four nieces and nephews.
Despite the requests of his two sisters to spare the life the brother that murdered their children, Henry “Curtis” Jackson Jr. was pronounced dead at 6:13 pm CDT after receiving a lethal injection from Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, according to MSNBC.
Court records indicate that Jackson was trying to steal his mothers safe from her home while she was attending church. When Jackson stumbled upon his nieces and nephew at the home, he proceeded to repeatedly stab his four nieces and nephews until they were dead. The children’s ages ranged from age 2 to age 5.
The requests by the sisters, one of whom was a stabbing victim of her brother, were heartfelt and genuine as they pleaded for their brothers life.
“We are the victims in this case, and we are begging you not to let Curtis be killed. You can keep him in Parchman forever, but please don’t put our family through this horrible execution,” the sisters wrote in a letter to the governor.
“As a mother who lost two babies, all I’m asking is that you not make me go through the killing of my brother,” one sister wrote.
Mississippi state governor Phil Bryant released a statement denying the sisters requests to stop the execution even though he was “deeply touched” by their requests for mercy.
“There is no question that Mr. Jackson committed these heinous crimes, and there is no clear and convincing evidence that compels me to grant clemency,” Bryant said .
Adding, “one of these sisters was a stabbing victim, and both of the sisters are mothers of the murdered children. However, as governor, I have the duty to see that justice is carried out.”
Jackson says that he doesn’t remember the murders, but according to testimony from his 1991 trial, Jackson cut the phone lines before entreating the home, demanded money, and then carried out the brutal attack of his relatives.