HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ “I wish I could go back and change it, but I know I can’t.”
Those were some of the last words of 54-year-old John Alba before he was executed in Huntsville tonight for barging into a suburban Dallas apartment and killing his estranged wife.
Alba also addressed his son and daughter, who watched through a window. He told them, “Just tell everyone I love them. “all will be OK. I will too.”
With that, he said, “OK, warden. Do it!”
As the lethal drugs began to take effect, Alba said he could taste them. He said, “I am starting to go,” before snoring and losing consciousness.
According to testimony at his trial, Alba and his wife 28-year-old wife, Wendy, had a rocky marriage marked by alcohol abuse and infidelity and domestic violence. On the day of the shooting almost 19 years ago, Alba was released from jail after posting bail on a charge of molesting a 12-year-old girl.
Alba was the 11th prisoner executed this year in Texas, the nation’s busiest death penalty state.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)