Texas Executes Man Who Strangled Woman
A convicted killer was executed by injection Wednesday evening for the 1996 death of a suburban Houston woman who was choked and bound with plastic wire and cable ties.
While strapped to the death chamber gurney, Richard Kutzner repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and blamed the slaying on “two guys” who worked for him.
“There’s nothing else I can say. I didn’t do this,” the 59-year-old inmate said.
Kutzner had a long criminal history. He was convicted of robbery in California in the 1960s, and theft and aggravated robbery in Texas in the 1980s. The Mount Clemens, Mich., native also was convicted of armed robbery in suburban Detroit and served time in his home state.
He was condemned for strangling Kathryn Harrison at her Montgomery County real estate office on Jan. 22, 1996.
The restraints on the victim typically are used by air-conditioning technicians, a job held by Kutzner and a trade he learned while imprisoned in California.
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