Texas Executes Inmate Who Kidnapped, Killed Gay Man

A Texas inmate who took part in the 1993 kidnap and murder of a gay man and later participated in a failed escape attempt from Texas death row was executed Thursday by lethal injection.

Henry Dunn Jr., 28, was the second man this week and the eighth this year put to death in Texas, which leads the nation in capital punishment.

Dunn was condemned for the killing of 23-year-old Nicholas West.

In a videotaped confession, he admitted that he and two accomplices went to a Tyler, Texas, park known as a homosexual meeting place in search of a victim to rob. Prosecutors said the three had targeted victims from the park before.

After an accomplice tricked West into picking him up, Dunn and another accomplice followed them out of town to a remote clay pit. They forced West to strip, robbed him and then shot him at least a dozen times, including once with a shotgun.

In a final statement as he lay strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber, Dunn said, “To the West family, I hope you can find in your heart to find forgiveness and strength, to move on and find peace.”

In a separate written statement, Dunn attacked the Texas justice system.