Texas to execute man convicted of 1989 murder of three in-laws

[February 28, 2019]  By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) - Texas plans to execute a man on Thursday who was convicted of murdering three relatives of his estranged wife in 1989, with his lawyers arguing he should not be put to death because he received an inadequate defense at trial.

Billie Wayne Coble, 70, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in the state's death chamber in Huntsville at 6 p.m. local time.

If the execution goes ahead, it will be the third this year in the United States and the second in Texas, which has put more prisoners to death than any state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

Coble, a Vietnam War veteran and electrician, was convicted in 1990 of murdering his estranged wife's parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, and her brother John "Bobby" Vicha, who was a police sergeant. Coble's wife had sought a divorce.

Coble ambushed the three victims and shot them at their home in Axtell, a small community 100 miles (160 km) north of the state capital Austin, authorities said in court papers.

He then kidnapped his estranged wife and drove off with her.

He was chased by police and, while driving, stabbed at her with a knife. He eventually crashed into a parked car and was arrested. His wife was wounded but survived.

A lawyer for Coble earlier this month submitted a request for a stay of execution to the U.S. Supreme Court.

At his trial in 1990, Coble's lawyers violated his rights under the U.S. Constitution by overriding his wishes for a legal defense, his current attorney A. Richard Ellis wrote in his request to the high court.

They played footage of the Vietnam War, reminding the jury Coble had fought as a U.S. Marine, Ellis wrote. But they also conceded his guilt.

"Nobody expected defense counsel to proceed in this feeble manner," Ellis wrote. "The move stunned the prosecution, the media, and most importantly the defendant (Coble) himself."

In response, the Texas attorney general's office has argued in court papers that, at his trial, Coble told the judge he was satisfied with the work of his attorneys.

"The public's interest is not advanced by staying Coble's execution to consider a procedurally defaulted and meritless claim based on a decision handed down three decades after Coble terrorized and murdered his ex-wife's entire family," Texas assistant attorney general Gwendolyn Vindell wrote.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; editing by Darren Schuettler)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.