The Texas Department of Criminal Justice carried out the execution of 52-year-old Arthur Brown, Jr. Thursday night in Huntsville. Brown had been sentenced to death for his role in the murders of four people in Houston in 1992. “Authorities say Arthur Brown, Jr. was in a drug ring that shuttled narcotics from Texas to Alabama,” said Robert Hurst with the TDCJ.
Prosecutors say the group had previously bought drugs from 32-year-old Jose Tovar and his wife, Rachel. Tovar and three other people were killed in what police described as a robbery. They had all been tied up and shot in the head.
“In his final statement, Brown continued to profess his innocence to the crime,” Hurst said. “But he never looked at the victims’ witnesses who were watching in a nearby room.”
Brown’s attorneys had argued over the years that he should not be executed because he was intellectually disabled. The courts rejected those arguments. Brown’s execution is the second carried out this week in Texas. The state executed 51-year-old Gary Green on Tuesday.