A man convicted of killing five people including his ex-wife in a 1997 shooting rampage near Houston has been put to death.
Coy Wesbrook on Wednesday became the eighth inmate executed this year in the U.S. and the fourth in Texas, the most active capital punishment state.
The execution was delayed about 90 minutes after a death penalty opponent's late appeal that was rejected hours earlier appeared to be headed to a higher court.
Wesbrook testified at his trial that he and his ex-wife had talked about reconciling and then he showed up at her Channelview apartment and found people partying.
He said she humiliated him by having sex with two men while he was there and that some at the party taunted him as he tried to leave.
He grabbed a rifle from his truck and shot all five people there.
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5:30 p.m.
A death penalty opponent's late appeal on an inmate's behalf has been rejected by a Texas appeals court.
Houston activist Ward Larkin's appeal Wednesday came just hours before Coy Wesbrook's scheduled execution for a 1997 shooting rampage that left five people including his ex-wife dead.
Larkin asked for Wesbrook's trial court to again review claims that the former security guard and delivery driver is mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty.
The appeal was sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, which ruled the appeal was improper.
The mental impairment issue was raised in earlier appeals from Wesbrook and most recently was rejected by the appeals court last year.
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1:20 a.m.
A Texas inmate convicted in a shooting rampage that left five people dead outside Houston in 1997 says he's prepared for his execution.
Coy Wesbrook's lethal injection is set for Wednesday evening in Huntsville. It would be the fourth this year in Texas.
His lawyer says court appeals to block the execution are exhausted.
The 58-year-old Wesbrook says he's had 18 years to get ready for the punishment.
Among those killed in the shooting rampage was Wesbrook's ex-wife. He testified at his 1998 capital murder trial that she humiliated him by having sex with two men while he was at a party at her apartment, and that party-goers taunted him. He said he "lost it," grabbed a rifle from his truck and shot everyone there.
