Texas Officials Execute Convicted Murderer Who Equated Death Row To Torture

November 19, 2009 1:17 p.m. EST

Athens, GA (AHN) - A man who killed an elderly woman and felt like he was being treated subhuman on death row was put to death on Wednesday. Texas officials executed Danielle Simpson, 30, a murderer who earlier this year pleaded with a court to be put to death, because he felt death row was akin to torture.

In the days before his death Simpson waived his appeals against execution because he said being confined to a small metal cage was unbearable. In published reports he said the Texas correctional system viewed inmates on death row as less than human, as animals.

However, he then again changed his mind and asked his lawyers to issue a new appeal. They issued appeals paperwork on the grounds that a condemned man was mentally ill and unfit to make a decision to die. But it was too late shortly before the execution, the Texas board of pardons rejected the claim and the U.S. supreme court opted to not intervene.

A federal appeals court in a previous ruling said that Simpson was in fact mentally competent because the decision to choose over life confined to a small cell was indeed a rational decision.

Simpson was sentenced to death in December of 2000 for his part in the kidnapping and killing of an 84-year-old former teacher. The victim, Geraldine Davidson was taken from her home during a burglary attempt and her body was found by investigators bound and gagged in the Neches river a few days later.

Reportedly, Simpson enlisted the help of his 17-year-old wife, younger teenage brother and 13-year-old cousin during his brutal attack. Court documents show that the group left Davidson bound and gagged in the trunk of his car for hours as they drove around.

Simpson, the 22nd person put to death by the State of Texas this year was the only one out of four defendants in the case to be sentenced to death. According to officials the 23rd person slated for execution will be put to death tonight.