Texas executes Billie Coble, the oldest man executed in the state during modern era of the death penalty

On Thursday evening, Texas executed a 70-year-old man for killing three of his wife's family members in the Waco area nearly three decades ago.

After his final appeal was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court two hours before his execution was scheduled, Billie Coble became the oldest person Texas put to death since the modern era of the death penalty began in the 1970s, according to prison data. He was part of an aging death row population, being one of nearly 30 inmates who have lived on Texas’ death row for more than 25 years.

Coble was convicted of capital murder in the 1989 slayings of his estranged wife’s parents and brother in McLennan County, court records show. He had been married to his wife, Karen, for a little over a year when she told him she wanted a divorce. They lived in the small town of Axtell, just across the street from her parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, and down the road from her brother, Bobby.

According to court records, when Karen came home from work, she found her children tied up, and Coble approached her and told her that he had killed her parents and brother. At gunpoint, he led her to the car and tried to flee with her. She fought back, and eventually a sheriff’s deputy began following them before Coble crashed into a parked car.

At trial, the prosecution showed evidence of a long history of Coble brutalizing and molesting women, including his former wives and young girls. The jury also heard evidence that Coble had a traumatizing childhood; he lived in a state home for 12 years while his mother was institutionalized and enlisted to fight in the Vietnam War at age 17. He was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death in June 1990.

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/02/28/billie-coble-execution-texas/?