A Texas death row inmate was executed Tuesday for fatally shooting a 61-year-old grandmother at her North Texas home nearly a decade ago during an eight-day spate of crimes that included thefts and another killing. Mark Anthony Soliz, 37, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the June 2010 slaying of Nancy Weatherly during a robbery at her rural home near Godley. During a five-minute final statement, Soliz apologized profusely from the death chamber gurney, reports the AP. "I don't know if me passing will bring y'all comfort for the pain and suffering I caused y'all," he said, looking at his victim's son and daughter-in-law, who watched through a window a few feet from him. "I understand the pain that I caused y'all."
He added that he hadn't known if members of Weatherly's family would attend the execution, but that he was pleased they did. "I'm just glad I got a chance to talk to y'all," he said. Soliz—described by a Fort Worth police detective as "the most dangerous person with whom he had come into contact" in his 16 years as an officer—thanked his supporters and told the warden he was ready. As the lethal dose of pentobarbital began, he turned his head toward Weatherly's relatives. "I hope y'all forgive me," he said. He gasped, snorted, and appeared to go to sleep. All movement stopped. Eighteen minutes later he was pronounced dead. His victim's family declined comment afterward. Soliz was the 15th inmate put to death this year in the US. (The AP has more on his crime here.)
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