USA - Texas. Donnie Lee Roberts, 41, white, was executed

Donnie Lee Roberts, 41, white, was executed today for the October 15, 2003 slaying of his girlfriend, 44-year-old Vicki Bowen and taking items from her home to sell or trade to support his drug habit. "He was cooperative and confessed several times," District Attorney Lee Hon said. "He was saying he wanted the death penalty." He also surprised detectives by confessing to the shotgun death of a man that happened a decade earlier in Louisiana authorities initially believed the victim, Al Crow, had died of asphyxiation in a fire at the camper trailer where he was living but reopened the case following Roberts' disclosure, found shotgun pellets and determined it was a homicide. Roberts was charged with murder but not tried for Crow's death. Roberts becomes the 12th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas this year and the 489th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Roberts becomes the 250th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became Governor in 2001. Roberts becomes the 35th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1312th overall since executions resumed on January 17, 1977.