Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts in Houston, Texas

June 22, 2007

Media Advisory: Patrick Knight scheduled for execution

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Patrick Bryan Knight, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, 2007.

Knight was sentenced to death for the August 1991 murders of Walter and Mary Ann Werner, of Amarillo. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

After Walter and Mary Ann Werner left their Amarillo home for work on August 26, 1991, Patrick Knight and a companion, Robert Bradfield, broke into the couple’s home. Knight lived in a trailer house next door to the Werners’ home.

When the Werners arrived at home that evening, Knight and Bradfield locked them in the basement of their home. The next day, Knight and Bradfield drove around in the Werners’ vehicles attempting to obtain the Werner’s money.

Around midnight on Tuesday, Knight bound, gagged, and blindfolded the couple, forced them into their own van, and drove them to a location in the country about four miles away from their home. Knight made them get out of the van and kneel, and then he shot he shot each of them in the back of the head. He dragged their bodies into a ditch on the side of the road and returned to his trailer house and went to sleep.

During an investigation into the Werners’ disappearance, law enforcement officers questioned Knight, who confessed and led the officers to the location of the victims’ bodies. Knight was incarcerated in the Randall County Jail from the time of his arrest in 1991 until he was moved to death row in 1993.

PUNISHMENT PHASE

At the punishment phase of his trial, the State presented evidence that, on the same day as the murders, Knight went to Ted Ramirez’s home and threatened to kill him. He also went to Deborah Martin’s home that day and told her he would “get” her and her boyfriend for accusing him of stealing. The State also introduced evidence that Knight was on probation for the burglary of a grocery store at the time of the murders, and that he had stolen money from a convenience store cash register while the clerk was away from the register. There was testimony that Knight’s next-door neighbor believed several head of cattle had been killed as a result of Knight’s recklessly firing a gun at objects on his neighbor’s property, and that Knight was responsible for destroying part of a fence between their properties.

Other evidence was introduced by the State showing that while he was in jail awaiting trial, Knight told other inmates that he planned to avoid prison by pretending that he was insane when he killed the Werners, and he asked them for advice on what kinds of statements and behavior could result in a diagnosis of insanity.

Knight also had problems getting along with other inmates in the jail and threatened to kill his cellmates with a shank made from a coat-hanger. He hid razor blades, scissors, sharpened paper clips, and rope in his cell. Knight threatened to kill himself and others rather than be sent to prison, and he even staged a suicide attempt while in jail. Because of these incidents, Knight was kept isolated in a single cell for almost the entire two years he was in jail prior to trial.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

September 6, 1991 -- A Randall County grand jury indicted Knight for the capital murders of the Werners.
September 17, 1993 -- A Randall County jury found Knight guilty of capital murder.
September 20, 1993 -- Following a separate punishment hearing, Knight was sentenced to death.
March 6, 1996 -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Knight’s conviction and sentence.
April 22, 1997 -- Knight filed an application for writ of habeas corpus with the state trial court.
March 10, 1999 -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Knight’s state application for writ of habeas corpus.
March 15, 1999 -- Knight filed a preliminary federal petition for writ of habeas corpus in a U.S. district.
May 12, 1999 -- Knight filed an amended federal habeas petition with the federal district court.
September 27,2004 -- The federal district court denied Knight’s federal habeas petition.
October 27, 2004 -- Knight filed an application for certificate of appealability with the federal district court.
November 23, 2004 -- The federal district court denied Knight’s certificate of appealability.
February 9, 2005 -- Knight filed an application for certificate of appealability with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
January 12, 2006 -- The 5th Circuit Court granted in part and denied in part Knight’s request for a certificate of appealability.
June 30, 2006 -- The 5th Circuit Court affirmed the district court’s denial of federal habeas relief.
August 2, 2006 -- The 5th Circuit Court denied Knight’s petition for rehearing.
November 7, 2006 -- Knight petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari.
February 20, 2007 -- The Supreme Court denied Knight’s petition for certiorari.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Knight was arrested in 1989 for burglary of a building and given a four-year probated sentence, which was ultimately dismissed in lieu of his current incarceration and death sentence for capital murder. Knight also was previously incarcerated ninety days in Randall County for criminal mischief.

Knight has also committed several other unadjudicated crimes, as described previously in the section regarding the punishment phase evidence.

 

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