Lisa Ann Coleman was executed in Texas on Sept. 17 after being convicted of starving and torturing to death a 9-year-old boy 10 years ago.
Coleman, 38, was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m., just 12 minutes after the officials from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital. She was the ninth convict to be executed this year in Texas and the 30th in the United States.
She received the death sentence after she was found guilty of starving and torturing Davontae Williams, which led to the 9-year-old boy's death. Williams was Coleman's partner Marcella's son.
When Williams was found at the time of his death, he was only 35 pounds, half of what a healthy 9-year-old should weigh. Aside from being emaciated, he also had multiple injuries all over his body, including cigarette burns and ligature scars. A pediatrician who testified against Coleman said that the injuries totaled more than 250.
According to Coleman's attorneys, however, the boy's death was accidental and the torture unintentional. They said Williams had mental health issues and that Coleman and her partner Marcella simply didn't know how to deal with Davontae properly.
Still, a Tarrant County jury convicted Coleman in 2006, sending her to death row. Marcella, on the other hand, accepted a plea bargain and was sentenced to life in prison. She's now 33 and won't be eligible for parole until at least 2044.
In a petition requesting for a stay of execution, Coleman's attorney said that she was only being put to death because the State of Texas wanted to make sure that someone paid for what had happened to the boy.
Texas officials countered that Coleman doesn't have evidence that is clear and convincing enough to show that she isn't guilty of capital murder.
In Texas, a murder during a kidnapping is treated as capital murder. Charges against Coleman included kidnapping so the death of Davontae Williams was considered capital murder. Coleman's attorneys refute the kidnapping charge, arguing that without it she shouldn't have been tried for capital murder.
At the start of 2014, 60 women were on death row, accounting for 2 percent of the total number of inmates sentenced to death. Texas ranks as the state with the most executions, with Coleman being the latest. Aside from her, seven more women are on death row in the state.
