A death row inmate convicted of strangling a jogger to death with her own shoestrings over 25 years ago in Texas is scheduled to become the third man executedin the state this year and the 11th in the nation.
Arthur Lee Burton, 54, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday sometime after 6 p.m. CT. He was convicted in the July 29, 1997 rape and murder of Nancy Adleman, a 48-year-old Houston mother of three who had been out on a jog.
Burton confessed to the murder to police and told a prison sociologist it was "something I couldn't help," according to court records.
Burton has tried to stop his execution numerous times, including two appeals in July that were denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Here's what you need to know about Burton's case, who Nancy Adleman was and other details of the upcoming execution.
Who is Arthur Lee Burton?
Burton grew up fatherless with his brother, Michael Burton, who testified that they were on welfare as children and sometimes went without food or electricity, according to a federal appeals document filed by the state in 2010.
Burton's mother, Fannie Burton, told the court in 2002 that her son "loved to build things," while his common-law wife of eight years, Felicia Batts, said he was a "very sweet person who treated her son like he was his own."
Batts testified that nothing happened that would anger Burton a week before Adleman's murder. She also said he returned home on the night of the killing with a flat tire on his bicycle and he was "laughing and seemed normal."
What was Arthur Lee Burton convicted of?
A Texas jury found Burton guilty of murdering Nancy Adleman on July 29, 1997.
Authorities found the mother of three's body in a 4-foot hole in a heavily wooded area along Brays Bayou the day after she didn't return home from a run. Her shorts and underwear had been removed and discarded, according to court records.
Burton was arrested 10 days later and initially denied killing Nancy Adleman. He did eventually confess to the murder in a written statement, which detailed how he dragged her into the woods, choked her unconscious, removed her shorts and underwear and raped her, according to a 2004 court filing.
As Nancy Adleman began to regain consciousness, she started screaming, which led to Burton choking her unconscious again and dragging her into a hole. As Burton was about to leave the area, he saw another person walking nearby, so he returned to the hole and strangled Adleman with her shoelace.
In his confession to police, Burton said that Adleman's last words before her death were: "God forgives you and I do, too," according to Adleman's daughter, Sarah Adleman, who was 16 at the time and recently talked to USA TODAY about the crime.
"For any woman who has ever exercised alone, or walked to their car alone at night, this case is their worst nightmare," Josh Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writ Division of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, told USA TODAY.
Who was Nancy Adleman?
Originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Nancy Adleman was the eldest of three children and enjoyed theater and poetry, Sarah Adleman told USA TODAY.
Nancy Adleman began writing poetry at age 11 and continued to publish collections her entire life, according to her daughter.
She graduated with a theater degree from Louisiana State University and received a master of fine arts from the University of Minnesota before moving to Houston in the late 1970s. She soon married her husband of 18 years, Mark Adleman, and the two had three kids.
"Both she and Mark worked full time but found balance and connection by watching the sunset almost nightly in the backyard," Sarah Adleman said about her mother. "She woke most mornings to pray, meditate (and) write before anyone else was awake. She understood that joy is a choice and taped pieces of paper all over our house that said 'Choose Joy.'"
Sarah Adleman said that her father and oldest brother are planning to attend Burton's execution but that she will instead go to a river with friends and their children "for an afternoon of play and laughter."
"I think the greatest way to honor my mother’s life is to be present with the joy in mind," she said. "We will have a gratitude and a forgiveness ceremony, a funeral of sorts. A letting go of the past 27 years."
When and where will Arthur Lee Burton be executed?
Burton will be executed after 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the state prison in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston.
What will Arthur Lee Burton's last meal be?
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, condemned inmates in the state no longer make final meal requests.
"They choose from the menu that is available to all inmates at the Huntsville Unit where the execution is carried out," the department said.
Who will witness Arthur Lee Burton's execution?
The corrections department said it will not know the victim and condemned witnesses until sometime on Wednesday.
Sarah Adleman said her brother, Geoff, and her father, Mark, will be attending the execution. Geoff was 14 when his mother was killed.
Members of the media will be at the execution, including:
- Huntsville Item
- The Associated Press
- The Houston Chronicle
- KPRC
When is the nation's next execution?
The next execution is scheduled for Thursday, when Utah is expected to execute Taberon Dave Honie for the 1998 murder of Claudia Benn, a 49-year-old woman who was the mother of his girlfriend at the time.
Honie will mark the 12th execution in the country this year and the first in Utah since a 2010 execution by firing squad.
