The New York Times

Wednesday, February 23, 2000

Texas Board Denies Clemency for Woman, 62, on Death Row

By JIM YARDLEY

HOUSTON, Feb. 22 -- The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles today denied the death row clemency appeal of a 62-year-old woman convicted of killing her fifth husband and burying him beneath a wishing well, a ruling that could make her only the fourth woman executed since the United States Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in the mid-1970's.

With death penalty opponents and several women's groups lobbying for a delay, the scheduled Thursday execution of the inmate, Betty Lou Beets, presents a politically delicate situation for Gov. George W. Bush, who has presided over more executions than any other governor, including the highly publicized execution of Karla Faye Tucker in 1998. The board's denial added to a day of drama on Texas's death row, coming after the resolution this morning of a hostage drama in which two inmates awaiting execution held a guard for nearly 13 hours to protest conditions.

Joe Margulies, a lawyer for Ms. Beets, expressed disappointment in the board's ruling. He and other lawyers had asked the board to grant Ms. Beets a 180-day delay to review unheard evidence that she had been battered by her husband. In particular, Mr. Margulies said the Texas Legislature passed a 1991 law that provided for such cases to be reviewed by the paroles board. Ms. Beets never got such a review, he said, because she was never notified of the law.

Gerald Garrett, chairman of the paroles board, said the board took two votes on Ms. Beets's case. Her clemency appeal was denied unanimously, but her request for an 180-day delay to consider evidence of abuse was denied by a 13-to-5 vote. Mr. Garrett said the 1991 state law did not apply to Ms. Beets because she continued to proclaim her innocence. Mr. Margulies, however, described five dissenting votes as "remarkable" for a body that had approved clemency only once.

"Just by the number of votes alone, Bush has got to realize this case is being treated differently," Mr. Margulies said.

He has also filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the execution and said he expected a ruling on Wednesday.

Linda Edwards, Mr. Bush's spokeswoman, repeated the governor's oft-stated position that in reviewing cases he considered any doubts about guilt and whether an inmate had had full and fair access to the courts. Under Texas law, a governor can grant clemency only with a recommendation from the paroles board. When the board denies clemency, the governor's only choices are to grant a 30-day stay or approve the execution.

Ms. Edwards said Mr. Bush upheld "the laws fairly and evenly for all people in Texas, including women facing the death penalty."

She added, "The gender of the killer didn't make any difference to the victim."

Laura Figueroa, a spokeswoman for the Texas Council on Family Violence, a nonprofit group that advocates for abused women, said Ms. Beets "was not given due process" and should have been granted a 180-day stay.

"We're extremely disappointed, just devastated by this decision," Ms. Figueroa said. "Her case definitely calls for a stay so her lawyers would have the chance to present evidence demonstrating that she had endured abuse in the past."

In response, the office of the Texas attorney general, John Cornyn, released a statement from the victim's son, James Beets.

"My dad was a good man, not an alcoholic or abuser," the statement said. "In his job he went out of his way to help and save people. They keep talking about her being a grandma; well, my dad's grandkids are never going to know their grandfather."

Ms. Beets, a former barmaid who was married five times, shot three of her husbands, two of them fatally. In October 1985, she was sentenced to death for the 1983 murder of her fifth husband, Jimmy Don Beets. For two years, Mr. Beets had been considered missing until investigators in Henderson County discovered his body buried beneath a wishing well in Ms. Beets's yard. In the same shallow grave, investigators found the body of Ms. Beets's fourth husband, Doyle Wayne Barker.

During her trial, prosecutors say, Ms. Beets's son testified that he had helped his mother bury Mr. Beets and cover up his murder. A daughter told detectives that she helped her mother bury Mr. Barker in 1981. Both men were shot in the head, and the bullets matched a .38 caliber handgun found in Ms. Beets's home. Ms. Beets was indicted in Mr. Barker's death but never tried. Previously, she had been convicted on a misdemeanor charge after she shot a former husband, Bill Lane, in the stomach.

The hostage drama that was resolved early this morning began on Monday afternoon when two death row inmates grabbed a guard and blockaded themselves in a room at the state's new death row unit in Livingston. The 13-hour standoff ended at 5 a.m. after the two convicted murderers, Ponchai Wilkerson and Howard Guidry, were allowed to speak to three death penalty opponents from Houston. The guard, Jeanette Bledsoe, 57, was unharmed.

Larry Todd, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said the two inmates told negotiators that they seized the guard to protest death row policies. In particular, they said, inmates should be allowed to change visitation lists. Currently, inmates are allowed to make changes once every six months. They also protested the unit's prohibition on television.

"They had some grievances that they wanted to draw attention to, and they have done so," Mr. Todd said.

Mr. Todd said officials were still trying to determine how the two inmates obtained a sharpened rod used as a weapon and how Mr. Wilkerson managed to open the steel door of his cell. In 1998, Mr. Guidry and Mr. Wilkerson escaped from death row on Thanksgiving Day, the first such escape in Texas since 1934. The two men were captured on the grounds of Ellis prison near Huntsville, though a third inmate, Martin Gurule, escaped into the woods. His drowned body was later found in the nearby Trinity River. The escape prompted officials to begin moving inmates from Huntsville to the new Terrell Unit about 40 miles east in Livingston.