Texas executes a man for murdering a real estate agent and his last words are revealed

• Texas executed a man for stabbing a Dallas real estate agent to death.
• Kosoul Chanthakoummane received a lethal injection.
• He was the ninth inmate executed this year in the US.

Texas executed a man on Wednesday who fatally stabbed a real estate agent in suburban Dallas more than 16 years ago. It’s the second execution this year in what has been the nation’s deadliest state, reported The Associated Press.

Kosoul Chanthakoummane, 41, received a lethal injection at Huntsville State Penitentiary and was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m. He was convicted of fatally stabbing Sarah Walker, 40, in July 2006. She was found stabbed more than 30 times inside a model house in McKinney, about 30 miles (48 km) north of Dallas.

Kosoul Chanthakoummane’s last words revealed

In a brief statement after he was strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber, the son of immigrants thanked Jesus Christ, the ministers of the Texas prison system and «all these people in my life who have helped me on this journey.»

Although none of Walker’s relatives attended the execution, he gave them a message: «I pray that my death brings you peace.» As the five grams of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began to flow through the IVs into the veins in each of his arms, he looked toward a window through which his mother was silently watching a few feet away and mouthed: “ I love you mama.»

What the condemned man did before he died

Then he took four breaths, gasped slightly, and there was no more movement. He was pronounced dead 15 minutes later. Just before the execution took place, and at the request of Chanthakoummane, a Buddhist monk placed his right hand on the prisoner’s chest and read a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes that refers to «a time for everything». He replied, «Amen.»

Prosecutors say Chanthakoummane entered the model home, hit Walker with a wooden plant stand and stabbed her before stealing her Rolex watch and a silver ring, which were never found. DNA evidence showed that Chanthakoummane’s blood was found in several places inside the model home, including under Walker’s fingernails.

«I’m innocent»

Chanthakoummane had acknowledged he was in the model home but said he only went in to get a drink of water. He had been on parole in Texas after serving time in North Carolina for aggravated kidnapping and robbery.

«I am innocent,» Chanthakoummane had said in a letter filed in federal court in March. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to delay Chanthakoummane’s execution after his attorneys challenged the DNA evidence used to convict him.

Kosoul Chanthakoummane’s lawyer makes a surprising last move

The evidence had been described by the appeals court as the «pillar of the state’s case.» Eric Allen, one of his attorneys, said Wednesday that he would not file a final appeal to the US Supreme Court.

The AP reported that his lawyers had argued that new science raised the possibility that Chanthakoummane’s DNA could have been transferred to Walker’s fingernails without any direct contact between the two.