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Carl Wayne Buntion is the oldest death row prisoner at 78 years old.

Associated PressAssociated Press

The oldest death row prisoner in Texas was put to death Thursday for killing a Houston police officer in 1982.

Carl Wayne Buntion was executed at the state penitentiary. He was sentenced to death for the June 1990 fatal shooting of Houston police officer James Irby.

Buntion's attorneys had asked the Supreme Court to stop his execution.

I wanted the Irby family to know that I am remorseful for what I did.

I hope to see you in heaven some day and I will give you a big hug.

As the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began, Buntion and his spiritual adviser began praying. He took a deep breath, coughed and then took three less pronounced breaths.

13 minutes later, he was pronounced dead.

Several dozen motorcyclists revved their engines loudly in support of the slain motorcycle officer, as the execution took place, the roar clearly audible in the death chamber.

Buntion was on parole for six weeks when he shot Irby. Buntion was a passenger in the car that Irby pulled over. In 2009, an appeals court threw out Buntion's sentence, but another jury resentenced him to death three years later.

After watching Buntion's execution, the officer's widow said she felt joy. I did not think of him as a person. I thought of him as a cancer on the face of my family.

James Irby had talked of retiring and spending more time with his two children, who were just 1 and 3 years old at the time of his death.

She said that he wanted to stay home and open a feed store. He was the love of my life.

Buntion's lawyers had tried to stop his death sentence, but various state and federal courts turned them down. His clemency request was rejected by the Texas Board of Paroles.

Attorneys for Buntion said he deserved to be punished severely for Irby's death.

One of the reasons he was sentenced to death was that he would be a future danger to society, but it has proven incorrect, and his execution would serve no legitimate purpose. Buntion was described as a geriatric prisoner who posed no threat as he needed a wheelchair and had arthritis.

The rationale for the death penalty is undermined by this delay. His attorneys wrote in court documents that the deterrent effect is diminished by delay.

Buntion was the oldest person put to death in Texas since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on capital punishment in 1976. Walter Moody Jr., who was 83 years old when he was put to death in Alabama, was the oldest person executed in the U.S. in modern times.

Buntion was the first person executed in Texas. Texas has been the busiest capital punishment state in the country, but has not carried out an execution in seven months. There have been three executions in the last two years, due in part to the coronaviruses and delays over legal questions about Texas refusal to allow spiritual advisers to touch inmates and pray in the death chamber.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court said states must accommodate requests to have faith leaders pray and touch inmates during executions.

Tennessee canceled its first execution since the start of the Pandemic after Texas prepared to execute Buntion. Oscar Smith was scheduled to die for the 1989 killings of his estranged wife and her teenage sons. Bill Lee didn't say what issue forced the 11th-hour stop to the planned execution.

Texas prison officials agreed to allow Buntion's spiritual adviser to pray and touch him while he was put to death.

The adviser, Barry Brown, placed his hand on Buntion's ankle in the moment before the drugs began to flow. He said Buntion was no longer a hard-headed young man, but had beenhumbled by the walls and cold steel of prison.

Irby said that the execution reminded her of her work in public safety after her husband's death, including helping put together legislation that allowed victim impact statements at trials.

She said Thursday night that she still misses him.

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The person reported from Houston.

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You can follow Juan A. Lozano on social media.

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Buntion, along with his spiritual adviser, began praying.

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