Johnny Frank Garret, a mentally handicapped man from
Amarillo, was executed by the State of Texas for the rape and murder of Sister
Tadea Benz, a Catholic nun at St. Francis Convent, on the morning of October
31, 1981 when he was 17 years old. Garret claimed he was innocent throughout
the whole ordeal. Despite requests for stays of execution and even an appeal
for clemency from Pope John Paul II, Garret was executed by lethal injection on
February 11, 1992. Later, DNA evidence and follow up investigations pointed to
Leoncio Perez Rueda as the true culprit.
According to legend, among Garret's final acts was to pen
what the Austin Chronicle termed a "theatrical curse" on all those
who had a hand in this injustice. And if may have actually come to pass. A
number of the attorneys, jurors, and others associated with the case have died
peculiarly since his execution. Others found themselves surrounded by tragedy.
One juror's daughter died from an accidental gunshot wound
to the head while his sister was killed by a drunk driver. Several jurors and
lawyers died of cancer. Medical Examiner, Ralph Erdemann, was convicted of
several felonies, including falsifying autopsies. Both a fellow inmate of
Garret's and his former school teacher testified against him. They both
committed suicide, as did the District Attorney Danny Hill. His daughter hanged
herself a few years after. Another attorney's wife committed suicide and his
son was accidentally locked inside a hot car, causing permanent brain damage.
Of course, if you take a given group of people over an indeterminate
number of years, you will start to rack up a body count. It's the only
certainty of life: no one gets out alive. The pool of people associated with
his various trials and investigations might run into the hundreds. If 15 of
them find themselves embroiled in tragedy, can we really blame that on a curse?
Then again...
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