The 1998 murders of Edward Caylor, Kai Geyer, and Steven Watson by John Balentine resulted in his death more than 20 years later.
John Balentine, who shot three kids dead while they slept in Texas, was put to death.
The 54-year-old was the sixth person to be executed this year, and the fifth man.
Edward Caylor, one of the victims, was the brother of John’s ex-girlfriend, who had objected to their interracial connection.
According to reports, the killer was unknown to the other two victims, who happened to be Caylor’s pals.
In 1999, a jury found Balentine guilty of three capital murders and gave him the death penalty after his arrest six months later.
Three teenagers were killed while sleeping by John Balentine.
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One of the most disturbing murder incidents in Texas was the 1998 killing of three teens by John Balentine while they slept.
The three adolescents, Steven Watson, 15, Kai Brooke Geyer, 15, and Edward Mark Caylor, 17, were shot in the head while resting at a house in the Texas Panhandle.
He had been evading capture for six months when he was finally apprehended and charged with three charges of homicide.
John Balentine, the murderer, was 28 years old at the time of the crime and was born on January 30, 1969.
Balentine admitted to the killings and consented to be executed.
Due to the racial threats, which increased his fear of being attacked or killed in jail, he declined a plea deal that would have resulted in a life sentence.
Balentine, John Executed
Texas has carried out the execution of John Lezell Balentine, who in 1998 killed three teenagers while they slept.
The murderer, who was 28 at the time of the killings, was stated above. At the age of 54, he was executed 26 years later.
On February 8, 2023, he was put to death by lethal injection at the state jail in Huntsville, Texas.
Due to racial bias, according to Balentine’s counsel, the trial was tainted because John was black while his three victims were white.
Before being put to death, the 54-year-old made a brief address to thank his friends for their support.
Seven of the families of the three victims who had come to witness the execution were then pleaded with him for pardon.
He was subsequently injected in his arm with a fatal dose of the potent sedative pentobarbital.
John yawned twice, inhaled twice, snored loudly for two breaths, then ceased snoring altogether.
15 minutes after the lethal injection, at 6:36 p.m., he passed away. After the execution, the relatives declined to speak to the media.
His previous lover was one of the victims, the sister of Edward Caylor, and one of the witnesses who saw John die.
The killings, according to the prosecution, were the result of an argument between Edward and John. According to reports, the two additional victims were unknown to the culprit.
Due of his mixed-race relationship with Caylor’s sister, Balentine said that he had received threats against his life from others.
One of five Texas death row convicts involved in a lawsuit to ban the use of allegedly dangerous and outdated medications in prisons is Balentine.
Texas permitted two additional prisoners, Robert Alan Fratta and Wesley Lynn Ruiz, to be executed earlier in 2023 despite the ongoing legal disputes.
