Texas' oldest death row inmate was executed Thursday for killing a Houston police officer during a traffic stop nearly 32 years ago.
Carl Wayne Buntion, 78, was executed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the June 1990 fatal shooting of Houston police officer James Irby, a nearly 20-year member of the force.
The U.S. Supreme Court had declined a request by Buntion's attorneys to stop his execution, WMTW reports.
Buntion had been on parole for just six weeks when he shot the 37-year-old Irby. Buntion, who had an extensive criminal record, was a passenger in the car that Irby pulled over. In 2009, an appeals court vacated Buntion's sentence, but another jury resentenced him to death three years later.
Before his death, James Irby had talked of retirement and spending more time with his two children, who at the time were 1 and 3 years old, said his wife, Maura Irby.
