Carl Wayne Buntion execution – Texas death row inmate to be killed today after parole board votes against clemency

A Texas death row inmate is set to be executed today after a frantic plea for mercy was rejected.

Carl Wayne Buntion, 78, is slated to be executed at 7pm ET on Thursday night for the 1990 murder of a Houston police officer, according to KHOU.

Buntion shot 37-year-old police officer James Irby in the head countless times as he was laying on the ground during a traffic stop in 1990.

One year later, he was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to death.

Over 30 years later, he still sits on death row as Texas’ oldest death row inmate, however that may change today.

Buntion’s lawyers argued the execution was “cruel and unusual punishment,” however the appeal for clemency was rejected unanimously 7-0 by a Texas parole board.

The 78-year-old man is one of the oldest people on death row in the US and has battled multiple illnesses, according to anti-death penalty activists.

Prior to his execution date, Carl Wayne Buntion’s lawyers filed an appeal in federal court attempting to stop it.

They argued that too much time had passed.

After 30 years on death row, many believed that Carl Wayne Buntion would die in jail before being executed.

But, in January 2022, a Houston judge scheduled a date for his execution.

Buntion is scheduled to be executed on April 21, 2022, at 7pm EST.