Elroy Chester

Who was Elroy Chester?

Elroy Chester was an inmate on the Texas death row who was executed at the Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas, two days before his 44th birthday. He was convicted in 1998 of fatally shooting Willie Ryman III, a firefighter in Port Arthur, Texas. He did so after raping Ryman's two nieces. He had confessed to four other killings, and his DNA was linked to three rapes, including that of a ten-year-old girl. After his arrest, he said he committed these offenses because he was out his mind "with hate for white people." He was originally scheduled for execution on April 24, but, due to an error in the death warrant, the date was pushed back.

The Texas court system ruled that Elroy was legally competent to be executed, despite scoring below 70 on IQ tests and being previously placed in Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Mentally Retarded Offenders Program. In the prosecution's closing arguments, it was argued that his disability was not a sufficient reason to stay his execution.