Texas executes man for 1999 triple murder

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (Reuters) - Texas executed a man on Thursday who confessed to killing three people in a 1999 robbery, including two who were injected with cleaning fluid before they were stabbed to death.

Clifford Kimmel, 32, was the 25th person executed this year and the 404th in Texas since the state resumed the death penalty in 1982, six years after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a national capital punishment ban.

Both totals lead the nation.

Kimmel was condemned for the April 9, 1999, murder of Rachel White, 22, Susan Halverstadt, 22, and Brett Roe, 29, in San Antonio.

Prosecutors said Kimmel and accomplice Derek Murphy knew White and asked to enter her apartment to use the phone.

Once inside, they injected White and Roe with cleaning fluid, then stabbed all three victims repeatedly in the chest and throat. They stole a number of items, including a credit card they used to buy beer.

Kimmel pleaded guilty to all three murders in February 2000 and was sentenced to death by a jury after a punishment hearing.

Murphy was sentenced to life in prison.

Kimmel made no last statement before receiving a lethal injection while strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber.

For his last meal, Kimmel requested a bacon cheeseburger with jalapenos, french fries, two slices of apple pie with vanilla ice cream and sweetened iced tea.

Texas currently has four more executions scheduled this year, including two more this month. Two other executions are already scheduled for 2008.