Inmate thanks death row 'brothers' for showing him 'what is means to be a man'

Inmate thanks death row 'brothers' for showing him 'what is means to be a man' Ker’Sean Ramey was executed Wednesday evening in Texas for a triple killing committed during an attempted robbery in 2005, he used his final words to thank his fellow death row inmates A death row inmate used his last words to thank his 'brothers' behind bars for showing him "what is means to be a man". Ker’Sean Ramey was executed Wednesday evening in Texas for a triple killing committed during an attempted robbery at a rural home in 2005. Ramey, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:34pm local time following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was the sixth person executed this year in Texas, with three more lethal injections scheduled in the state over the next two months. In the execution chamber, a prison chaplain rested his left hand on Ramey’s right shoulder and offered a brief prayer before the warden asked the prisoner if he had any last words. Ramey praised God and thanked friends, family and fellow death row inmates he called his brothers. "To the brothers on Texas death row that grew up with me, that poured into me and showed what it means to be a man, because I came in young, and didn’t understand what manhood was ... to you brothers ... I greatly appreciate you,” he said just before the injection got underway. As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing, Ramey took a deep breath, sputtered and began snoring. After 10 loud snores and two that were nearly inaudible, all movement ceased. A physician pronounced Ramey dead 14 minutes after the injection began. Ramey's body was then covered with a white sheet. A jury had convicted Ramey of capital murder and sentenced him to death for the August 2005 shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, at the home they shared in Edna, a small rural city some 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston. Ramey and LeJames Norman believed there was cocaine in the house and hoped to steal it, according to court records. The men entered the home with guns, found no drugs and fatally shot the three residents, who lived just across the street from Norman, the records show. Hours before Wednesday's execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Ramey's final appeal. His attorneys argued that jurors had never heard that Ramey suffered physical abuse as a child and grew up in poverty. State prosecutors told the court the appeal was “meritless” and said the evidence showed Ramey exhibited “an escalating pattern of criminal behavior.” Norman was arrested about five months after the killings while seeking to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico, where he had fled. He testified at Ramey’s trial in January 2007 that both men shot the victims. Ramey’s attorneys blamed the shootings on Norman. Ramey’s former girlfriend testified that she was with Ramey when he threw two handguns into a lake after the killings, and that he later described his involvement to her in detail. Lopez was shot four times, including in the back of the head; Peacock was shot twice in the head; and Roberts was shot five times in the chest, neck and head.