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Billie Wayne Coble executed, family members arrested after causing scene

After Billie Wayne Coble was executed, one of his sons started pounding on the window of the viewing room. Two members of the Coble family were charged with resisting arrest.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Billie Wayne Coble was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m.

Some of the Coble family were thrown out of the execution and arrested after causing a scene.

These were his last words: 

"Yes sir, that will be $5. I love you. I love you, and I love you. Mike, I love you. Where is Nelly at? I love you. That will be $5."

Gordon Coble, Nelly Coble and Dalton Coble had to be kicked out, according to police. 

As soon as Billie Wayne Coble closed his eyes, Gordon Coble began pounding on the window. 

The family was in a 6-by-12 foot room, and Gordon Coble began kicking and screaming.  

Gordon Coble and Dalton Coble were arrested and taken to Walter County Jail. They were charged with resisting arrest. 

Credit: Walker County Jail
Gordon Coble and Dalton Coble were arrested and taken to Walter County Jail after causing a disturbance at the execution of Billy Wayne Coble on April 28, 2019. They were charged with resisting arrest.

KCEN Channel 6 reporter Jasmin Caldwell was in the room with the Coble family when the scene broke out. She was kicked and pushed, but she is OK. 

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Coble's final appeal of his death sentence. 

Coble, 70, was executed by lethal injection Thursday evening. 

He was on death row for about three decades. 

He was convicted in 1989 on a capital murder charge for killing the parents of his estranged wife, Robert Vicha and Zelda Vicha, and her brother, Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha.

He shot the victims at their Axtell homes. 

Coble is the oldest man put to death by lethal injection in Texas history. 

The Huntsville Unit is the home of the state's execution chamber. 

Earlier this week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Coble's request to delay his execution or to reduce his death sentence to life in prison. 

Coble also lost a federal court appeal in April 2018, which moved him closer to execution. 

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said unreliable and fabricated testimony from two expert prosecution witnesses at the 2008 punishment retrial of Coble was not unconstitutional and didn't harm his case. In 2007, the court threw out Coble's original death sentence and ordered a new punishment trial.

"Justice for these families has been a long time coming," said McLennan County Criminal District Attorney Abel Reyna.

The Vicha family said they planned to watch the execution. 

Fast facts about the execution

  • Billie Wayne Coble is the oldest man to be executed in Texas history
  • Texas leads the nation in the number of executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976
  • Texas adopted lethal injection as means of execution in 1977
  • Lethal injection consists of a single drug protocol of pentobarbital
  • Coble's execution was the second in Texas in 2019. Last execution was of Houston cop-killer Robert Mitchell Jennings in January. 

*Facts via the Texas Department of Criminal Justice*

RELATED: Condemned killer of three in Central Texas loses federal court appeal

RELATED: Execution set for Waco area man who shot his in-laws to death

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