TEXAS EXECUTES STEPHEN BARBEE FOR 2005 MURDERS OF PREGNANT EX-GIRLFRIEND AND HER SON
Texas carried out the execution of Stephen Barbee, 55, on Wednesday at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, concluding a decades-long legal battle over the February 2005 deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her seven-year-old son, Jayden. Barbee was pronounced dead at 7:35 p.m. following the administration of lethal injection.
The murders took place in Fort Worth, where both victims were later discovered buried in a shallow grave in Denton County. According to prosecutors, Barbee killed Underwood and her son because he feared that his wife would discover Underwood was seven months pregnant, though DNA testing later revealed he was not the father. At the time, Underwood owned a Fort Worth bagel shop named after her son. She and Jayden were reported missing after failing to appear at a baby shower.
Barbee initially confessed to the killings during police interviews but later recanted, claiming that his confession had been coerced. He maintained that he had been framed by a business partner, though courts consistently upheld his conviction. His trial and sentencing were notably brief, lasting less than three days in February 2006.
In the lead-up to his execution, Barbee’s attorneys sought multiple appeals, including a request for a stay by the U.S. Supreme Court. They argued that his execution would violate his religious rights, citing a recent high court ruling regarding the presence and actions of spiritual advisers in the execution chamber. In addition, they raised concerns about Barbee’s medical limitations, arguing that the standard lethal injection procedure could cause “intolerable pain and suffering” due to restricted arm mobility.
Lower courts and the 5th Circuit ultimately rejected these challenges, ruling that the state’s accommodations — allowing Barbee’s arms to remain bent and permitting his spiritual adviser to pray and touch him — met constitutional requirements. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles also unanimously denied a request to commute his death sentence or grant a reprieve.
Barbee’s execution marks the fifth carried out in Texas in 2022 and the last scheduled for the state this year. Nationally, he is among 15 individuals executed so far in the United States this year, surpassing the previous year’s three-decade low of 11 executions. Other executions were scheduled in Alabama and Oklahoma shortly after.
The case generated significant public attention not only due to the brutality of the crimes but also because of the complex legal and constitutional issues raised in the appeals process. It has also contributed to ongoing debates regarding the death penalty, including questions about religious accommodations, medical considerations during lethal injection, and the long-term application of capital punishment in modern criminal justice.
⚖️ Pregnant ex-girlfriend and her child killed. Years of appeals over religious rights and medical concerns. Execution carried out in one of Texas’s most controversial death penalty cases.
