Texas executes man for killing wife, stepdaughters

DALLAS, Feb 8 (Reuters) Texas executed a man by lethal injection for strangling his wife and two stepdaughters a decade ago.

James Lewis Jackson, a 47-year-old gardener, was the fourth inmate put to death this year in Texas, which has the highest execution rate in the United States.

His execution came against the backdrop of renewed nationwide scrutiny of the death penalty, which involves questions about lethal injection, by far the most common method of execution.

In a brief summary of the murders, which took place in Houston in 1997, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Jackson was upset about his wife's plans to divorce him.

''Jackson asked each of his stepdaughters how they felt about the impending split. When one of the girls said she didn't care one way or the other, Jackson choked her to death with his arm,'' the department said yesterday.

It said he then choked her sister to death and strangled his wife when she returned home and spurned his advances.

In his final statement, Jackson said, ''This is not the end, but the beginning of a new chapter.'' For his last meal, he requested four pieces of fried dark chicken meat, fried okra, french fries, a salad with blue cheese, four hard-boiled eggs with cheese, two regular cokes, one pint of butter pecan ice cream and two honey buns.

Jackson was the 383rd person put to death in Texas since it resumed executions in 1982. The state currently has nine more executions scheduled for 2007.

REUTERS SRS BST0730