Beunka Adams, 29, was executed by lethal injection on 26 April 2012 inHuntsville, Texas for the murder of a man in the course of abduction,rape, and robbery.
On 2 September 2002, Adams, then 19, and Richard Cobb, 18, entered aconvenience store in Rusk in east Texas. Cobb was carrying a 12-gaugeshotgun, and both men were wearing masks. Candace Driver and NikkiDement1 were working in the store. The only other person in the store was Kenneth Vandever, a 24-year-old mentally challenged man whofrequented the store as a customer, sometimes helping clean and takeout trash. Adams ordered Driver, Dement, and Vandever to the front ofthe store and demanded the money in the register. After the womencomplied, Adams demanded the keys to a Cadillac parked in front of thestore. Driver, who had borrowed the car to drive to work, retrievedthe keys from the back room.
Adams then ordered the three victims into the Cadillac with Cobb andhimself. Adams drove south on US Highway 69. As they were driving,Dement, who had gone to school with Adams, said, "I know you, don'tI?" Adams answered "Yes" and removed his mask. At some point, Adamsturned off the road and drove the vehicle into a pea patch near Alto.
The group exited the car. With Cobb holding the shotgun, Adams orderedDriver and Vandever into the trunk. He then led Dement away from thecar and raped her. He then came back to the car with Dement, releasedDriver and Vandever from the trunk, and told the victims that he andCobb were waiting for Adams' friends to arrive. He allowed the victimsto begin walking away.
A few moments later, Adams reconsidered, saying that he was afraid thevictims would reach a house before he and Cobb could get away. He andCobb made the three victims kneel on the ground. They tied the women'shands behind their backs using their shirts. They left Vandeverunrestrained. They then stood behind the victims for several minutesand had a discussion. Adams then returned to the victims and orderedVandever, who had stood back up, to kneel behind the women. Driverlater testified that Vandever said that "it was time for him to takehis medicine, and he was ready to go home."
Suddenly, there was a gunshot. Adams asked, "Did we get anybody?"Driver answered, "No." A moment later, there was another shot.Vandever cried out, "They shot me." A third shot struck Dement in theleft shoulder. When Dement fell forward, Driver did too, pretending tobe hit. Adams, carrying the shotgun, approached Driver and asked ifshe was bleeding. Driver did not answer, pretending to be dead. Adamsthen said, "Are you bleeding? You better answer me. I'll shoot you inthe face if you don't answer me." Driver answered, "No, no, I'm notbleeding." Adams then fired the shotgun next to her face. The pelletsh*t her lip. She again pretended to be dead.
Adams and Cobb then turned to Dement and asked her the same questions.Dement also feigned death as both men kicked her for about a minute. Dement was lifted by her ponytail while one of the men shined a lighter on her face to see if she was still alive. Dement continued to feign death. Cobb said, "She's dead. Let's go." The men then left.
After Adams and Cobb left, Candace Driver, who sustained only minorinjuries, ran to a nearby house. Nikki Dement was taken to a hospitalvia helicopter with injuries including a broken shoulder blade, brokenribs, and collapsed lung. When police arrived at the pea patch,Kenneth Vandever was dead from a shotgun wound to his chest.
Adams confessed to raping Dement, but denied firing the gun.Prosecutors argued that while the surviving witnesses could not tellwhich assailant pulled the trigger on Vandever and Dement, Adams wasseen holding the shotgun immediately afterward, and he did fire it atDriver. Furthermore, the state depicted Adams as the leader who gaveall of the orders to Cobb as well as to the victims, with Cobb heardspeaking only once: "She's dead. Let's go."
Under Texas law, a jury can find a defendant guilty of capital murderfor participating in the crime, regardless of whether he personallyinflicted the fatal injury.
Adams and Cobb had participated in two other aggravated robberies. Inthose incidents, Adams remained outside the store, and no one washurt.
A jury convicted Adams of capital murder in August 2004 and sentencedhim to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed theconviction and sentence in June 2007.
Richard Aaron Cobb testified at his own trial that he shot Vandeverand handed the shotgun to Adams, who shot the women. He was alsoconvicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. He remains ondeath row as of this writing.
In his own account of the crime, written from death row, Adams statedthat Cobb came to him asking for his help robbing a store. Adams wrotethat he did not expect there to be any violence. "I was suppose [sic]to just follow his lead and be a pair of eyes," he wrote, but "fromthe moment we entered the store [it] became obvious my friend had notplanned anything out." Adams wrote that Cobb froze when one of thecashiers recognized him. "It was decided to take everyone from thestore to buy some time to think."
Adams wrote that at the pea patch, they tried to put all three intothe trunk of the car and leave it to be found later, but "all three ofthem would not fit" into the trunk of the Cadillac. He and Dementwalked off together and "We wound up having sex."
Adams wrote that he and Cobb decided to let the others out of thetrunk and allow them to leave, but "I stopped them because thedirection they were headed led deep into the woods and they'd nevercome to a house, road or anything," so they were told to stay put.
"I turned and started walking toward the car," Adams wrote,"assumingmy friend was doing the same but after a few steps I heard the firstblast! I stepped to my bro and asked, 'WTF!'2 and then startedyelling: 'Is anyone hit, did we hit anyone!' Someone said 'no' orsomething. I told my bro he is tripping and 'let's bounce', walkedaway again thinking he is coming, damn near got to the car when asecond shot rang and Kenneth gave a loud groan. Moments later two moreshots followed. I ran back and snatched the gun from him!"
1Nikki Ansley at the time of the offense. By the time of the trial,she had married and taken the name Nikki Dement. All officialdocuments relating to the case refer to her by her married name.
2As footnoted in Adams' account, "WTF is shortening for 'What thef*ck'."
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