Triple murderer is oldest inmate executed in Texas in modern times

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas inmate has been executed nearly 30 years after killing his estranged wife’s parents and her brother, who was a police officer.

Billie Wayne Coble received lethal injection Thursday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

The 70-year-old Coble was the oldest inmate executed by Texas since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982.

He was condemned for the August 1989 shooting deaths of Robert and Zelda Vicha and their son, Bobby Vicha, at separate homes in Axtell, northeast of Waco.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Coble’s delay request about two hours before his execution.

Coble was the third inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the second in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.