Summary:

Bruce, a 19-year-old high school student at the time working as a pizza delivery driver, left work early.

Later that evening, Bruce and two others the juvenile appeared at the Prosper, Texas, home of Richard and Helen Ayers, claiming to have car trouble and looking for jumper cables.

They eventually forced their way into the home at gunpoint, ransacked the home, and ordered them to lay face down on a mattress in the bedroom.

Both were then shot. The attackers left the bedroom, and Mr. Ayers thought they were leaving the house.

Mr. Ayers had been shot in the back. He was paralyzed from the waist down but he did not lose consciousness.

Mrs. Ayers told her husband she had been shot in the leg. Mr. Ayers told her to hold on until help could come. Mr. Ayers then heard someone say, “Shoot them again and make sure they are dead.”

Mrs. Ayers was then shot in the head, killing her instantly. Mr. Ayers was shot again in the shoulder.

The attackers then left the house with several jewelry boxes and most of the phones that were in the house. Mr. Ayers remained conscious but he could not move because of his paralysis.

He lay on the mattress for about three hours looking at his dead wife until his son came home from work and summoned help.

Upon arrest, Bruce initially gave an oral statement and a videotaped statement in which he denied participating in any of the shootings, although he admitted he was present when they occurred.

The police later found property of the victims in the front seat of Bruce’s car. Bruce then admitted shooting Mrs. Ayers during the second round of shooting; however, he claimed he aimed for her leg or the lower part of her body.

Accomplice Eric Lynn Moore also received a death sentence. Accomplices Sam Andrews and Anthony Quinn Bruce received a life sentences.

Citations:

Bruce v. Texas, 116 S.Ct. 523 (1995) (Cert. Denied).
Bruce v. Cockrell, 74 Fed.Appx. 326 (5th Cir. 2003) (Habeas).

Final Meal:

Double cheeseburger, french fires, orange juice and pecan pie.

Final Words:

"Yes sir. I would like to thank God for all the blessings He has given me. And I pray that through His mercy, He will allow me into His grace. And to the family of Ms. Ayers, I would like to apologize for all the pain and suffering and that God gives you closure. And I pray that He blesses you. And to my family, know that I love every single one of you and pray that God gives you peace and strength. I may not be with you in the physical, but by grace, my heart will be with you all and I know God loves every one of you all."

ClarkProsecutor.org

Texas Attorney General

Media Advisory

Tuesday, January 6, 2004

Kenneth Eugene Bruce to be executed

AUSTIN- Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about 32-year-old Kenneth Eugene Bruce, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, January 14, 2003, for a Collin County capital murder.

On February 27, 1992, Kenneth Eugene Bruce was sentenced to die for the capital murder of 55-year-old Helen Ayers, which occurred near Prosper, Texas, on December 10, 1990. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On the evening of December 10, 1990, Bruce, a 19-year-old high school student at the time, was working as a delivery driver for Cicci’s Pizza in Celina, Texas. Bruce asked the manager if he could leave work early. When the manager asked why, Bruce said he had to go “knock somebody out” and raised his hand in a fist. Bruce left in his car with 19-year-old Sam Andrews and a juvenile. They later picked up another person, 23-year-old Eric Moore.

Later that evening, Bruce and the juvenile appeared at the Prosper, Texas, home of Richard and Helen Ayers, claiming to have car trouble and looking for jumper cables. Mr. Ayers told them he would meet them at the Ayers’ detached garage.

Mr. Ayers could not find his jumper cables in the garage, so he invited the two men into his home to warm themselves while Mr. Ayers called his son at work to see if he knew where the jumper cables were.

However, before Mr. Ayers could make the call, Andrews came into the house through the front door and Moore came into the house through the back door. Moore and Andrews both had guns.

Moore took Mr. Ayers’s billfold, and ordered him to call Mrs. Ayers into the room and to bring her purse. During this time, Bruce and the juvenile ransacked the master bedroom. Moore and Andrews “herded” the Ayers into their master bedroom and ordered them to lay face down on a mattress that had been pulled off of one of the beds and thrown to the floor.

The Ayers were then shot. The attackers left the bedroom, and Mr. Ayers thought they were leaving the house. Mr. Ayers had been shot in the back. He was paralyzed from the waist down but he did not lose consciousness. Mrs. Ayers told her husband she had been shot in the leg. Mr. Ayers told her to hold on until help could come.

Mr. Ayers testified he then heard voices in the back of the house, and the men returned. Mr. Ayers heard someone say, “Shoot them again and make sure they are dead.” Mr. Ayers could not tell for sure who said this, but he assumed it was Moore. Mr. Ayers then saw a hand with a gun go down and shoot Mrs. Ayers in the head, killing her instantly. Mr. Ayers was shot again in the shoulder. The attackers then left the house with several jewelry boxes and most of the phones that were in the house.

Mr. Ayers remained conscious but he could not move because of his paralysis. He lay on the mattress for about three hours looking at his dead wife until his son came home from work and summoned help.

The police arrested Kenneth Eugene Bruce on December 14th after they stopped him in his car close to where he went to school. Initially, Bruce gave an oral statement and a videotaped statement in which he denied participating in any of the shootings, although he admitted he was present when they occurred. Bruce also led the police to a field where most of the victims’ property had been discarded. The police later found additional items of the victims’ property in the front seat of Bruce’s car.

On December 19th, when Bruce was confronted with inconsistencies from his accomplices’ statements, the police obtained another videotaped statement from Bruce in which he admitted shooting Mrs. Ayers during the second round of shooting; however, he claimed he aimed for her leg or the lower part of her body.

The forensic evidence proved otherwise. Mrs. Ayers suffered three gunshot wounds from a single weapon: one to the head and two to the thigh. It was determined that the thigh wounds were inflicted before the head wound based on the extensive hemorrhaging found.

The head wound caused death almost instantly because the bullet passed through the brain stem destroying those parts of the brain that control heartbeat and respiration. The medical examiner determined Mrs. Ayers could have survived the thigh wounds with proper treatment.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• Mar. 5, 1991 — A Collin County grand jury indicted Kenneth Bruce for the capital offense of murdering Helen Ayers while in the course of committing and attempting to commit the robbery of Helen or Richard Ayers, and while committing and attempting to commit the burglary of the habitation of Helen and Richard Ayers.

• Feb. 26, 1992 — A jury found Bruce guilty of capital murder.

• Feb. 27, 1992 — Following a punishment hearing, the court assessed a sentence of death.

• Feb. 8, 1995 — Conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in an unpublished opinion.

• Nov. 27, 1995 — Bruce’s petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court

• Nov. 3, 1997 — Bruce filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the trial court.

• Oct. 27, 1999 — Bruce’s application for writ of habeas corpus was denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

• Nov. 13, 2000 — Petition for writ of habeas corpus filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

• Apr. 24, 2002 — The federal court granted summary judgment and denied Bruce’s petition for habeas relief.

• Jun. 21, 2002 — The federal court granted Bruce permission to appeal.

• Aug. 4, 2003 — The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of habeas in an unpublished opinion.

• Nov. 3, 2003 — Bruce filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, which is currently pending.

• Jan. 6, 2004 -- Bruce filed a state habeas application, raising a jury instruction issue.

ProDeathPenalty.com

Kenneth Bruce was convicted of the Dec. 10, 1990, robbery and murder of Helen Elizabeth Ayers of Prosper, Texas. Bruce and three accomplices, Eric Moore, Anthony Bruce and Sam Andrews, Jr, went to Helen's home and told her husband Robert they were having car trouble.

Kenneth Eugene Bruce

Txexecutions.org

Kenneth Eugene Bruce, 32, was executed by lethal injection on 14 January 2004 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder and home robbery of a 54-year-old woman.

On 10 December 1990, Richard Ayers, 58, answered the front door of his rural home. Kenneth Bruce, then 19, and his cousin, Anthony Bruce, 15, told Ayers that they were having car trouble and asked him for some jumper cables. Ayers first attempted to find some jumper cables in the garage. Unable to locate them, he invited the men into his home to keep warm while he called his son to see if he knew where the jumper cables were.

Before Ayers could make the phone call, he was surrounded by four men. Sam Andrews, 19, came in through front door, and Eric Moore, 23, came in through the back. Both were holding guns. Moore took Ayers's billfold and ordered him to call his wife into the room with her purse.

In the meantime, Kenneth and Anthony Bruce were in the master bedroom, looking for valuables. They also pulled a mattress onto the floor. Moore and Andrews then ordered the Ayers into the bedroom and made them lay face down on the mattress. The Ayers were then shot, and the assailants left the bedroom.

Richard Ayers was shot in the back. He was paralyzed from the waist down. Helen Ayers was shot in the leg. Both victims remained conscious and spoke to each other, thinking that the assailants had left the house.

Mr. Ayers then heard voices in the back of the house, and the men returned to the bedroom. Ayers heard someone say, "Shoot them again and make sure they are dead." Helen Ayers was then shot in the head and killed instantly. Richard Ayers was shot in the shoulder. The attackers then left. Ayers remained conscious, but paralyzed, on the mattress for about three hours, until his son came home from work.

Eric Moore and Sam Andrews turned themselves in to police afterward. The Bruce cousins were arrested four days later. Kenneth Bruce confessed to being present at the shootings and led police to a field where most of the victims' property had been discarded.

The police later found some of the Ayers' property in Bruce's car. In a subsequent confession, Bruce admitted shooting Helen Ayers during the second round of shooting. He claimed that he was aiming for her leg or the lower part of her body.

The medical examiner testified that Helen Ayers was shot three times. The first two shots were in her thigh. The shot to her head occurred later. He testified that she could have survived the thigh wounds with proper treatment. Mr. Ayers, wheelchair bound, testified at all four trials.

The criminals stole only a few relatively inexpensive items, and discarded most of those. According to trial testimony, the robbers believed that the Ayers were rich, because their house had nice Christmas lights.

Bruce had no prior criminal history. A jury convicted Kenneth Bruce of capital murder in February 1992 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in February 1995. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Eric Lynn Moore, who Ayers described as the ringleader of the gang, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. He is on death row as of this writing. Anthony Quinn Bruce and Sam Andrews Jr. were convicted of capital murder and received life sentences. They remain in prison as of this writing.

Murder Nets Killer $10, Cheap Jewelry and Death Needle

TheDeathHouse.com

January 14, 2004

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. - After killing a woman during a home invasion robbery, Kenneth Bruce stole $10 and some cheap jewelry. He also got a trip to the death house. Bruce, 32, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison here Wednesday night, becoming the second condemned killer put to death in Texas in 2004.

Bruce was executed for the December 1990 murder of Helen Elizabeth Ayers, 58. Bruce and three of his cousins knocked on the door of the home of Helen Ayers and her husband in Prosper complaining of car trouble.

When the couple let the young men inside, the Ayers were taken to a bedroom, shot twice and their home robbed. Helen Ayers died, but her husband survived. He remains paralyzed from the gunshot wounds. He laid next to his dead wife for three hours before he was found.

Mom Watches Son Die

In his last statement from the death gurney, Bruce first looked toward family members of Helen Ayers, who were present to witness the execution, and apologized. "....I would like to apologize for all the pain and suffering and that God give you closure," Bruce said. "And I pray that he blesses you."

The Ayers' son, daughter and two family friends witness the execution, a Texas prison spokeswoman said. Bruce then told members of his family that he loved them. His mother was present, watching her son die while she was sitting in a wheelchair.

The lethal injection of chemicals began at 6:21 p.m.and Bruce was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. For his last meal, Bruce requested a double cheeseburger, french fires, orange juice and pecan pie, said Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

High Price To Pay For $10

Another man involved in the murder, Eric Lynn Moore, also received a death sentence. Two others received life terms in prison. Bruce was 19-years-old at the time of the murder. Prosecutors said that only inexpensive jewelry and $10 was taken in the robbery.

In his early federal appeals, Bruce's lawyers had claimed ineffective assistance of counsel. Appeals lawyers claimed that Bruce's trial lawyer, during the punishment phase of the trial, failed to find and present mitigating evidence of child abuse and neglect.

Man apologizes before execution

By Juan A. Lozano - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Associated Press Jan. 15, 2004

HUNTSVILLE - A former pizza delivery driver was executed Wednesday for fatally shooting a woman after robbing her and her husband of inexpensive jewelry and less than $10.

In the death chamber, Kenneth Eugene Bruce, 32, first addressed the family of his victim, Helen Ayers, and then spoke to his family. "To the family of Mrs. Ayers, I would like to apologize for all the pain and suffering and that God gives you closure. And I pray that he blesses you," he said. Bruce then told his family, "I may not be with you in the physical but by grace my heart will be with you all and I know God loves every one of you all." Bruce's mother wept loudly and was allowed to sit in a wheelchair when she was unable to stand on her own. Bruce was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. He was the second inmate executed in 2004.

The execution was delayed briefly as officials awaited a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied 5-4 a request from Bruce's attorneys for a stay. The court did not explain its decision In their appeal, Bruce's lawyers had raised concerns about the instructions given to jurors at his trial and questioned the constitutionality of the drugs used in a lethal injection, contending that the drugs, as administered, resulted in cruel and unusual punishment.

On Dec. 10, 1990, two young men knocked on the door of the home of Helen and Richard Ayers in rural Collin County, saying that their car had broken down and that they needed jumper cables. After Richard Ayers invited them inside to keep warm, two more men barged in, armed with guns. After turning over a wallet and a purse, the couple was taken to a bedroom and told to lie face down. Then they were shot. Helen Ayers, 54, was killed. Richard Ayers, 58, lay wounded on the floor for about three hours until a son arrived home from work.

Two of the four men, Eric Lynn Moore and Sam Andrews, turned themselves in to authorities within days. Bruce, then 19, and his cousin, Anthony Quinn Bruce, then 15, were arrested four days later. Kenneth Bruce and Moore each received the death penalty. The others were sentenced to life in prison.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Kenneth Bruce, TX - Jan. 14, 6:00 PM CST

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Kenneth Bruce, a black man, Jan. 14 for the 1990 murder of Helen Elizabeth Ayers, a white woman, in Collin County. The execution is scheduled for 6:00 PM EST Bruce, was an accomplice only and fired no weapon, Bruce’s lawyers presented no mitigating evidence, and he did not receive adequate funding to pay for defense experts.

Bruce, 19 at the time, was one of four young men who entered the home of Richard and Helen Ayers seeking help. The two older men surprised the Ayers with guns and demanded money and jewelry.

The two younger men, Mr. Bruce and his 15 year-old cousin Anthony, acted as accomplices though unaware of any plan. Mrs. Ayer was shot and killed and her husband was paralyzed. Under Texas law, all four men were charged with capital murder.

Anthony, because of his age, was sentenced to life in prison, while the others received the death penalty. At trial, Randall Price, a clinical forensic psychologist, testified that Mr. Bruce had the best potential for rehabilitation that he had ever seen, “given the proper motivation.” In his opinion, “based on Mr. Bruce’s potential for rehabilitation, his higher than average intelligence and lack of criminal history, he did not constitute a threat of future dangerousness.

Mr. Bruce was a young man who had been abused and abandoned by his parents and was very susceptible to peer pressure. However, his lawyers did not call his mother or father to testify, leaving the jury with the impression that they were indifferent and allowing the prosecution to argue that he lacked family support and stability. Mr. Bruce has one daughter, information that was not presented for mitigation.

Mr. Bruce was offered a plea bargain by the state. His lawyers advised against accepting the plea, and misinformed him of his parole eligibility if he did accept the plea. Furthermore, his lawyers incompetently advised Mr. Bruce to change his story and testify at trial, which was contrary to a prior confession.

Mr. Bruce’s case also represents the most common death row conviction; that of a black man and a white woman. While whites and blacks are murder victims in nearly equal numbers, 80 percent of people those executed were convicted of killing white victims.

North Texas man executed for $10 fatal robbery

By Juan Lozano - Longview News-Journal

AP January 14, 2004

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A former pizza delivery driver was executed Wednesday for the 1990 shooting death of a woman after robbing her and her husband of some inexpensive jewelry and less than $10. Kenneth Eugene Bruce first addressed the family of his victim, Helen Ayers, and then spoke to his family. "And to the family of Ms. Ayers, I would like to apologize for all the pain and suffering and that God gives you closure. And I pray that he blesses you," he said.

Turning to his family, Bruce told them he loved them. "I may not be with you in the physical but by grace my heart will be with you all and I know God loves everyone of you all," he said. Bruce's mother wept loudly and was allowed to sit in a wheelchair when she was unable to stand on her own.

Bruce was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m., eight minutes after the lethal dose began.

Bruce, who was 19 at the time of Ayers' death, was one of four men convicted for the slaying after forcing their way into her home in rural Collin County. Bruce, now 32, was the second Texas inmate put to death this year.

David Ayers, the victim's son, said Bruce's apology didn't help his family. "It seemed to be a little more heartfelt than I expected it to be," he said. "I still thought he got what he had coming to him."

The execution was delayed briefly as officials awaited a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied by a 5-4 vote a request from Bruce's attorneys for a stay. The court did not explain its decision In their appeal to the Supreme Court, his lawyers had raised concerns about the instructions given to jurors at his trial and questioned the constitutionality of the drugs used in a lethal injection, contending the drugs as administered resulted in cruel and unusual punishment.

Helen Ayers died a couple of weeks before Christmas 1990 after two young men knocked on the door of the home of Helen and Richard Ayers, saying their car had broken down and they needed some jumper cables. But after Richard Ayers invited the pair inside to keep warm, two more young men barged in, armed with guns. After surrendering a wallet and a purse, the couple was herded into a bedroom and told to lie face down on a mattress.

Then they were shot. And shot again moments later to make sure they were dead. Helen Ayers, 54, was killed in the second volley. Her 58-year-old husband was seriously wounded. Richard Ayers, paralyzed after being shot in the back, remained on the floor for some three hours next to his dead wife until their son arrived home from work and found the carnage at the home near Prosper, about 30 miles north of Dallas.

Two of the four, Eric Lynn Moore and Sam Andrews, turned themselves in to authorities within days. Bruce and his cousin, Anthony Quinn Bruce, then 15, were arrested four days after the attack. Kenneth Bruce and Moore each received the death penalty. The two others got life terms. Richard Ayers, confined to a wheelchair, testified against each of them at their trials.

Bruce, working as a pizza delivery driver when the crime occurred, declined to speak to reporters from death row. On a Web site where prisoners seek pen pals, he described himself as a song writer and poet interested in sports, reading and music.

On Tuesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, refused to stop the execution and rejected Bruce's appeal of a lower court's dismissal of the drug suit. The issue of the lethal drugs was raised last month in two other Texas cases, resulting in punishment delays. But the 5th Circuit later declined to rule on an appeal refiled in those cases and execution dates for those two inmates were reset. "None of these guys is challenging the legality of the conviction or sentence," David Dow, a University of Houston law professor involved in the appeals, said Tuesday. "They're all saying you can execute me but just can't torture me. The question is how to get a court to address this."

Bruce v. Cockrell, 74 Fed.Appx. 326 (5th Cir. 2003) (Habeas).

Defendant convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, denied relief, and the defendant appealed, challenging the denial of habeas relief, and requesting a certificate of appealability (COA). The Court of Appeals, E. Grady Jolly, Circuit Judge, held that: (1) defendant's claim that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance was procedurally defaulted; (2) state court did not unreasonably apply Strickland in concluding that defendant was not prejudiced by counsel's failure to present, at the punishment phase, evidence of parental abuse and neglect; (3) petitioner failed to show cause to excuse his procedural default as to a claim that mitigating evidence could be given only partial effect under the special issues submitted to the jury; and (4) alleged appointment of incompetent state habeas counsel was not a ground for relief. Affirmed, and request for certificate of appealability (COA) denied.

Kenneth Eugene Bruce was convicted of capital murder in the state courts of Texas and sentenced to death. Based on a certificate of appealability ("COA") granted by the district court, he appeals that court's denial of federal habeas relief and, in addition, requests a COA from this court for two more issues. We AFFIRM the district court's judgment and DENY Bruce's COA request.

The State presented evidence that Bruce and three of his cousins robbed and shot Mr. and Mrs. Ayers, killing Mrs. Ayers and seriously injuring Mr. Ayers. The jury convicted Bruce of capital murder and the judge sentenced him to death based on the jury's answers to the special punishment issues. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence on direct appeal, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari. Bruce v. State, No. 71,466 (Tex.Crim.App. Feb. 8, 1995) (unpublished), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 991, 116 S.Ct. 523, 133 L.Ed.2d 430 (1995).

Bruce filed an application for state habeas relief in which he claimed that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to investigate and present mitigating evidence at the punishment phase of trial. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief based on the trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. Ex parte Bruce, No. 43,165-01 (Tex.Crim.App. Oct. 27, 1999) (unpublished).

Bruce filed a petition for federal habeas relief in November 2000. He claimed that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance at the punishment phase by failing to discover and present mitigating evidence of child abuse and neglect, and by failing to present statistical evidence and expert testimony to rebut the State's evidence of future dangerousness.

The State moved for summary judgment. It argued that Bruce's claim that counsel was ineffective by failing to present evidence to rebut the State's evidence of future dangerousness was unexhausted.

Furthermore, the claim was procedurally barred because it would be dismissed as an abuse of the writ if presented in a second state habeas application. With respect to Bruce's other ineffective assistance claim (failing to discover and present evidence of child abuse and neglect), the State argued that it was reasonable trial strategy for trial counsel to present evidence of rehabilitative potential rather than a questionable history of abuse.

* * *

At the punishment phase, the State presented evidence of the random selection of the victims, evidence that Bruce and the others had attempted to commit other offenses on the same night, evidence that the offense was committed for monetary gain, evidence of Bruce's lack of remorse and *336 his failure to take responsibility for the offense, and evidence that Bruce possessed a razor blade while in jail awaiting trial.

In the light of this aggravating evidence, including the brutal, cruel and senseless nature of the murder of Mrs. Ayers, we are satisfied that there is no reasonable probability that the jury would have answered the special issues in a different manner had counsel presented the evidence of abuse and neglect described in Bruce's affidavit and the unsigned affidavit of federal habeas counsel's investigator.

* * *