Summary:

Dinkins was a 27 year old Air Force veteran who went to Thompson's Massage Therapy Clinic to discuss a bad check he had written earlier. Dinkins came armed with a .25 caliber handgun and a .357 he had purchased the day before.

A heated argument ensued between Dinkins and the owner, 46 year old Katherine Thompson, and when Thompson attempted to push him out the door, both guns dropped to the floor. Dinkins picked up the .25, pointed and fired, but it jammed. He then picked up the .357 and shot Thompson dead.

Cutler, a 32 year old customer and also nurse, ran and locked herself in an office, but Dinkins shot through a reception window and the bullet hit her in the head, killing her.

Dinkins name was found in an appointment book and upon arrest, confessed to the crime. Blood was found on his clothing and the .357 murder weapon was found at his home.

Final Meal:

Liver and onions, two double meat hamburgers with bacon and mayonnaise, two orders of French fries, vanilla ice cream, two Dr. Peppers, salad with ranch dressing, and M&M's.

Final Words:

Dinkins declined to make a final statement.

Media Advisory

Friday, January 24, 2003

Richard Dinkins Scheduled to be Executed.

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information on Richard Dinkins, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003.

On Feb. 26, 1992, Richard Dinkins was sentenced to death for the capital murders of Katherine Thompson and Shelly Cutler, which occurred in Beaumont, Texas, on Sept. 12, 1990. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows:

FACTS OF THE CRIME

Richard Dinkins killed Katherine Thompson and Shelly Cutler on Sept. 12, 1990, at Thompson's massage therapy clinic in Beaumont. Both Dinkins and Cutler were clients of Thompson's, and Dinkins had an appointment that evening to discuss a bad check he had written to her.

Prior to his appointment with Thompson, Dinkins placed a .357 revolver and a .25-caliber automatic handgun in a shoulder sling he wore due to an old injury. He had purchased the .357 handgun and ammunition a day prior to the offense.

Following a brief discussion about the bad check, a heated argument took place. Thompson pushed Dinkins toward the door into the waiting room where Cutler sat.

Dinkins stated that Thompson struck his injured arm, hurting him. At some point during the altercation, both handguns fell from Dinkins' sling to the floor. He picked up the .25 and fired at Thompson but missed. While attempting to fire again, the gun jammed. Dinkins then picked up the .357 and shot Thompson in the upper abdomen and then in the head. Both shots were at close range.

Cutler, who was in the waiting room when the shooting started , tried to lock herself in Thompson's office. Dinkins fired through a reception window at Cutler, striking her once in the top of the head. Dinkins then fled in his vehicle as the fire alarm sounded.

Thompson suffered two fatal gunshot wounds, one to her head and one to her abdomen. Cutler died of a single gunshot wound to the head. A firearms expert testified that slugs recovered at the crime scene were fired from Dinkins' .357 revolver. An FBI forensic serologist testified that blood found on Dinkins' blue jeans was consistent with Thompson's blood type.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Dinkins was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the 252nd District Court of Jefferson County, Texas, on Feb. 26, 1992.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Dinkins' conviction and sentence on Feb. 1, 1995, and the Supreme Court denied his petition for writ of certiorari on Oct. 2, 1995. On Nov. 4, 1998, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied his state habeas petition.

Dinkins then sought federal habeas relief. The federal district court denied the writ on March 31, 2001. The Fifth Circuit affirmed on March 28, 2002, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari on Oct. 7, 2002.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Richard Dinkins killed Katherine Thompson, 46, and Shelly Cutler, 32, on Sept. 12, 1990, at Thompson's massage therapy clinic in Beaumont. Both Dinkins and Cutler were clients of Thompson's at Therapeutic Massage, and Dinkins had an appointment that evening to discuss a bad check he had written to her.

Prior to his appointment with Thompson, Dinkins placed a .357 Magnum revolver and a .25-caliber automatic handgun in a shoulder sling he wore due to an old injury. He had purchased the .357 handgun and ammunition a day prior to the offense.

Following a brief discussion about the bad check, a heated argument took place. Thompson pushed Dinkins toward the door into the waiting room where Cutler sat. Dinkins stated that Thompson struck his injured arm, hurting him. At some point during the altercation, both handguns fell from Dinkins' sling to the floor.

He picked up the .25 and fired at Thompson but missed. While attempting to fire again, the gun jammed. Dinkins then picked up the .357 and shot Thompson in the upper abdomen and then in the head. Both shots were at close range.

Cutler, who was in the waiting room when the shooting started, tried to lock herself in Thompson's office. Dinkins fired through a reception window at Cutler, striking her once in the top of the head. Dinkins then fled in his vehicle as the fire alarm sounded.

Thompson suffered two fatal gunshot wounds, one to her head and one to her abdomen. She died at a hospital shortly after the shooting. Cutler, a registered nurse, died the next morning of a single gunshot wound to the head.

Dinkins was arrested after his name was found in an appointment book at the business. He confessed to the murders after the murder weapon was found in his truck and blood was spotted on his jeans.

A firearms expert testified that slugs recovered at the crime scene were fired from Dinkins' .357 revolver. An FBI forensic serologist testified that blood found on Dinkins' blue jeans was consistent with Thompson's blood type. Dinkins had no juvenile criminal history and no adult incarcerations.

He was convicted of theft by a check in 1986, in Abilene, Texas. He was fined for issuance of bad checks in July 1990, in Lumberton, Texas.

If Kitty Thompson and Shelly Cutler still were alive, their work likely would continue to revolve around helping people, friends and family members said. The 2 women, both nurses, had known each other only briefly when together they became victims of Richard Dinkins' bullets.

Dinkins, now 40, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for shooting the 2 women to death in Thompson's Therapeutic Massage offices at 3420 Fannin St. on Sept. 12, 1990. "I was so angry for so long because she helped so many people," said Diane Shaffer, a friend of Thompson, who was 46 when she died. That anger has since been replaced by sadness. "Knowing what Kitty was all about, it's a little difficult to stay angry at something she wouldn't have stayed angry about," Shaffer said. "...There's a person who's now gone who could still be helping people."

In addition to nursing, Thompson worked as a substance-abuse counselor and massage therapist. The night she died, Thompson left Shaffer's offices on Fannin Street after a private substance-abuse counseling session and headed to her massage offices a block away. "The last thing I remember her saying is 'Lock your doors because there's crazies around,'" Shaffer said.

But, despite the comment, Thompson was not a person who lived in fear. "She was an extremely aware person," Shaffer said. "She was built like a little bulldog." To succeed in her jobs, Thompson needed, and had, both physical and mental strength, Shaffer said. "I know when this happened down there she was given no opportunity to try to diffuse the situation because she was very confident she could do that with just about anyone," Shaffer said.

Dinkins was a 27-year-old assemblies specialist at American Valve & Hydrant at the time who lived in Sour Lake and had served in the U.S. Air Force. He had a 6:30 p.m. appointment with Thompson under a false name.

When he arrived at her office, they began arguing then physically fighting about money he owed her for bounced checks from prior appointments, testimony in Dinkins' 1992 trial showed.

Hidden in a shoulder sling, Dinkins had a .25-caliber pistol and a .357 Magnum that he bought the day before. When the smaller weapon jammed, he used the .357 Magnum to shoot Thompson in the head and abdomen and Cutler in the head.

Firefighters found the two injured women around 8 p.m. when they responded to a smoke alarm at the office probably tripped by the gun's discharge. Thompson died before reaching the hospital, and Cutler died the next morning.

Cutler, a 32-year-old traveling nurse who had been in Beaumont only 9 days, was in the office filling out an application for her 1st appointment with Thompson at 7:30 p.m. Cutler planned to work in Beaumont for 3 months, then return to Idaho. Cutler loved snow skiing and worked part-time as a ski instructor, her parents, Marcille and Larry Cutler of Willow Springs, Mo., said in a telephone interview this past week. She planned to buy a condo in Idaho to live in half and rent out the other half, her parents said.

As a traveling nurse, Cutler had worked in Hawaii and South Padre Island, where she could pursue scuba diving and windsurfing, other hobbies she loved, while earning more money than she could staying in one place.

When she left her parents' home for the last time, "she turned around and said, 'I'll see you guys Christmas,'" her mother said. "No matter where she was, she'd always be home Christmas," her father said. "That's probably one of the hardest times for us."

Dinkins has a clemency petition pending with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles but has exhausted all other appeals, said his attorney, J.D. Hamm of Beaumont. Hamm said he has requested a stay of execution to explore possible jury misconduct and a change from the death penalty to a life sentence.

During his post-trial investigation, Hamm said, two jurors admitted to him that they considered Dinkins' silence at trial in determining punishment. Hamm argues that the possible constitutional violation has not been fully explored during the appeals process.

The board is expected to vote on the clemency petition early this week. After 12 years of waiting, Cutler's family members are ready to see the sentence carried out. "None of us feel resentful," Marcille Cutler said. "We just feel like justice will be served because we're confident that the trial was a fair trial.

The evidence was so overwhelming. We felt like he was guilty and the jury did too. We just feel like this is justice." Pollie Dean, who supervised Thompson in her substance-abuse counseling at Beaumont Neurological Hospital, said the approaching execution date has revived some of the tension and fear that those who worked near Thompson's offices felt immediately after the murders. "I believe he deserves it, and I've never been real for or against the death penalty," Dean said. "But when it hits you personally and you see the devastation it causes for the entire family and the entire community ... I wouldn't feel safe with him being turned back out into the community. It is, I think, what prisons are made for and the death penalty is made for."

Txexecutions.org

Richard Eugene Dinkins, 40, was executed by lethal injection on 29 January 2003 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of two women in a place of business.

On 12 September 1990, Dinkins, then 37, entered a massage clinic where he had been a customer. He got into an argument with the owner, Katherine Thompson, 46, over some bad checks he had written to the business.

According to Dinkins, during the argument, Thompson pushed him, aggravating an old injury on his arm. A .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol fell from his clothing. Dinkins grabbed the pistol from the floor, fired at Thompson, and missed.

When he tried to fire a second time, the gun jammed. Dinkins then drew a .357 Magnum revolver from his boot. He chased after Thompson and shot her twice -- first in the upper abdomen, then in the head. Next, Dinkins went after customer Shelly Cutler, 32, who was sitting in the waiting room when the argument started.

Cutler ran into Thompson's office and tried to lock herself in, but Dinkins shot at her through a window, hitting her in the head. The gunsmoke set off a fire alarm, and Dinkins fled. Emergency workers responding to the alarm found both women seriously wounded. Thompson died shortly after her arrival at the hospital. Cutler died the next morning.

Dinkins' name was found in an appointment book at the business. He confessed to the murders after police found blood on his pants and the murder weapon in his truck. At this trial, a firearms testified that the slugs recovered from the crime scene matched Dinkins' revolver. A forensics expert testified that the blood found on Dinkins' jeans was consistent with Thompson's blood type.

Dinkins was a habitual bad check writer, with two prior convictions. He had no record of violence and had never been incarcerated.

A jury convicted Dinkins 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. In a death-row interview the week before his execution, Dinkins said that the gun "just went off" during the struggle with Thompson. Then, "I saw someone out of the corner of my eye after Ms. Thompson was shot, and I heard the door rattling," Dinkins said. "I didn't know who was in there. I could see someone with something in their hand. I shot at the door knob to keep whoever was back there from coming out. I didn't know I hit her. It looked like they had ducked." Though Dinkins denied that he intended to kill the women, he accepted responsibility for his actions. "It was my fault ... I can't be bitter," he said. "I'm the one who put myself in this situation."

Man Executed for 1990 Murders

By Mark Passwaters - The Huntsville Item

January 29, 2003

A Jefferson County man sentenced for killing two women in 1990, was executed Wednesday night in the death chamber of the Huntsville "Walls" Unit. Richard Dinkins, 40, is the fifth man to be put to death in Texas this year.

Dinkins, who had admitted his guilt in the murders of Katherine Thompson, 46, and Shelly Cutler, 32, did not make a final statement before the lethal dose of chemicals was started at 6:11 p.m. He was pronounced dead seven minutes later.

He did, however, write a final statement in which apologized to the families of Cutler and Thompson. "I am sorry for what happened and that it was because of me that they are gone," he wrote. "If there were any way I could change things and bring them back, I would. But I can't. Because of what I caused to happen many people were affected and I am very sorry that it did."

As the lethal dose was administered, Dinkins gasped three times, snorted, and was silent. His cousin, Lisa Smith, began to cry shortly after Dinkins lost consciousness. Jim Smith, a spiritual advisor, comforted Dinkins' brothers by saying, "He made his peace with God. He's not in prison anymore, boys." Dinkins, who had a history of writing bad checks, arrived at Thompson's therapeutic massage parlor in Beaumont on the afternoon of Sept. 12, 1990, to discuss a bad check he had written to the business. When the meeting turned confrontational, Dinkins shot Thompson and Cutler, another customer, with a .357-caliber revolver.

At a press conference after the execution, Mike Thompson, Katherine Thompson's son, said he was pleased Dinkins' sentence had been carried out. "I never hated the man, (but) he took my mother," he said. "I just wanted to make sure the same happened to him ... justice was done." Thompson said it made no difference how his mother died and how Dinkins' sentence was carried out. "Death is death," he said. "The punishment fit the crime. I came here to make sure he got what was coming to him."

Richard Dinkins (TX) - Jan. 29, 2003

The state of Texas is scheduled to executed Richard Dinkins, a white man, Jan. 29 for the 1990 murders of Katherine Thompson and Shelly Cutler in Beaumont. Dinkins, a patron at Therapeutic Massage, allegedly shot the two women amidst an argument with Thompson, the owner, over some checks he had written to the business. Investigators found his name in an appointment book, and later found blood on his pants and the murder weapon in his trunk.

After his apprehension, Dinkins agreed to give a statement confessing to the murders, as long as he could explain his struggles with severe stress in the process. He told authorities that a recent break-up of a personal relationship, in conjunction with harassment at work, had caused him considerable stress. He worked as an assembly specialist at American Valve and Hydrant, and claimed his employer wanted to fire him because of his shoulder injury.

He had serious financial difficulties as well, which only added to his problems. As for the crime itself, he claimed he engaged in a slight altercation with Thompson, and his gun, which was inside his sling, fell to the floor. He then grabbed it, but remembered nothing from then until the time when the fire alarm went off.

Dinkins visited Therapeutic Massage in an attempt to deal with his stress issues, but apparently the treatment was insufficient. Prior to the incident, he had no history of violence, and friends and co-workers generally described him as “gentle” and “mild-mannered.” Furthermore, Dinkins had served as a very productive member of society before the crime; the Texas Employment Commission knew him as a “hero” for having subdued a man assaulting a TEC employee.

Dinkins’ most recent appeal included a request for forensic DNA testing of evidence containing biological material. Considering Dinkins’ condition at the time of the crime, as well as the fact that numerous death row inmates in the past have confessed to crimes they did not commit, the courts should grant this request before proceeding with this execution. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States in 1976, 102 people have been exonerated from death row due to actual innocence. The risks in rushing to execute Dinkins are clearly not worth the possible consequences.

Convicted Killer of Two Nurses Executed

Houston Chronicle

AP January 29, 2003

HUNTSVILLE - A former machinist who wrote bad checks to pay for massage treatment at a Beaumont clinic was executed tonight for gunning down the clinic owner and another woman there nearly 12 1/2 years ago. Richard Dinkins declined to make a final statement, responding to the warden, "No sir" when asked if he wanted to say anything.

In a written statement, however, he asked for forgiveness and expressed regrets "I am sorry for what happened and that it was because of me that they are gone," he said. "If there were any way I could change things and bring them back I would. But I can't." Dinkins accepted responsibility for the damage his actions caused but said he had made peace with God and hoped that "soon everyone will be able to have closure in their hearts and lives."

Dinkins gasped twice as the lethal drugs began taking effect and was pronounced dead seven minutes later at 6:18 p.m. Dinkins was the fifth Texas inmate to receive lethal injection this year and the second of three on consecutive evenings this week.

A smoke alarm brought emergency workers to the massage therapy clinic. When they arrived, instead of discovering evidence of a fire, they found the two fatally wounded women. Dinkins, 40, contended his gun "just went off" during a struggle that left clinic owner and nurse Katherine Thompson, 44, dead.

Prosecutors say the shooting moments later of the second woman, Shelly Cutler, 32, convinced them and jurors that Dinkins should go to death row. "The thing that stands out is the murder of the second victim," said Paul McWilliams, who prosecuted Dinkins for the double slaying Sept. 12, 1990. "That's not to diminish in any way what Katherine Thompson went through, but I guess it's one thing to know that someone is trying to kill you."

Evidence showed Cutler, an Idaho-based traveling nurse who was filling out paperwork as a prospective patient when gunfire erupted, ran to an office, closing the door behind her. "We believe she was trying to call 911, and he reached through the window and shot her," McWilliams said. "What she must have gone through!" "I saw someone out of the corner of my eye after Ms. Thompson was shot and I heard the door rattling," Dinkins said last week, speaking from a steel-doored cage outside death row. "I didn't know who was there. I could see someone with something in their hand. "I shot at the door knob to keep whoever was back there from coming out. I didn't know I hit her. It looked like they had ducked."

Dinkins then fled, and the smoke from the gunfire was believed to have tripped the fire alarm. "When I left there, it was all a blank," he said.

Detectives found Dinkins' name in Thompson's appointment book. He had been a patient but paid Thompson with bad checks. Dinkins contended he went to the clinic to resolve the check dispute but an argument erupted, the two wrestled and his .25-caliber pistol, hidden in a sling over his arm, fell out. "She grabbed and I reached, too," he said last week. "I probably scared her. It just went off. I wasn't thinking right, I'm sure."

The gun then jammed but he said he had another pistol, a .357-caliber Magnum, concealed in a boot. Both women were shot in the head with the larger weapon. Thompson died shortly after the shooting. Cutler, who had been in Beaumont only nine days, died the following day.

Executed January 29, 2003

The state of Texas is scheduled to executed Richard Dinkins, a white man, Jan. 29 for the 1990 murders of Katherine Thompson and Shelly Cutler in Beaumont. Dinkins, a patron at Therapeutic Massage, allegedly shot the two women amidst an argument with Thompson, the owner, over some checks he had written to the business.

Investigators found his name in an appointment book, and later found blood on his pants and the murder weapon in his trunk.

After his apprehension, Dinkins agreed to give a statement confessing to the murders, as long as he could explain his struggles with severe stress in the process. He told authorities that a recent break-up of a personal relationship, in conjunction with harassment at work, had caused him considerable stress.

He worked as an assembly specialist at American Valve and Hydrant, and claimed his employer wanted to fire him because of his shoulder injury. He had serious financial difficulties as well, which only added to his problems. As for the crime itself, he claimed he engaged in a slight altercation with Thompson, and his gun, which was inside his sling, fell to the floor. He then grabbed it, but remembered nothing from then until the time when the fire alarm went off.

Dinkins visited Therapeutic Massage in an attempt to deal with his stress issues, but apparently the treatment was insufficient. Prior to the incident, he had no history of violence, and friends and co-workers generally described him as “gentle” and “mild-mannered.” Furthermore, Dinkins had served as a very productive member of society before the crime; the Texas Employment Commission knew him as a “hero” for having subdued a man assaulting a TEC employee.

Dinkins’ most recent appeal included a request for forensic DNA testing of evidence containing biological material. Considering Dinkins’ condition at the time of the crime, as well as the fact that numerous death row inmates in the past have confessed to crimes they did not commit, the courts should grant this request before proceeding with this execution. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States in 1976, 102 people have been exonerated from death row due to actual innocence. The risks in rushing to execute Dinkins are clearly not worth the possible consequences.

Above it all, this case has too many mitigating factors to end in an execution. Gov. Rick Perry should weigh the circumstances and commute Richard Dinkins’ death sentence to life in prison. Please write the state of Texas and protest this execution.