Kosoul Chanthakoummane, 41, was executed by lethal injection on 17
August 2022 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder and robbery of a
40-year-old woman in a house.

On Saturday, 8 July 2006 at approximately 1:10 p.m., Andy Lilliston
and his wife entered a model home in McKinney, a suburb of Dallas.
Lilliston noticed that the house had been ransacked. He found a large
pool of blood in the dining room, where the sales desk was located. He
followed a trail of blood into the kitchen, where he saw a woman's
body lying face-up on the floor. The upper half of her body was
covered in blood. Lilliston and his wife called 9-1-1, exited the
home, and flagged down a vehicle for help. Lilliston then went back
inside to check the body for signs of life. Finding none, he returned
outside to wait for emergency personnel to arrive.

Texas Ranger A. P. Davidson noticed signs of a struggle; namely,
furniture crooked and out of place and a potted plant in a stand that
fell over or was knocked over. He found a pair of women's shoes, a
broken hair clip, and a broken earring on the floor. The victim, Sarah
Walker, had multiple stab wounds. Her long skirt was rolled up to her
waistline. Based on the position of the skirt and the trail of blood,
Davidson theorized that Walker had been dragged by her feet from the
dining room to the kitchen.

McKinney police officer Pete Copin found an incomplete bloody
fingerprint on the deadbolt lock on the front door. He found more
blood on the potted plant stand, the pull cord for the front window
blinds, and the wall section between the window and the front door. It
also appeared to Copin as though there was diluted blood residue in
the kitchen sink.

Collin County Medical Examiner William Rohr testified that Walker
sustained several blunt force injuries to her face and head, including
a broken nose and fractured teeth, that were consistent with being
struck multiple times with the plant stand. She also suffered a total
of 33 stab wounds, including ten that penetrated vital organs and
blood vessels, any of which could have been "pretty much immediately
fatal." She also had a bite mark on the back of her neck that Rohr
opined was inflicted "at or near her death." She also had some
defensive wounds, including a broken fingernail.

Walker's ex-husband, Randy Tate, testified that he picked up their son
at Walker's home in Frisco that morning. At that time, Walker showed
him a new Rolex watch that she had purchased the previous day. A box
and receipt for a Rolex watch were found in a search of Walker's home
after her death. Surveillance video taken from a bank in Frisco
shortly afterward showed Walker wearing a watch and a ring.

Another real estate agent, Mamie Sharpless, testified that she arrived
to show a town house in McKinney between 11:30 a.m. and noon. While
she and her husband sat in their car, waiting for her buyer, they saw
a white Ford Mustang drive by and park across from a model home down
the street. They observed the driver get out of the car and start to
cross the street. They drove up to him and asked him whether he was
the buyer she was waiting for, and he said no. Sharpless identified
Chanthakoummane in court as the man she saw.

Sharpless and her husband, Nelson Villavicencio, then drove to the end
of the block, turned around, and drove back to the town house to await
her showing. The Mustang was not there when they passed by. While his
wife showed the town house, Villavicencio looked out the window. He
saw Walker arrive at the model home in her Porsche, park it across the
street, and go inside. The white Mustang was now back and was parked
in front of the model home. Sharpless finished her showing between
12:30 and 1:00 p.m., and she and Villavicencio left the subdivision.

Walker's cousin, Jessica Allen, testified that Walker called her
around 12:30. They talked for about fifteen minutes, then Walker said
someone had walked in, and she would call back. Andy Lilliston
discovered her body about a half hour later. She was not wearing the
watch or ring that she had been shown wearing earlier on the bank
surveillance video. The watch was never found.

Sharpless and Villavicencio's description of the suspect resembled
Chanthakoummane, who had been involved in an incident with another
female real estate agent the night before Walker's murder. The agent
testified that Chanthakoummane, who she had previously helped find an
apartment, came to her home and repeatedly banged on her doors, asking
to use her phone, saying his car broke down. She called the police
when he refused to leave.

A DNA analysis was performed on the blood evidence from the crime
scene and on scrapings taken from Walker's fingernails. After
receiving the results, police arrested Chanthakoummane, then 25, at
his apartment on 5 September.

Officer Randall Norton interviewed Chanthakoummane at the McKinney
police station. At first, he denied ever being in McKinney in his
white Mustang. Upon further questioning, he stated that his car had
broken down in front of a model home, that he knocked on the door and
received no answer, and took "like three or four steps" inside to see
if anyone was there. He then spoke to a man and woman in a car. He
then went into the kitchen for a drink of water, but "didn't know how
to use the faucet because the hot water came out," so he left. He
stated that he had "old cuts" on his hands from work, and it was
possible that he bled from them while he was inside the model home.

Ranger Davidson testified that Chanthakoummane owned a white Ford
Mustang and his bank account was overdrawn by $82.27 on the day before
Walker's murder.

Additional facts laid out in court documents about Chanthakoummane's
case imply that he was the same individual who phoned Mamie Sharpless
about a town house showing on the morning of Walker's murder.

Forensic dentistry consultant Brent Hutson testified that he examined
impressions he made of Chanthakoummane's teeth and compared them with
the bite marks on Walker's neck. He concluded "within reasonable
dental certainty beyond a doubt" that Chanthakoummane left the mark.

Chanthakoummane's defense attorney, Keith Gore, told jurors "he wanted
to rob (Walker), and it didn't go the right way, and he killed her."

Chanthakoummane had previously served time in prison in North Carolina
for aggravated kidnapping and robbery. He was on parole at the time of
Walker's murder.

A jury found Chanthakoummane guilty of capital murder in October 2007
and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
affirmed the conviction and sentence in April 2010.

Chanthakoummane had two prior scheduled execution dates in 2017, both
of which were rescheduled because of challenges to his conviction. His
attorneys filed appeals disputing the validity of Sharpless and
Villavicencio's testimony, because they had consented to undergo
hypnosis by a Texas Ranger during the murder investigation. The state
also disputed the validity of the state's DNA and bitemark forensic
evidence. At a new evidentiary hearing, the court concluded that the
forensic bitemark testimony offered at Chanthakoummane's trial would
not be admissible under current standards, but the DNA work was sound,
and the hypnosis sessions with Sharpless and Villavicencio made no
material difference, because their account of what they saw and their
description of the suspect did not change from what they had given
before the sessions. The CCA upheld the lower court's opinion that
Chanthakoummane would have been convicted even without the discredited
bitemark testimony.

The defense continued to dispute the DNA evidence in further appeals.
In 2021, the state granted permission to conduct analysis on two
previously untested samples. After receiving the results, the court
upheld Chanthakoummane's conviction.

In other appeals, Chanthakoummane's lawyers claimed that all of his
DNA that was found at the crime scene was deposited when he entered
the home at a time it was vacant. They presented scientific research
to show that it could have been transferred to the victim's
fingernails if she touched something he had left blood on.
Chanthakoummane also claimed that his lawyer admitted his guilt at
trial against his wishes and that he wanted to maintain his innocence.
State and federal courts denied all of his final appeals.

Chanthakoummane's mother attended his execution. No one from the
victim's family was present.

Chanthakoummane began his brief statement by thanking Jesus Christ,
his supporters, and prison ministers "for aiding me in my journey." He
then said, "To Ms. Walker's family, I pray my death will bring you
peace." The lethal injection was then started. Chanthakoummane mouthed
"Mom, I love you" toward the window his mother stood behind. She waved
and replied, "I love you." He was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m.

David Carson
(Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents,
Dallas Morning News, MSN.com, Texas Tribune.)
--
Texas Execution Information
www.txexecutions.org

On Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:32:11 -0500, David Carson <davidc@wa-wd.com>
wrote:

>The state
>also disputed the validity of the state's DNA and bitemark forensic
>evidence.

This should read, "His lawyers also disputed..."

Also, I should have mentioned somewhere near the beginning that the
victim was a real estate agent. That can be deduced easily enough, but
there's no reason it needs to be.

David Carson