Ellis County Killer Offers Brief Apology Before Execution

Four lines was all he could manage after 12 years on death row; 57 words including brief apologies to his victim’s families and his own before the execution team administered a fatal dose.

On April 9, just after 6:30 p.m., Kenneth William Sprouse was dead.

“I would like to apologize to the Moreno family and the Steinfeldt family for all of the trouble I have caused them,” he said in his final statement. “I would like to apologize to my family for all of the trouble that I have caused them. I would also like to thank my family for all of their support. I guess that’s it.”

Convicted of shooting and killing Pedro Moreno and 28-year-old officer Henry Melvin Steinfeldt III, Sprouse was one of four capital murderers scheduled to be executed this month.

His last meal was the same pepper steak served to all inmates in the Huntsville “Walls” Unit on Thursday evening; Texas did away with last meal requests in September 2011 when Lawrence Russell Brewer ordered a huge spread and didn’t eat any of it, catching the attention of Senator John Whitmire, who deemed the meals an inappropriate privilege not afforded the inmate’s victims.

Brewer’s meal consisted of two chicken fried steaks with gravy and onions, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet with ground beef and other ingredients, a bowl of fried okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell, half a loaf of white bread, peanut butter fudge with peanuts, a pizza and three root beers.

Sprouse was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m. on Thursday. He was killed by a lethal injection of pentobarbital. Three more death row inmates are scheduled for execution this month, the next of which is Manuel Garza, Jr., slated for an April 15 execution.