Man in Texas Who is Going to Be Put to Death for Strangling a Mother of Three Says, “I Couldn’t Help It”
A man on death row in Texas is scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday. He has admitted to strangling a jogger with her shoestrings more than 25 years ago, saying he “couldn’t help himself.” However, he is fighting the death sentence, saying his statement should never have been allowed in court.
Arthur Lee Burton, 54, was found guilty of killing Nancy Adleman, 48, in Houston on the evening of July 29, 1997. It was the next day that police found the mother of three’s badly beaten body in a 4-foot hole in a highly wooded area along Brays Bayou. She had not come home from a run.
By admitting that she tried to rape Adleman and strangled her with her shoelaces, Burton later told a jail psychologist that the murder was “just something I couldn’t help,” according to court records. In June 1998, a jury in Texas found him guilty.
Burton would be the 11th person in the country and the third person in Texas this year to be put to death if his execution goes through.
As the date of Burton’s execution draws near, USA TODAY looks back at the crime, Burton as a person, and the events that led to the killing of Adleman.