Texas man faces execution for murder of pregnant wife and five-year-old daughter

Prosecutors said he killed family to run off with woman he met at convenience store

This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows John Hummel. Hummel, convicted of capital murder in the deaths of his wife and father-in-law, is set to be executed on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at the state penitentiary in Huntsville (AP)

A Texas death row inmate faces execution for murdering his pregnant wife, five-year-old daughter and father-in-law more than a decade ago.

John Hummel was convicted of fatally stabbing Joy Hummel more than 30 times at their Fort Worth home in December 2009.

He then used a baseball bat to beat to death his daughter, Jodi Hummel, and wheelchair-bound father-in-law, Clyde Bedford, before setting the home on fire.

At trial prosecutors said that he killed his family because he wanted to run off with a woman he had met at a convenience store.

After the killings, the hospital security guard fled to Oceanside, California, where he was arrested and, authorities say, he confessed to the killings.

His lawyers argued that Hummel suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from military service that caused him to “snap” on the night of the killings.

But prosecutors also said that he had previously tried to kill his family by lacing spaghetti with rat poison.

Hummel, 45, was convicted of the capital murder of his 34-year-old wife and 57-year-old father-in-law.

His lawyer, Michael Mowla, says there is no plan to file any last-minute appeals before Wednesday’s execution, as they have all been exhausted.

Hummel had been scheduled for execution in March 2020, but it was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This guy senselessly took the life of a beautiful mother, a beautiful child and a grandfather that just did everything for them. For him to want to be single and just kill them this way is senseless,” said Miles Brissette, a prosecutor at Hummel’s trial.

Hummel will become the second inmate executed in Texas in 2021 and the fifth in the US.

Mr Bedford’s sister, Cylinda Bedford, says that she still cannot understand why Hummel murdered his family.

“Come on, your own baby. You gotta be some kind of monster,” said Ms Bedford

“I don’t have no closure. And him being put to death is not going to be closure either because then we’ll never know why.”