Antonio G. James was born around 1954 in Louisiana and grew up with an extensive history of criminal activity that began in childhood. By the time of his final conviction, James had already accumulated a staggering 37 juvenile incidents, indicating a deeply troubled youth. At age 14, he was sent to the Louisiana Training Institute, and just a few years later in 1973, he was convicted of attempted armed robbery, receiving a three-year prison sentence. While incarcerated, he was also convicted of attempted escape.

After his release in 1975, James continued down a criminal path. In 1978, he was charged with aggravated rape, though the charges were dropped. He was later convicted of two more violent crimes in 1979: the first-degree murder of Alvin Adams on January 23 and the armed robbery of Robert Hooten on January 26, for which he received life imprisonment and a 99-year sentence, respectively.

On January 1, 1979, Antonio G. James confronted 70-year-old Henry Silver as Silver was getting out of his car in New Orleans. James approached the elderly man, placed a gun to his head, and demanded money. When Silver cried out for help, James allegedly placed the gun under Silver’s right ear, cocked the hammer, and fired a single fatal shot. James then took $35 from Silver’s wallet and fled in a getaway car. Silver died a few hours later at Charity Hospital.

James continued his crime spree that same month. On January 23, he murdered Alvin Adams, and just days later, on January 26, he committed an armed robbery during which he was shot with his own gun and arrested. He was indicted for first-degree murder in Silver’s case. During his trial, James testified that he was present but not the shooter, claiming two accomplices were responsible for the killings in both robberies.

However, the main witness against him was one of those accomplices, Levon Price, who testified that James was the one who pulled the trigger. A jury convicted James of first-degree murder in December 1981, and he was sentenced to death.

Antonio James was executed by lethal injection on March 1, 1996, at Louisiana State Penitentiary. His execution was notably difficult to carry out, as staff struggled to find a suitable vein. Warden Burl Cain asked James to make a fist to help the process; he complied. Though James declined to give a formal last statement, Cain reported that he said "Bless you" as he was strapped to the gurney.

His case garnered international attention, with ABC’s Prime Time Live covering the execution and BBC Radio 4 broadcasting a documentary focused on the involvement of British lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who had fought for stronger legal defense for capital punishment cases in the U.S.