Bio

Charles Anthony Nealy was born on March 23, 1964, in Dallas County, Texas. He was arrested several times for offenses such as shoplifting, truancy, burglary, and theft. His troubles with the law continued into adulthood. In 1980, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for aggravated robbery. This conviction stemmed from a serious incident where he threatened a woman at gunpoint in a grocery store parking lot. 

Until the late 1990s, Nealy remained in and out of the prison system. By this time, he was known for his involvement in armed robberies. His past experiences would culminate in a fateful night on August 20, 1997, when he was involved in a deadly robbery.

Murder Story

On August 20, 1997, Charles Anthony Nealy entered the Expressway Mart in Dallas, Texas, with an accomplice. Nealy was armed with a shotgun while his accomplice carried a handgun. They demanded that the store employees, Jiten Bhakta and Vijay Patel, lie on the floor. Bhakta was in the office taking a nap at that time.

Nealy went into the office, where he fatally shot Bhakta in the chest with the shotgun. Meanwhile, his accomplice shot Patel in the head. Both men died from their injuries. After the shootings, Nealy emerged from the office holding a briefcase filled with around $4,000 in cash. He declared to the others in the store, "I got the man in the office," referring to Bhakta. The pair then proceeded to steal cash from the register and grab alcoholic beverages before leaving the scene.

The robbery was recorded by the store's security cameras, which showed the actions of both men during the incident. Nealy's nephew, Memphis, witnessed the crime and later identified him as the man with the shotgun. During the trial, Satishbhi Bhakta, Jiten's brother who survived the attack, also identified Nealy as one of the robbers.

Following the incident, Nealy's accomplice, Claude Nealy, was convicted of the murder of Vijay Patel and received a life sentence in prison. A getaway driver, Reginald Mitchell, who was present during the robbery, testified against Nealy. He recounted that after the crime occurred, Nealy boasted about how they conducted the robbery, saying, “this is the way the Nealy’s do it.” Mitchell was sentenced to two years for his role.

Charles Nealy was arrested and faced trial for capital murder. The jury convicted him, and he was sentenced to death in September 1998. His conviction and sentence were upheld through various appeals, but his claims of innocence persisted, including assertions that he was in Oklahoma at the time of the murders.

After nearly nine years on death row, Nealy was executed by lethal injection on March 20, 2007. His execution followed a series of legal battles, including claims of prosecutorial misconduct and pleas concerning his mental fitness for execution, which were ultimately denied. Nealy maintained his innocence until his last moments and made a statement expressing his thoughts and wishes to his family before the execution took place. He was pronounced dead shortly after the lethal drugs were administered.