Bio

Clarence Allen Lackey was born on August 3, 1954. He was from Texas and was later described in prison records as a former laborer. At the time he entered death row, he was listed as 23 years old, with a ninth-grade education. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records also listed his native county as El Paso County, Texas.

Before the murder of Toni Diane Kumph, Lackey already had a criminal record. In 1975, he was received into Texas custody for burglary with intent to commit rape and was given a five-year sentence. He was released on February 17, 1977, about five months before Kumph was killed.

His mother testified that Lackey and she had experienced physical abuse from his father during his childhood. A psychiatrist also testified that Lackey had below-average intelligence and a history of heavy drinking, though the court did not find that this evidence changed the legal outcome of the case.

Murder Story

On July 31, 1977, Toni Diane Kumph was abducted from her apartment in Lubbock, Texas. Court records state that she was taken shortly before dawn. Later that same day, her partially nude body was found beside a dirt road outside Lubbock, near Lackey’s home. She had been raped, beaten, and her throat had been slashed, which caused her death.

Investigators found signs of a violent struggle inside Kumph’s apartment. The front door appeared to have been kicked open, and witnesses nearby reported hearing loud banging and a woman screaming for help. A neighbor also saw a man matching Lackey’s description driving away in a white pickup truck with a woman slumped over in the seat.

Physical evidence connected Lackey to the crime. A fingerprint found on a cigarette package in Kumph’s bed was identified as Lackey’s. Blood on Lackey’s boots matched Kumph’s blood type, and investigators found blood matching her type inside Lackey’s home, on a mattress, on the porch, on a knife, and in the pickup truck. Hair and other evidence also linked Kumph to Lackey’s home and vehicle.

Lackey was arrested on August 3, 1977, his 23rd birthday, at a motel in Amarillo. A detective later said Lackey admitted killing Kumph, though that statement was not used as evidence in his trials.

Lackey was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. His first conviction was later reversed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1982. He was tried again, convicted a second time in May 1983, and again sentenced to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals later affirmed the conviction and sentence.

Lackey spent many years on death row while his appeals continued. One of his later legal arguments claimed that execution after many years of death-row confinement would violate the Eighth Amendment. The Fifth Circuit rejected the claim, and the United States Supreme Court denied review, although Justice Stevens wrote that the issue was important and unsettled.

Clarence Allen Lackey was executed by lethal injection in Texas on May 20, 1997. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records list him as execution number 120, age 42, from Tom Green County.