Bio

Fletcher Thomas Mann was born on April 7, 1961 in Texas. 

Murder Story

Fletcher Thomas Mann committed two murders in Dallas County, Texas, on September 11, 1980. He was 19 years old at the time. Mann and his accomplice, Martin Verbrugge, broke into an apartment shared by Christopher Lee Bates and Robert Matzig, who were watching a football game with their friend, Barbara Hoppe. The two men were armed and forced their way inside. They tied up Bates and Matzig and demanded money.

Mann took Bates and Matzig with him as they tried to cash a series of stolen checks. During this time, Verbrugge took Hoppe into a bedroom. He later raped, stabbed, and strangled her.

After several hours, the situation escalated. Mann and Verbrugge instructed Bates and Matzig to lie in the woods outside the city. Mann shot Bates in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Matzig was also shot but survived.

Following the murders, Mann and Verbrugge fled the scene. The police were called after Matzig managed to crawl to safety and get help. Mann was arrested soon afterward and charged with capital murder.

At his trial, witnesses testified that Mann had bragged about the crime to other inmates. There were no witnesses called by his defense team. The jury took only one hour to convict him and two hours to sentence him to death.

Mann spent 13 years on death row. His appeals failed, including his attempt to claim that serving such a long time on death row was cruel and unusual punishment.

He was executed by lethal injection on June 1, 1995. In his last statement, Mann expressed love for his family and thanked his attorneys. His execution was attended by his mother and sisters, who displayed signs of grief during the process. He was pronounced dead shortly after the injection was administered.