Bio

Harold Joe Lane was born on August 30, 1945, in Drew County, Arkansas. He later lived in Texas, where the crime that led to his death sentence took place. Before the murder, Lane had a ninth-grade education and later earned a GED. His listed occupation was electrician.

Lane had a serious criminal history before the 1982 murder of Tammy Davis. Court records show that he had prior convictions for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in Colorado in 1970. He was also convicted of murder in Louisiana in 1973 and received a 15-year sentence. He was released in June 1981.

By 1982, Lane was connected to the Dallas area. On November 20, 1982, he met Grady Moffett in Dallas. The two men drank alcohol, used methamphetamine, and later decided to commit a robbery. That decision led them to the Winn-Dixie grocery store where 17-year-old cashier Tammy Davis was killed.

Murder Story

On November 20, 1982, Harold Joe Lane and Grady Moffett went into a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Dallas, Texas. Both men were armed. Moffett stayed near the front of the store as a lookout, while Lane went to the office area and demanded money. About $3,300 was taken during the robbery.

After taking the money, Lane tried to leave through the store’s automatic entrance doors. He could not get them open and began kicking them. Tammy Lee Davis, a 17-year-old cashier, came over to help him. She appeared unaware that a robbery had just happened.

Tammy showed Lane how to open the door. As she approached, Lane turned and shot her once in the head with a .357 Magnum handgun. She died from the gunshot wound. Lane and Moffett fled the store but were later captured. Reports stated that Lane fired at police during the chase before he was arrested.

Lane was charged with capital murder for killing Tammy Davis during the robbery. He was first convicted and sentenced to death in 1983, but that conviction was later overturned because of a jury-selection error. He was tried again in 1988, convicted again, and sentenced to death a second time.

During the trial, prosecutors presented Lane’s earlier criminal record, including robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and a prior murder conviction. Lane’s defense argued that he had used drugs and alcohol before the robbery and claimed the shooting was accidental. The jury rejected that argument.

Lane appealed his conviction and death sentence for years, but the courts upheld both. His accomplice, Grady Moffett, received a shorter sentence because he was not identified as the person who shot Tammy Davis. Harold Joe Lane was executed by lethal injection in Texas on October 4, 1995. He was 50 years old. He was pronounced dead at 6:28 p.m.