Bio 

Raymond Landry Sr. was born on May 14, 1949. He later lived in Texas.

Murder Story

On the night of August 6, 1982, Raymond Landry confronted Kosmas Prittis and his family outside the Dairy Maid restaurant they operated in Harris County, Texas. Court records state that Landry pointed a gun at Prittis and ordered the family to hand over their money, including money still inside the restaurant. During the robbery, Landry shot Prittis in the head and killed him.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice records state that Prittis was the 33-year-old owner of the Dairy Maid restaurant in the 7100 block of East Bellfort. According to the same records, Prittis was robbed of more than $2,300 before he was shot while he and his family were closing the restaurant. Witnesses testified that Landry struck Prittis’s wife and pointed a gun at the children before leaving. Landry was arrested three days after the shooting at his home in the 7300 block of Eisenhower. Police found a bank bag from the restaurant at the house.

The case went to trial in Harris County. Landry was convicted of capital murder for causing the death of Kosmas Prittis by shooting him with a gun while committing or attempting to commit robbery. After the jury found him guilty, it answered the Texas capital sentencing questions in a way that resulted in a death sentence. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed both the conviction and the sentence on direct appeal.

Landry continued to challenge his conviction and sentence through post-conviction appeals. In 1988, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reviewed his federal habeas claims. Landry raised several arguments, including claims about jury selection, the trial court’s instructions, evidence used during the punishment phase, and the constitutionality of Texas’s death penalty system. The Fifth Circuit denied habeas relief and vacated the stay of execution.

Raymond Landry Sr. was executed by lethal injection in Texas on December 13, 1988. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records list him as execution number 29 in the state’s modern execution history. He was 39 years old at the time of execution, and the case was from Harris County.

Landry’s execution became widely noted because it did not proceed smoothly. News reporting stated that the intravenous tube came loose during the procedure, causing a delay while the execution team reinserted the catheter. The Los Angeles Times reported that Landry had been convicted in the shooting death of Kosmas Prittis, a 33-year-old Greek immigrant, and that Prittis was robbed and shot in the head as his wife and children watched.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice records state that Landry declined to make a final statement. He was pronounced dead after the lethal injection process was completed.