Bio 

Ricky Eugene Kerr was born on September 1, 1959. Kerr’s case grew out of a dispute with his landlords, Elizabeth McDaniel and her adult son, Gary Lawrence Barbier. The supplied case material states that the murders were connected to an argument over the terms of Kerr’s lease. Later reporting described the conflict as an apparent lease dispute and stated that Kerr’s water had been shut off and that he had been served with an eviction notice on the day of the killings.

Before the murders, Kerr was facing the loss of his housing. The prosecution theory was that the landlord dispute escalated into violence. The victims were both shot, and later reporting also stated that Gary Barbier was struck several times in the head with a hammer.

Kerr was later convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. His case became legally notable because of problems with the first state habeas filing. In 2002, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the earlier filing did not truly challenge his conviction or death sentence, so Kerr was entitled to have a later filing treated as his initial writ application.

Years later, Kerr won relief from the death sentence. In 2009, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted relief as to the death judgment and ordered a new punishment hearing. In 2011, Texas prison records listed him as removed from death row after his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Murder Story

On August 31, 1994, Elizabeth McDaniel and her son Gary Lawrence Barbier were killed in Bexar County, Texas. McDaniel was 57 years old, and Barbier was 42. They were Kerr’s landlords. The supplied case material states that the killings followed a dispute over the terms of Kerr’s lease and that both victims were shot with a .25-caliber revolver.

Later reporting described the murders as the result of an apparent lease dispute. Evidence showed that Kerr’s water had been turned off and that he had been served with an eviction notice on the day of the killings. The same report stated that both victims were fatally shot and that Barbier was also struck several times in the head with a hammer.

Kerr was arrested about three days after the murders. He was charged with capital murder for killing more than one person during the same criminal episode. On November 16, 1995, a jury found him guilty of capital murder for the deaths of Elizabeth McDaniel and Gary Barbier. The jury then answered Texas’s capital punishment questions in a way that required a death sentence.

Kerr was sentenced to death on December 19, 1995. His automatic direct appeal was later reviewed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed his conviction and death sentence on June 18, 1997.

The case then entered a long postconviction process. One major issue involved Kerr’s initial state habeas representation. His first habeas filing did not actually attack the capital murder conviction or death sentence. Instead, it challenged the constitutionality of the state habeas statute itself. In 2002, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that this earlier filing was not a true initial habeas application because it did not seek relief from the judgment imposing death. The court allowed Kerr’s later filing to be treated as his initial writ.

On April 1, 2009, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted relief as to Kerr’s death judgment and sentence. The court remanded him to Bexar County for a new punishment hearing. The conviction itself was not overturned in that ruling.

Kerr was later removed from Texas death row. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists him under former death row number 999175 and states that on November 22, 2011, his sentence was commuted to life, with new TDCJ number 1756903.