By Casey TolanPublished on 5/10/2016
Two men—one white, one Latino—were charged with killing a woman in a Dallas suburb in 1998. The white defendant pled guilty, served 17 years in prison, and got out on parole a few weeks ago. The Latino defendant claimed he was innocent and was sentenced to death. He will be executed next month.
Bill Black found the body of his wife Betty in their living room. The bullet had gone through her wrists and her chest—she had been holding her hands up to defend herself. A few yards away, in another room, her doberman Santana was also lying on the floor dead, a bullet through her back.
The killing of 64-year-old Elizabeth “Betty” Black, on Thursday, January 29, 1998, shook the tranquil Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch. Within days, police charged two drug dealers with Black’s murder: Richard Lynn Childs, who’s white, and Charles Flores, who’s Latino.