Texas Death row inmate who killed mom and twin girls executed - sixth inmate put to death in 11 days

A death row inmate who stabbed twin teenage girls and their mom to death was executed in Texas.

Garcia Glenn White, 61, was put to death by lethal injection shortly after 6 pm at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. White killed 16-year-old twins Annette and Bernette Edwards and their mother Bonita Edwards at their Houston apartment in December 1989.

White went to the Houston home to smoke crack with their mother. When the girls came out of their room to see what had happened, White attacked them. Evidence showed White broke down the locked door of the girls' bedroom.

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He was the sixth death row inmate executed in the US in the last 11 days. White's lawyers asked the US Supreme Court to stop his execution after lower courts previously rejected his petitions for a stay. His lawyers argued that Texas' top criminal appeals court has refused "to accept medical evidence and strong factual backing" showing White is intellectually disabled.

However, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday denied White's request to commute his death sentence. He was executed on Tuesday evening.

White was linked to five killings. The murders of the twin girls and their mother went unsolved for six years until White confessed to the killings.

The confession came after he was arrested in connection with the July 1995 death of grocery store owner Hai Van Pham, who was fatally beaten during a robbery at his business. Police said White also confessed to fatally beating another woman, Greta Williams, in 1989.

White was the fifth inmate put to death this year in Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state. He was the 19th death row inmate executed in the US this year. Six executions took place in the last 11 days.