2nd South Dakota parolee in 2 days executed for 1998 Texas robbery-slaying

2nd SD parolee in 2 days executed in Texas

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A second South Dakota parolee condemned in an Army officer’s robbery and beating death in Texas was put to death Thursday evening.

Billy Galloway’s lethal injection came a day after his former cellmate, Kevin Varga, was executed for the same 1998 slaying. Galloway and Varga, both 41, received lethal injections for the killing of David Logie, an Army major from Fayetteville, N.C.

Logie, 37, was bludgeoned with a hammer and a tree limb behind a building in northeast Texas. It was one of two slayings blamed on Galloway and Varga during a cross-country crime spree while the men were on parole.

“If I can go back and change the past, I would,” Galloway said, belted to the gurney and looking at Logie’s father and widow who were watching through a window. “There’s nothing I can do. I’m sorry.”

Logie’s father, Jack, later dismissed Galloway’s apology.

“I cannot forgive,” he said.

Varga was the eighth Texas prisoner executed this year, and Galloway the ninth. Texas is the nation’s most active death penalty state.

Galloway and Varga met in prison in South Dakota. Varga was paroled in May 1998 after serving time for grand theft. Galloway, who had been in prison for crimes including theft and attempted robbery, was paroled a month later.

They set out with their girlfriends on a road trip from South Dakota to Mexico, which according to trial testimony, was to be financed with money scammed from victims. The plan was for the women to offer sex to men and then for Galloway and Varga to ambush and rob them.

They targeted Logie, who was in Texas on business, in September 1998. His battered body was dragged into woods and set on fire.

Both women also were sent to prison. Deannee Bayless is serving 40 years for murder and isn’t eligible for parole until 2018. Venus Joy Anderson, who was 17 and dating Varga at the time, served a reduced seven-year prison term in exchange for her testimony.