Kennedale man who stabbed wife to death, killed father-in-law with bat to be executed

After a 15-month stay because of the coronavirus pandemic, the execution of a former Kennedale man who was convicted of capital murder is scheduled for Wednesday.

John Hummel, 45, stabbed to death wife and beat to death his father-in-law with a baseball bat before he burned down the family home in 2009. He also was accused in the death of his 5-year-old daughter, but was convicted in the killings of his wife and father-in-law. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in March 2020 granted him a reprieve connected to COVID-19.

At trial, Tarrant County prosecutors Miles Brissette and Bob Gill asserted that Hummel killed his relatives so that he could be single and pursue a romantic relationship with a woman he met at a convenience store. Hummel beat his pregnant wife with a baseball bat before stabbing her with samurai swords and a medieval dagger.

Hummel would be the second person to be executed in Texas this year. The first, Quintin Jones, also was convicted in Tarrant County. Jones beat to death his great-aunt with her baseball bat after an elusive search for her purse inside a house in Fort Worth.