[variable]

Peter Anthony Cantu

Executed August 17, 2010 06:17 p.m. CDT by Lethal Injection in Texas



Victims:



Crime:

Cantu was the self-appointed leader of a gang in Houston that met on the night of June 24, 1993, to initiate a new member, Raul Villareal. The initiation involved fighting each member of the gang for a five- to ten- minute period. The gang then drank beer and engaged in horseplay. Elizabeth Pena, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14, were walking home from a friend's house, taking a shortcut along some railroad tracks when they stumbled upon the group. In a sadistic frenzy, the girls were forcibly gang-raped vaginally, orally, and anally for more than an hour. They were kicked, and had teeth knocked out, hair pulled out, and ribs broken. A red nylon belt, with an attacker tugging at each end, was pulled so tightly around Ertman's neck the belt snapped. Shoelaces were used to strangle Pena. The bodies of the two teenage girls were found four days after they failed to return from a friend's house. Later on the night of the murder, the group met at Cantu’s house to brag about their exploits. Cantu parceled out jewelry and money he had taken from the girls. Cantu's brother eventually called the police. Upon arrest, Cantu confessed, along with several of the others.

Four of the other assailants were also convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Derrick Sean O'Brien was executed in July 2006. Jose Medellin was executed in August 2008. Raul Omar Villareal and Efrain Perez were sentenced to death, but following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 ruling that executing criminals who were not yet 18 at the time of their crimes is unconstitutional, their sentences were commuted to life. Venancio Medellin, who was 14 at the time, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Citations:

Cantu v. State, 939 S.W.2d 627 (Tex.Crim.App. 1997). (Direct Appeal)
Cantu v. Quarterman, 341 Fed.Appx. 55 (5th Cir. 2009). (Habeas)

Final/Special Meal:

Enchiladas, fajitas and a cinnamon bun.

Last Words:

None.

[variable]

Roderick Davie

Executed August 10, 2010 10:31 a.m. by Lethal Injection in Ohio



Crime:

Davie went to his former workplace, Veterinary Companies of America in Warren, armed with a revolver, and ordered three workers to lie face down on the floor. He had been fired from the company two months earlier. Davie shot John Coleman, 38, who died almost immediately, and William John Everett, who remained conscious after being shot in the head, shoulder and left arm. Out of bullets, Davie then pursued Tracey Jefferys, 21, when she got up and ran toward the company's lunch room, and beat her to death with a folding chair. Everett escaped the warehouse and made his way out of the building, where Davie attempted to run him down with a truck, then beat him with a stick and attempted to gouge out his eyes before fleeing the scene. When police arrested Davie later that day, he told detectives, "I just flipped out this morning. I went down to the VCA and shot 'em up." Everett survived and testified at trial.

Citations:

State v. Davie, Not Reported in N.E.2d, 1995 WL 870019 (Ohio App. 1995). (Direct Appeal)
Davie v. Mitchell, 547 F.3d 297 (6th Cir. 2008). (Habeas)

Final/Special Meal:

Davie, who also goes by an Islamic name, fasted until sundown on Monday. He was served a vegetarian meal and drank several cups of coffee during the night.

Final Words:

Davie apologized to Everett and the families of Coleman and Jefferys before his execution. His entire final statement was, "I'd like to thank my parents for their unconditional love and support throughout all this. My daughter, Paris, for helping me become a man and change. And my niece, Brittany, for holding my heart. To Ms. Jefferys, I'm sorry. I don't know if it means anything, Ms. Jefferys, but from the bottom of my heart, I mean that. I'm sorry. To the Colemans – Cathy, I don't see her here, but you all tell Cathy I'm sorry. I mean that. John (Everett), I hope you can let it go, man and forgive me. You hear me, John? I'm done. That's it."

[variable]

David Lee Powell

Executed June 15, 2010 06:10 p.m. CDT by Lethal Injection in Texas



Victim:



Crime:

Austin police officer Ralph Ablanedo, 26, pulled over a vehicle for not displaying a rear license plate. The driver, Sheila Meinert, 27, got out of the car and approached him. She told him she had lost her driver's license, but she showed him her passport. The officer asked the dispatcher by radio to check Meinert and her passenger, David Powell, 27, for outstanding warrants. The dispatcher informed Ablanedo that the computers were not functioning properly, but that there were no local warrants for Meinert. Ablanedo issued Meinert a citation for the license plate and allowed her to drive away. As she was pulling out, however, the dispatcher told Ablanedo that Powell had a possible warrant for misdemeanor theft. The dispatcher called for officer Bruce Mills, Ablanedo's partner, to go out to back up Ablanedo. Ablanedo stopped the vehicle again. As he was approaching the car, and Meinert was walking toward him, Powell shot at the officer through the back window with an AK-47 machine gun. Initially, the weapon was set to semiautomatic mode. Ablanedo tried to get up, but Powell switched the weapon to full automatic mode fired at him again. The car then left. Officer Mills arrived a few minutes later. Ablanedo had been shot ten times. Despite the fact that he was wearing a bulletproof vest, it was not designed to withstand fire from automatic weapons.

Powell's background was different from most other capital murder defendants. He graduated from high school a year early and was both the valedictorian and "most likely to succeed" of his small rural school class. He was accepted into the honors program at the University of Texas. While there, he became an anti-war protester and began using drugs. He never finished college. By 1978, he was a heavy user and dealer of methamphetamine. Powell was one of only twelve prisoners remaining on Texas' death row who committed their capital offenses in the 1970's. He was the longest-serving inmate executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out executions in 1982.

Citations:

Powell v. State, 742 S.W.2d 353 (Tex.Crim.App. 1987). (Direct Appeal)
Powell v. Texas, 492 U.S. 680, 109 S.Ct. 3146 (1989). (Direct Appeal - Reversed)
Powell v. State, 897 S.W.2d 307 (1994). (Direct Appeal - Reversed)
Powell v. Quarterman, 283 Fed.Appx. 186 (5th Cir. 2008). (Habeas)

Final/Special Meal:

Four eggs, four chicken drumsticks, salsa, four jalapeno peppers, lettuce, tortillas, hashbrowns, garlic bread, two pork chops, white and yellow grated cheese, sliced onions and tomatoes, a pitcher of milk and a vanilla shake.

Last Words:

None.

[variable]

Joshua Maxwell

Executed March 11, 2010 06:27 p.m. CDT by Lethal Injection in Texas



Crime:

The body of Rudolfo Lopes, a sergeant with the Bexar County Sheriff's Department, was discovered in a field in San Antonio, blindfolded and his hands bound together. He had been shot once in the top of his head with a .9 mm handgun. Six days later, Maxwell and his girlfriend, Tess McFarland, were stopped after a police chase and running gun battle in downtown San Francisco. They were driving Lopes vehicle, which contained Lopes personal items and a .9 mm handgun later tested and found to be the handgun that had killed Lopes. Once arrested, Maxwell confessed to both killings.

A month earlier, Maxwell and McFarland kidnapped Robbie Bott near Indianapolis and forced him to withdraw cash from automatic teller machines. The next day, Bott’s car was found abandoned and aflame about fifteen minutes from his home. His charred, hogtied body was found in the trunk. The autopsy showed that he had been killed by a shot to the torso.

Citations:

Maxwell v. State, 2004 WL 3094649 (Tex.Cr.App. 2004). (Direct Appeal)
Maxwell v. Thaler, 009 WL 2981896 (5th Cir. 2009). (Habeas)

Final/Special Meal:

6 pieces of fried chicken with ketchup, 3 bacon cheeseburgers, 6 red Mountain Dews, brownie and french fries.

Last Words:

“I hurt a lot of people with the decisions I made. I can't be more sorry than I am right now. This person who did that 10 years ago isn't the same person you see today. I want to address you. I am sorry. I don't know who you are. I am sorry. I put you through some things that I can't take back." But he said his execution was "creating more victims. This is not going to change anything." To his son, Maxwell stated "I hurt the Lopes family. Let this be a lesson. Your decisions affect everybody. Look after your sister for me.”

[variable]

Cal Coburn Brown

Executed September 10, 2010 12:56 a.m. PDT by Lethal Injection in Washington



Victim:



Crime:

While on parole for a violent sex crime, Brown carjacked 21 year old Holly Washa in the parking lot of a hotel and demanded at knifepoint that she "drive or die." He later forced her into the passenger seat, tied her hands behind her back and drove her to his motel nearby. In his motel room, Brown forced Holly to remove her clothing, then tied her to the bed and raped and tortured her repeatedly for the course of several hours. Eventually, Brown put Holly in the trunk of her car, slit her throat, stabbed her repeatedly and left her to bleed to death in a parking lot.

Several days later, Holly's body was found in the trunk of her car. After stabbing Holly, Brown then flew to Palm Springs, California, to rendezvous with his next victim in another hotel room. He handcuffed her and slit her throat, but she survived and incredibly was able to call the police when Brown left the room. Brown was arrested in the hotel parking lot and quickly gave audio-taped confessions to both the rape and attempted murder of Susan in California, and the rape and murder of Holly Washa in Washington.

Citations:

State v. Brown, 132 Wash.2d 529, 940 P.2d 546 (Wash. 1997). (Direct Appeal)
Brown v. Uttecht, 530 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2008). (Habeas)

Final / Special Meal:
Pizza, apple pie, and Root Beer.

Last Words:

In a lengthy statement, Brown did not apologize to Washa's family but said he understood their enmity for him. He said he forgave that hatred and hoped the execution would give them closure. He also said the prison staff had been most professional and that he had no complaints about his treatment there. However, Brown protested sentencing disparities, saying criminals who had killed many more people, such as Green River killer Gary Ridgway, were serving life sentences while he was put to death. "I only killed one victim. I cannot really see that there is true justice. Hopefully, sometime in the future that gets straightened out." Brown's final words were "Thank you, God bless you, God bless my family."

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William L. Garner

Executed July 13, 2010 10:38 a.m. by Lethal Injection in Ohio



Victims:

Mykkila Mason
Age 8

Deondra Freeman
Age 10

Markeca Mason
Age 11

Denitra Satterwhite
Age 12

Richard Gaines
Age 11

Crime:

After falling on an icy sidewalk, Addie Mack went to the hospital emergency room to get checked out. At the hospital, Garner snatched her purse from near a pay telephone, called a cab, and directed the driver to her home address intending to steal what he could from the home. Garner went through each room of the apartment, including two bedrooms in which he noticed four girls and two boys sleeping. While inside, one of the girls woke up and asked Garner for a glass of water, which he gave her, and then he let the child watch television for a few minutes before sending her back to bed. He explained his presence in the apartment by telling her that he ran into her mother at the hospital and she had sent him to check on the children. Garner removed a number of items from the apartment, including a television set, a VCR, a portable telephone, and a Sony "boom box." Garner put these items in the cab, telling the driver that he and his girlfriend had a fight and that he was moving out his belongings. Realizing the child could identify him, Garner went back inside the apartment and set three fires. Two of the fires, set in the mother's unoccupied bedroom and another unoccupied bedroom, smoldered but went out. The third fire was set on the living room couch. That fire quickly consumed the living room and filled the entire apartment with heavy smoke. Addie's oldest son, Rod, was awakened by the smoke, heard his sisters screaming in their room and saw fire in the hallway outside his bedroom. Rod tried to get the other children out through a bedroom window. He went first, out his bedroom window and sliding onto a dormer over the front door, then down. But the other five children aged 8-12, which included his three sisters, a cousin and a neighbor boy who was spending the night, did not follow him and died inside. Upon arrest, after finding the stolen items in his home, Garner admitted entering the home and setting the fire, but said he thought the children would escape.

Citations:

State v. Garner, Not Reported in N.E.2d, 1994 WL 466508 (Ohio App. 1994). (Direct Appeal)
State v. Garner, Not Reported in N.E.2d, 1997 WL 778982 (Ohio App. 1997). (Postconviction Relief)
Garner v. Mitchell, 557 F.3d 257 (6th Cir. 2009). (Habeas)

Final/Special Meal:

A porterhouse steak, fried shrimp, barbecued chicken and ribs, a large salad, potato wedges, onion rings, sweet potato pie, chocolate ice cream and Hawaiian Punch to drink.

Final Words:

Reading from a hand-written note held up by an official, Garner apologized to the six family members of the victims and stated he was "heartily sorry ... my carelessness caused a great loss to many and if my flesh gives you all some kind of peace, I want that for you. If this will give you closure, I hope it will.” Garner thanked the state of Ohio, his spiritual advisers and friend Stacy Evans who gave him a clipping of her dreadlock to hold as he died. “I thought I’d never be free, but I am free now."

[variable]

These were just some cases which I found noteworthy. I'll post more if you like.

[ChockFullOfChock]

Pity killing them wont bring back the victims.

[Psychonautical]

Really, really great post.

Just awesome.

[variable]

Thanks, mate. You're welcome.



Kenneth Mosley

Executed January 7, 2010 06:16 p.m. CDT by Lethal Injection in Texas



Victim:



Crime:

Mosley entered a Bank One in Garland dressed in long dark clothing and a dark toboggan-style cap. Because it was a hot day, this unusual dress caused several people to notice him. One of the tellers recognized Mosley from a previous robbery at the bank. A bank manager pushed the alarm button and called 9-1-1. Several witnesses watched as the 32 year old Officer David Moore, who responded to the alarm, approached Mosley and said, “I would like to speak with you.” Mosley and Officer Moore began to struggle. Mosley then pulled a gun from underneath his shirt. Several shots rang out and Officer Moore shoved Mosley through a nearby window. They fell to the ground into one of the drive-through lanes. A witness from across the street saw Mosley pause to look around, point a gun at Officer Moore and shoot him. Moore was shot five times. Mosley began to walk away from the bank but was spotted by another police officer who ordered Mosley to stop, drop the gun, and get on the ground. Mosley turned as if to shoot. The officer shot Mosley once in the wrist, and Mosley dropped the gun. Mosley then complied with the officer’s directive to get on the ground.

Citations:

Mosley v. Quarterman, 306 Fed.Appx. 40 (5th Cir. 2008). (Habeas).

Final/Special Meal:

An assortment of fried foods, including three pieces of chicken, two pork chops, a cheeseburger, 10 pieces of bacon, French fries, okra, green tomatoes and apple cobbler.

Final Words:

None.