[variable]

Reginald Brooks

Executed November 15, 2011 2:04 p.m. by Lethal Injection in Ohio



Crime:

Brooks lived with his wife, Beverly, and their three sons, Reginald Jr (17), Vaughn (15), and Niarchos (11). Years of tension in the household that began to surface after Brooks quit his job in 1976, leaving his wife to support the family. Brooks quietly planning the crime about 10 days before the murders, obtained an advance on his credit card and traveled to North Olmsted to buy a .38-caliber handgun. A few days later, Beverly filed for divorce. Brooks was served with the divorce papers 2 days before the murders. After Beverly left for work in 1982, Brooks used the handgun used the gun to kill all three of their sons in their beds, then fled to Las Vegas. He was arrested in Utah, and the murder weapon was found in his suitcase.

Citations:

State v. Brooks, 25 Ohio St.3d 144, 495 N.E.2d 407 (Ohio 1986). (Direct Appeal)
Brooks v. Bagley, 513 F.3d 618 (6th Cir. 2008). (Habeas)

Final/Special Meal:

Brooks followed the trend of several executed men recently, ordering a large “last meal” that included lasagna, chili-cheese fries, garlic bread, moose-tracks ice cream, chocolate cake, caramel candy, beef jerky, cashews, almonds and root beer.

Final Words:

None, but took the opportunity to give the middle finger on both hands toward the witness area.

[variable]

Oba Chandler

Executed November 15, 2011 04:25 p.m. EST by Lethal Injection in Florida



Victims:










Crime:

Chandler was convicted in 1994 of killing 36-year-old Joan Rogers and her daughters, Christe and Michelle, who were 14 and 17, and dumping their bound bodies in Tampa bay. The three were on their first vacation and making their way home to their small farming community of Willshire, Ohio, after their Florida trip. Authorities concluded that the women met Chandler on June 1, 1989, when they stopped and asked him for directions to their Tampa area motel. Chandler, who had ties to Ohio, apparently sweet-talked the women into going on his boat, police said. Once aboard, Chandler bound the victims' arms and legs, tied concrete blocks to ropes around their necks and then threw them overboard, according to detectives. Despite the concrete blocks, the bodies surfaced and were found days later, naked from the waist down. Detectives didn't crack the case for three years. Two things helped make the arrest: a tourist brochure with Chandler's handwriting was found in Rogers' car, and Chandler looked similar to a composite sketch of a suspect wanted in an earlier unsolved assault against a Canadian woman who was raped aboard a boat in Tampa Bay. Authorities took the unusual step of publicizing the handwriting on the tourist brochure, putting it on a billboard to see if anyone recognized it, under the words: "WHO KILLED THE ROGERS FAMILY?" One of Chandler's former neighbors recognized the writing and called authorities. At Chandler's trial, prosecutors used details of the unrelated rape for which he was never tried. That Canadian woman testified Chandler took her by boat to see the sunset out on the bay and raped her. She said she believed the reason she wasn't killed was because a friend was waiting for her at the dock. Based on the similarities of the cases, prosecutors hypothesized that Rogers and her daughters were lured onto his boat with the promise of seeing the sunset and were then sexually assaulted before being murdered.

In the 17 years he was in the prison system, he never got a visit from a friend or family member.

Citations:

Chandler v. State, 702 So.2d 186 (Fla. 1997) (Direct Appeal).
Chandler v. State, 848 So.2d 1031 (Fla. 2003) (PCR).
Chandler v. McDonough, 471 F.3d 1360 (11th Cir. 2006) (Habeas).

Final / Special Meal:

Two salami sandwiches on white bread with mustard. He also asked for a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich on white bread but ate only half of it. He ordered an iced tea, but drank coffee instead.

Final Words:

None.

[variable]

Guadalupe Esparza

Executed November 16, 2011 06:21 p.m. CDT by Lethal Injection in Texas



Victim:



Crime:

Esparza abducted 7 year old Alyssa Vasquez from her home while her mother was out and the babysitter was next door. He raped and strangled her, then abandoned her body in a nearby field. When the babysitter discovered the child missing, she saw Esparza running down the street. Esparza lived two miles away. Police recovered a blood spattered shirt and boxer shorts of Esparza in a nearby trash bin. Testimony of a cellmate and a guard at the County Jail confirmed that Esparza had admitted the murder to them. Scientific testing revealed that Esparza’s DNA was consistent with the DNA extracted from spermatozoa on Vasquez’s oral swab.

Citations:

Esparza v. State, Not Reported in S.W.3d (Tex.Crim.App. 2003). (Direct Appeal)
Esparza v. Thaler, 408 Fed.Appx. 787 (5th Cir. 2010). (Habeas)

Final/Special Meal:

None.

Last Words:

"To the family of Alyssa Vasquez, I hope you will find peace in your heart. My sympathy goes out to you. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me. I don't know why all of this happened."

[variable]

Paul Ezra Rhoades

Executed November 18, 2011 9:15 p.m. by Lethal Injection in Idaho



Crime:

Rhoades was convicted in three separate kidnapping and murder cases. For the murders of Susan Michelbacher and Stacy Baldwin, Rhoades was sentenced to death, and for the murder of Nolan Haddon he received an indeterminate life sentence based on a conditional plea.

February 28, 1987, 21 year old Stacy Dawn Baldwin was abducted while working at the Red Mini Barn convenience store in Blackfoot. She was then taken to a secluded location and shot several times. She died approximately an hour and a half later.

March 17, 1987 - Nolan Haddon, a 23 year old student, was shot five times while working at Buck's convenience store in Idaho Falls. His body body was found in the store's walk-in cooler.

March 19, 1987 - Susan Michelbacher, 34, a special education teacher, was abducted in a parking lot at 7 a.m., forced to withdraw money from her checking account, driven to a rural location, raped and shot nine times, resulting in her death.

Rhoades was a high school dropout who began drinking at the age of 10, suffered polio as a child, and developed a serious methamphetamine addiction as an adult.

Citations:

State v. Rhoades, 120 Idaho 795, 820 P.2d 665 (Idaho 1991). (Baldwin Direct Appeal)
State v. Rhoades, 121 Idaho 63, 822 P.2d 960 (Idaho 1991). (Michelbacher Direct Appeal)
State v. Rhoades, 135 Idaho 299, 17 P.3d 243 (Idaho 2000). (Baldwin PCR)
State v. Rhoades, 148 Idaho 247, 220 P.3d 1066 (Idaho 2009). (Haddon PCR)
Rhoades v. Henry, 638 F.3d 1027 (9th Cir. 2011). (Baldwin Habeas)
Rhoades v. Henry, 598 F.3d 511 (9th Cir. 2010). (Haddon Habeas)
Rhoades v. Henry, 611 F.3d 1133 (9th Cir. 2010). (Michelbacher Habeas)

Final/Special Meal:

Rhoades was offered hot dogs, sauerkraut, mustard, ketchup, onions, relish, baked beans, veggie sticks, ranch dressing, fruit with gelatin and strawberry ice cream cups — the same meal that was offered to all Idaho Maximum Security inmates.

Final Words:

"To Bert Michelbacher, I am sorry for the part I played in your wife's death. For Haddon and Baldwin, I can't help you. You still have to keep looking. I'm sorry for your family. I can't help you. I took part in the Michelbacher murder, I can't help you guys. I'm sorry." Rhodes then told his mom "goodbye." He then turned to the executioner or the warden and uttered, "I forgive you, I really do."

[thrasher09]

I know, I think Northern Ireland was the last country in UK to abolish it. I am from Northern Ireland, but I believe that the Republic of Ireland still hangs people, but I haven't heard of a hanging in a very long time.

[collaredgirl65]

One of my favorite threads.

[Arkoquisa]

Sure has been fun watching this thread over the course of the year, although, I do with the conveyor belt of death ran a bit faster. So many shit bags just waiting to die while living off my tax dollars.

[luton loyal]

[soonerpimp]

Originally Posted by collaredgirl65 ↗

One of my favorite threads.

Me Too!

[variable]

Hi guys!

43 executions have been reported in this thread in 2011. As no more are scheduled for the remaining days of this year, this thread comes to an end.

Thank you all for contributing. I wish everybody a nice christmas and a happy new year.

I shall see you all in the "2012 Executions in the USA"-thread to be started.