[MrCorpse]

Originally Posted by Lion-hearted Girl ↗

Andrew LACKEY



Date of Execution: July 25, 2013

State: Alabama

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Robbery

Number of victims: 1

Date of murder: October 31, 2005

Date of arrest: Same day

Date of birth: October 29, 1983

Victim profile: Charles Newman, 80

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Athens, Limestone County, Alabama, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on April 3, 2008. Executed by lethal injection in Alabama on July 25, 2013

Summary: The home of 80 year old veteran Charles Newman was broken into by Lackey on Halloween night 2005.

Lackey had been told by Newman's grandson that he had a vault in the home with a lot of cash. Lackey confronted Newman, who managed to call 911. Operators heard Lackey demanding to know where the vault was located, then shots were fired. It is believed that Newman was able to grab his own gun and shot Lackey, who responded by stabbing and slashing Newman with a knife more than 70 times, leaving the tip of the knife in Newman's skull. Lackey also shot Newman in the chest, killing him.

Lackey attempted to drive himself to the hospital, but had to stop. He was arrested and received medical treatment for his gunshot wound, but refused to say how he was shot. A .38 handgun, owned by Lackey, was found in the car. Blood in Newman's house was matched by DNA to Lackey, who waived appeals after the direct appeal.

Final Meal: His last meal came from the prison kitchen and included grilled cheese and bologna sandwiches with french fries.

Final Words: None.

This guy sounds like a total retard.. Not sure how that crime get's the death penalty though!

[Lion-hearted Girl]

He only stabbed him 70 times!

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Anthony BANKS



Date of Execution:September 10, 2013

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Armed robbery - Rape

Number of victims: 2

Date of murders: April 11, 1978 / June 6, 1979

Date of birth: July 5, 1952

Victims profile: David Paul Fremin (convenience store clerk) / Sun "Kim" Travis, 24

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on November 22, 1999. Executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on September 10, 2013

Oklahoma inmate Anthony Banks executed for 1979 slaying of Korean national

Kjrh.com

September 10, 2013

McALESTER, Okla. -- An Oklahoma death row inmate was executed for the shooting death of a 24-year-old Korean national 34 years ago.

Sixty-one-year-old Anthony Rozelle Banks was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in Tulsa County for the June 6, 1979, killing of Sun "Kim" Travis. He was executed shortly after 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester.

Banks was already serving a life prison sentence following his conviction for the April 11, 1978, slaying of a Tulsa convenience store clerk during an armed robbery when he was linked to Travis' death by DNA evidence 18 years after she was killed.

Travis was abducted from the parking lot of a Tulsa apartment complex, raped and shot in the head. Her body was found in a roadside ditch.

Banks' daughter, Toni Banks, spoke with 2NEWS, shortly after the execution. Toni says her father found religion while serving time on death row and she believes he was remorseful for his crimes. "He could've made a different decision, but he made the wrong decision," she said. "He knows what he did wrong. He's so sorry, but he paid for it with his life."

Banks wishes to apologize the victims' families, on behalf of her father. She hopes to one day meet them and personally express her feelings.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Robert Gene GARZA, AKA "Bones"



Date of Execution: September 19, 2013

Classification: Mass murderer

Characteristics: Tri-City Bombers gang member - Drugs robbery

Number of victims: 10

Date of murders: September 5, 2002 / January 5, 2003

Date of arrest: January 26, 2003

Date of birth: May 15, 1982

Victims profile: Maria De La Luz Bazaldua Cobarrubias, Danitzene Lizeth Vasquez Beltran, Celina Linares Sanchez, Lourdes Yesenia Araujo Torres / Jimmy Edward Almendariz, 22; brothers Jerry Eugene Hidalgo, 24, and Ray Hidalgo, 30; half brothers Juan Delgado Jr., 32, and Juan Delgado III, 20; and Ruben Rolando Castillo, 32 (rival gang members)

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Harris County, Texas, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on December 18, 2003. Executed by lethal injection in Texas on September 19, 2013

Summary: On 09/05/2003, in Hidalgo County, Texas, Garza and co-defendants killed four Hispanic females by firing into the victims' car.

It was later discovered that Garza and his co-defendants were members of the Tri City Bomber Gang, carrying out orders to murder one of the females who was a witness to their weapons activity.

Texas Man Executed for Ambush That Killed 4 Women

By Michael Graczyk - Associated Press

September 20, 2013

A former South Texas street gang member was executed Thursday evening for his involvement in a gang ambush in which four women were gunned down 11 years ago.

Robert Gene Garza, 30, became the 12th condemned inmate executed this year in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state.

Garza smiled and blew a kiss to friends and relatives as they entered the death chamber. In a brief final statement, he thanked them for coming and told them he loved them.

"I know it's hard for you," he said. "It's not easy. This is a release. Y'all finally get to move on with your lives."

He took several deep breaths as a lethal dose of pentobarbital began flowing into his arms, then began snoring. All movement stopped within less than a minute. He was pronounced dead 26 minutes later, at 8:41 p.m. CDT.

A member of a Rio Grande Valley gang known as the Tri-City Bombers even before he was a teenager, Garza insisted a statement to police acknowledging his participation in the September 2002 shootings in Hidalgo County was made under duress and improperly obtained.

But prosecutors said Garza orchestrated the gang's plan to silence the women, who Garza thought had witnessed another gang crime, and was present when several gang members opened fire on the women when they arrived at their trailer park home after work at a bar.

"I really didn't have anything to do with the scenario the state was providing," Garza told The Associated Press recently from death row. "I guess since we are gang members, they got me involved through the gang.

"I think they were just trying to close his case ... and they needed somebody."

Evidence later would show the women were killed by mistake. The gang member in the other crime never went to trial because he accepted a plea deal and prison term.

Garza, who was arrested in late January 2003, was convicted under Texas' law of parties, which makes a non-triggerman equally culpable. Evidence showed Garza was a gang leader, told his companions how to do the killings, was present when the shootings took place and "in all likelihood was a shooter but is downplaying his part," Joseph Orendain, the Hidalgo County assistant district attorney who prosecuted him, said this week.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case. His lawyer, Don Vernay, said appeals were exhausted.

Garza filed his own last-day appeals Thursday to the high court, delaying his punishment by some two hours until the justices ruled. In his appeals, he argued his trial attorneys failed to obtain from his mother testimony jurors should have been allowed to hear that he stayed in the gang because he feared retaliation if he quit. He also contended his trial court judge earlier this week improperly refused his request to withdraw his execution date.

Garza argued the state should assure him the lethal dose of pentobarbital to be used in his punishment was chemically effective and obtained legally. Texas prison officials have said their inventory of pentobarbital is expiring this month.

Texas prison officials said earlier Thursday they will continue to use the same drug but wouldn't say how the state will replace its supply.

"We have not changed our current execution protocol and have no immediate plans to do so," Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Garza also was charged but never tried for participating in what became known in the Rio Grande Valley as the Edinburg massacre, the January 2003 slayings of six people at a home in the city.

In the case that sent him to death row, Garza was convicted of two counts of capital murder for the slayings of the four women. Evidence showed they were living in the U.S. without legal permission just outside Donna, about 15 miles southeast of McAllen.

In his statement to investigators, which Garza insisted was coerced, he said he carried out the "hit" with three other gunmen in two vehicles who opened fire on six women in their parked car. Killed were Maria De La Luz Bazaldua Cobbarubias, Dantizene Lizeth Vasquez Beltran, Celina Linares Sanchez and Lourdes Yesenia Araujo Torres. Two others survived.

Another Texas inmate is set to die next week.

[MrCorpse]

Originally Posted by Lion-hearted Girl ↗

He only stabbed him 70 times!

Yeah but it was only one fatality, and it seems like he wouldn't have killed him if he didn't fight back. Usually when I think of the death penalty I think of serial killers or seriously deranged people who killed several people and are likely to do it again. But hey, whatever.. seemed like a retard so what do I care if he's dead?

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Yeh you're right, you tend to think of the more premeditated type murders. Lots of these seem to be robberies and stuff too.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Harry MITTS Jr



Date of Execution: September 25, 2013

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Shooting rampage - Hate crime

Number of victims: 2

Date of murder: August 14, 1994

Date of arrest: Same day (wounded by police)

Date of birth: June 18, 1942

Victim profile: John Bryant, 28 / Garfield Heights Police Sgt. Dennis Glivar, 44

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Garfield Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on November 21, 1994. Executed by lethal injection in Ohio on September 25, 2013

Summary: On August 14, 1994, Mitts murdered 28-year-old John Bryant and 44-year-old Sergeant Dennis Glivar, and attempted to murder 38-year-old Lieutenant Thomas Kaiser and 38-year-old Officer John Mackey in Mitts' apartment complex.

Mr. Bryant was the boyfriend of Mitts' neighbor. Mitts shouted racial epithets at Mr. Bryant and fatally shot him in the chest. Later, when Sergeant Glivar and Lieutenant Kaiser approached Mitts' apartment, where he had barricaded himself, Mitts came out of the door and opened fire with a gun in each hand, killing Sergeant Glivar and wounding Lieutenant Kaiser. Mitts also shot and wounded Officer Mackey, who was trying to negotiate with Mitts to surrender to police.

Harry Mitts Jr. executed by lethal injection this morning at Lucasville, following 20 years in prison

By Brandon Blackwell - Cleveland.com

September 25, 2013

LUCASVILLE, Ohio – Garfield Heights killer Harry Mitts Jr. was executed Wednesday after spending nearly two decades on death row for gunning down his neighbor and a police officer.

A lethal injection stopped Mitts' heart at 10:39 a.m.

Mitts, 61, was sentenced to death in November 1994 after a full-bore firefight at his apartment complex that left neighbor John Bryant and Garfield Heights Police Sgt. Dennis Glivar dead.

Mitts used his last words to ask for forgiveness and encourage the victims' families to find salvation in Jesus Christ.

"I'm so sorry for taking your loved ones' lives," Mitts said with tears in his eyes. "I had no business doing what I did and I've been carrying that burden with me for 19 years.

"Please don't carry that hatred for me with you in your hearts."

Mitts' lethal injection lasted nearly 35 minutes.

At 10:05 a.m., corrections officers walked a calm Mitts into the death chamber, where he was strapped to a steel bed and hooked up to lines that would deliver deadly chemicals.

After his final words, Mitts stared at the ceiling while authorities in another room delivered the injection.

Mitts closed his eyes and took increasingly labored breaths. About a minute later, he began to snore.

The snoring soon stopped and Mitts' breathing gradually slowed. His face turned blue by the time he took his last peaceful gasp.

Mitts is the last person to be put to death in Ohio using the drug pentobarbital. The state's supply of pentobarbital was expected to run out with Mitts' executions today. Department of Rehabilitation and Correction will announce by Oct. 4 how it will respond, according to spokeswoman Ricky Seyfang.

Witnesses, including retired Garfield Heights Police Lt.Tom Kaiser, who was Glivar's partner at the time and was shot twice during Mitts' storm of gunfire, joined others in watching the condemned murderer die at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.

Victim witnesses included Bryant's sister, Glivar's widow and mother, and Garfield Heights Police Chief Robert Sackett.

"I know its wrong, but I still have hatred for him," said Bryant's sister Johnnal after the execution.

Glivar's widow Debbie said she would never forgive Mitts.

Mitts' friend Gary Hopkins joined ministers Edward Jenkins and Lucian Piaskowiak on the inmate's side of the witness room.

All of the witnesses watched in silence as Mitts slipped away.

Mitts began his hours-long rampage on the evening of Aug. 14, 1994 by firing a laser-sighted round into Bryant's chest as Bryant and his girlfriend were returning home from grocery shopping.

Bryant, who was black, and his girlfriend, who was white, were walking from the parking lot to their apartment when Mitts approached the couple.

He raised his gun, uttered racial slurs and shot 28-year-old Bryant point blank. Against Mitts' orders, neighbors carried Bryant to a second-floor apartment and waited for help to arrive.

Mitts then walked away, randomly firing his weapon, and prepared for the imminent police response. Mitts hoped for a suicide by cop, according to Ohio Parole Board documents.

Mitts fired eight to 10 rounds at the first patrol car to approach the complex and then fled to his first-floor apartment.

Glivar and Kaiser arrived soon after and located Bryant, who bled out before they arrived. The officers returned downstairs to ensure the building was safe for paramedics to enter.

That is when Mitts, who clenched a .44 Magnum in one fist and a 9 mm pistol in the other, sprung open his apartment door and let loose a volley of gunfire.

Glivar, 44, was shot seven times. Bullets ripped through his heart, lung, liver, kidney and stomach. He collapsed near the door, dropped his shotgun and died within minutes.

Kaiser was shot in the chest and hand but managed to force Mitts to retreat by firing in the killer's direction. Kaiser then took cover upstairs and kept watch on Mitts' apartment.

"We didn't even know he lived there," Kaiser said Tuesday. "He was just waiting for us. Maybe he was looking through his peephole. He took us by surprise."

Kaiser tried to talk Mitts into surrendering. Mitts refused.

"The only way we're going to end this is if you kill me," Mitts shouted, according to clemency documents. "You have to come down. You have to do your job and you have to kill me."

Minutes later, Maple Heights Police Officer John Mackey arrived at the complex and helped Kaiser rescue tenants upstairs by guiding them down a ladder propped against a back window.

Mackey and Kaiser then took positions outside Mitts apartment while the gunman fired sporadic shots using Glivar's dropped shotgun and weapons from his home arsenal.

At one point, Mitts was able to pick out Mackey's location by the sound of the officer's voice carrying through the hallway.

Mitts fired through a wall and hit Mackey.

The bloody gun battle ended hours later when a SWAT team shot tear gas into Mitts' apartment and subdued the wounded triggerman.

Mitts was charged with the aggravated murders of Bryant and Glivar, and the attempted murders of Kaiser and Mackey.

Three months later, the man with no previous criminal record was sentenced to death.

Authorities found thousands of rounds of ammunition in Mitts' home and a bumper sticker that read: "Gun control means hitting what you aim at."

The Ohio Parole Board said Mitts' deadly confrontation is "clearly among the worst of the worst capital cases."

Mitts began to tailspin in the weeks leading to the massacre. He began stalking his ex wife and her new husband, and admitted he thought about assassinating the man.

Prosecutors argued Mitts' attack was racially motivated, but defense attorneys contended Mitts killed Bryant only to lure police.

Last week, Gov. John Kasich denied Mitts clemency, siding with the parole board's unanimous recommendation to carry out the death sentence.

Mitts told the parole board in August he found God while incarcerated at the Cuyahoga County Jail and looked forward to living "in perpetuity with Jesus Christ" after his execution.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Arturo Eleazar DIAZ



Date of Execution: September 26, 2013

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Robbery - Drugs

Number of victims: 2

Date of murders: March 25/April 3, 1999

Date of birth: December 27, 1975

Victims profile: David Anthony Nichols / Michael Ryan Nichols, 25

Method of murder: Stomping on his head and bludgeoning his face beyond recognition with a hammer / Stabbing with knife 94 times

Location: Hidalgo County, Texas, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on February 20, 2000. Executed by lethal injection in Texas on September 26, 2013

Co-defendant: Jose Luis CARDOVA

Last Meal: Texas no longer offers a special "last meal" to condemned inmates. Instead, the inmate is offered the same meal served to the rest of the unit.

Last Words: Diaz greeted his witnesses, which included his mother and grandmother, by smiling and by blowing them a kiss. He then began his last statement, first addressing Forrest Nichols, the victim's father. "I don't know if you remember back in 2000," Diaz said. "You were looking for me yourself and would have taken care of me yourself. I am glad it happened this way, too. I wouldn't want to see you in my shoes. You would have probably been here, not me. I wouldn't wish this on you. I hope this can bring some relief for you and your family." Diaz then spoke to his family in Spanish, telling them he loved them. Finally, he said, "I hope this serves as an example for the youngsters ... Think about it before you do drugs."

Summary: On 04/03/99, in the nighttime, in McAllen, Texas, Diaz and one co-defendant, murdered one male by stabbing him 94 times in the upper chest with a knife at the victim's apartment and stabbed another male, who was also at the apartment, two times in the face.

Diaz and the co-defendant went to the apartment trying looking for drugs and also intended to rob the victim. Diaz and the co-defendant robbed the victim of an unknown amount of money and fled the scene by vehicle.

Arturo Diaz Executed In Texas For Murder Of Michael Nichols

By Michael Graczyk - Associated Press

HuffingtonPost.com

September 26, 2013

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A South Texas man was put to death Thursday for a slaying 14 years ago in which the victim was bound with shoelaces and strips of bedding, stabbed 94 times and robbed of $50.

The execution of Arturo Diaz, 37, was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court refused a last-ditch appeal to block his lethal injection. It was the 13th execution this year in Texas, the nation's most active capital punishment state.

Diaz smiled and blew a kiss to several witnesses watching through a window, including his mother and grandmother.

He then turned to the father of his victim, watching through an adjacent window to the death chamber. "I hope this can bring some relief for you and your family," he told him.

He spoke in Spanish to his own friends and relatives, telling them: "I am with God."

He also added that he hoped his fate "serves as an example for some youngsters. ... Think about it before you do drugs."

He was pronounced dead 17 minutes later, at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

"It was way too easy," Forrest Nichols, whose son was murdered in 1999, said as he stood watching Diaz.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials have used pentobarbital as the single execution drug for more than a year, but Diaz became the first in the state given the sedative procured from a vendor or manufacturer the prison agency has declined to identify.

Diaz's reaction to the drug was similar to other Texas inmates who have been executed with pentobarbital. He took several deep breaths, began snoring and ceased movement in less than a minute.

The expiration date of the department's existing inventory passed this month, possibly diluting its potency. Like other death penalty states, Texas officials needed to go to nontraditional sources because the usual suppliers bowed to pressure from capital punishment opponents and refused to make their product available.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Diaz's attorney, James Terry Jr., argued recent high court rulings allowed another look at previously unsuccessful appeals where inmates had shoddy legal help. Diaz had deficient counsel at his 2000 trial in Hidalgo County and early in the appeals process, his attorney said.

Diaz, from Las Milpas, a small town between McAllen and the Mexican border, was convicted of the April 1999 slaying of Michael Nichols, 25, at Nichols' apartment in McAllen. Diaz also was given two life terms for attempted capital murder and aggravated robbery of another man who survived.

Cregg Thompson, the lead prosecutor at Diaz's murder trial, said evidence showed Diaz tried to steal Nichols' pickup truck but couldn't open a locked gate at the apartment complex. His shoe print was found on the keypad box at the gate, and his DNA was found on a beer bottle at Nichols' apartment.

Diaz said he was high on drugs and alcohol during the attack on Nichols. He also confessed to a slaying that took place a month earlier. In that case, the victim's head was stomped and face beaten with a hammer. Diaz also received a 94-year prison term for aggravated sexual assault for raping a jail inmate.

"You know it's going to take some time for all the appeals and everything to go through," Thompson said this week of Diaz's execution. "But when you say 14 years, that sounds like an awful long time."

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Marshall Lee GORE



Date of Execution: October 1, 2013

State: Florida

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Serial rapist - Robberies

Number of victims: 2

Date of murder: January 31/March 11, 1988

Date of arrest: March 17, 1988

Date of birth: August 17, 1963

Victim profile: Susan Roark, 19 / Robyn Gale Novick, 30

Method of murder: Stabbing with knife - Strangulation

Location: Columbia County, Florida, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on April 3, 1990. Executed by lethal injection on October 1, 2013

Last Meal: The last meal he ordered — a pepperoni and sausage pizza — went uneaten.

Last Words: None

Circumstances of Offence: On 03/16/88, police found a blue tarp that covered the body of a white female, identified through dental records as Robyn Novick. Forensic investigation showed that the cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the chest and strangulation.

On 03/11/88, witnesses at the Redlands Tavern saw Robyn Novick get into a yellow Corvette and leave the bar, in the company of a man, later identified in photographic lineups as Marshall Gore.

On the morning of 03/12/88, Gore came to the house of David Restrepo, driving a yellow Corvette with “Robyn N” on the license plate. Restrepo was told by Gore that his girlfriend had loaned him the car. Gore and Restrepo then drove to a strip club, and Gore explained that he wanted to change his name to Robyn. The two then went to a convenience store, but after leaving the store, Gore lost control of the vehicle, which flipped several times and came to a rest with two flat tires. Gore and Restrepo abandoned the wrecked car. Police found the abandoned car and discovered credit cards, a driver license, and cigarette case, all belonging to Robyn Novick.

Additional Information:

At the time of conviction for the murder of Robyn Novick, Gore was under a sentence of death for the 01/31/88 kidnapping, robbery, and murder of Susan Roark (Columbia County Case# 88-607) and a sentence of life imprisonment for the 03/14/88 kidnapping, sexual battery, and attempted murder of Tina Corolis (Dade County Case# 88-9827).

In 2002, Gore filed a notice with the Circuit Court that he was incompetent to proceed. The Circuit Court appointed experts for psychiatric evaluation. On 04/09/04, a competency hearing was held in the Circuit Court and Gore was determined to be competent.

Miami killer Marshall Lee Gore is executed at the Florida State Prison

By David Ovalle - MiamiHerald.com

October 1, 2013

STARKE -- Marshall Lee Gore, the notorious Miami rapist and murderer, was known for his outrageous courtroom antics: insulting lawyers, storming off the witness stand and howling at a guilty verdict.

But after more than two decades on Florida’s Death Row, Gore displayed no insolence in his final moments.

Instead, on Tuesday night, as he lay strapped in a gurney awaiting death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison, he refused to open his eyes.

“Inmate Gore, do you have a last statement you’d like to make,” a prison official asked just past 6 p.m.

Gore, 50, his jowls quivering side-to-side slightly, said not a word.

A lethal cocktail of drugs began coursing into his veins through tubes hooked into both arms. Moments later, his mouth opened in a deep labored breath, then stayed agape as color drained from his ruddy face.

From behind a thick pane of glass, four rows of observers, including relatives of victims Robyn Novick and Susan Marie Roark, leaned forward in their chairs as minutes ticked away. A white-smocked doctor walked in. He pried Gore’s eye lids open, shining a light in. No response. At 6:12 p.m., the prison official pronounced Gore dead.

“I thought that was quite ironic, that he had nothing to say at the end,” said retired Miami-Dade Detective Dave Simmons, who investigated Gore’s slew of rapes. “He played the system for years faking insanity, saying outlandish things to judges and witnesses, and in his moment of truth, he had nothing to say for himself. He was the ultimate coward in the end.”

As the relatives filed out of the gallery, Novick’s sister, Pamela Novick, winked at journalists. Gore stabbed and beat Robyn Novick to death in March 1988, leaving her discarded corpse in a trash heap near Homestead.

Pamela Novick recalled her 30-year-old sister’s “heart of gold” and “zest for life” and the horror of her body dumped “as if one was throwing out garbage.”

Novick read a statement after the execution lamenting that Gore had lived for so long after her sister’s death.

“My sister Robyn wasn’t given a choice of how or when she wanted to die,’’ she said. “She was violently murdered by a serial killer with no mercy and no appeals.’’

Novick’s elderly mother, Phyllis Novick, who lives in Ohio, did not attend Tuesday’s execution. Neither did her father.

“Our dearest father, Alvin, had hoped to see this day. Unfortunately, he passed away too soon,” Pamela Novick said.

Gore’s execution was ultimately quick and drama-free, unlike the 25 years of legal wrangling since he murdered the two women and nearly killed another. It had been Gore’s fourth scheduled execution in recent months. Twice before, courts halted executions as Gore’s lawyers sought to stave off his death because of questions about his sanity.

Then, in a move roundly criticized, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi rescheduled a September execution date so she could attend a political fundraiser; she later apologized. Bondi’s decision still riled many involved in the case.

“It was a slap in the face, not only for the law enforcement officers involved but for the families who have waited 25 long years,” said retired Columbia County Sheriff’s Lt. Neal Nydam, who investigated the Roark murder and attended Tuesday’s execution. Nydam said afterward: “It’s been a roller coaster. But finally, it’s over.”

Nydam attended the execution with former Columbia prosecutor Bob Dekle, who also put away serial killer Ted Bundy. Former Miami-Dade prosecutor Flora Seff also witnessed the execution.

Authorities arrested Gore in 1988 after he kidnapped a stripper Tootsie’s Cabaret in North Miami-Dade. After raping the woman, he slit her throat, bashed her head in with a rock and left her to die in an isolated stretch near Homestead. The woman lived, alerting police officers that Gore had made off with her car, with her 2-year-old son in the back seat. The child was later found alive.

Officers looking for the boy stumbled across Novick’s remains. She was last seen with Gore leaving a tavern.

Novick, originally from Cincinnati, was a General Motors credit services representative who met Gore during a brief stint moonlighting as a dancer at Solid Gold in North Miami-Dade.

Suspicion soon fell on Gore for the disappearance of Tennessee college student Susan Marie Roark, who had disappeared two months earlier. She was last seen in his company. In April 1988, Columbia County deputies found Roark’s body, reduced to almost a skeleton, off a forest road.

In all, Gore was suspected of at least 15 sexual assaults, the attempted murder of a girl in Broward and the two murders.

After he was convicted in a slew of trials, Gore’s lawyers claimed the convicted killer was mentally ill. His execution, they said, would violate a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In documents penned himself, Gore tried to prove his insanity by claiming he was being executed as a “human sacrifice” and for “organ harvesting.”

Ultimately, court after court rejected Gore’s claims. Late Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to give Gore a final stay.

“I think the system is set up in a way that makes it very difficult for everybody involved, especially the victim’s families,” former prosecutor Seff said. “Despite that fact so much time has passed, the execution brought some peace to these people.”

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Edward Harold SCHAD Jr



Date of Execution: October 9, 2013

State: Arizona

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Robbery

Number of victims: 1

Date of murder: August 1, 1978

Date of arrest: September 9, 1978

Date of birth: July 27, 1942

Victim profile: Lorimer "Leroy" Graves, 74

Method of murder: Strangulation with a rope

Location: Yavapai County, Arizona, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on December 27, 1979. Resentenced to death on August 29, 1985. Executed by lethal injection in Arizona on October 9, 2013

Last Words: "Well, after 34 years, I'm free to fly away home. Thank you, Warden. Those are my last words."

Last Meal: A 12-inch meatball submarine sandwich, a large order of french fries with catsup, two ears of corn on the cob, two ounces of cranberry sauce, a slice of apple pie and a 20-ounce vanilla milkshake.

Summary: The body of 74 year old Lorimer “Leroy” Grove was discovered in the underbrush off the highway near Prescott. The cause of death was ligature strangulation, with a sash-like cord still knotted around his neck.

He had left his home in Brisbee 9 days earlier, driving his new Cadillac and trailer to visit his sister in Everett, Washington. He may have been carrying up to $30,000 in cash.

Schad was arrested several weeks later in Utah while driving Grove’s Cadillac. During a trip across country, Schad had used Grove’s credit cards and forged a check from Grove’s bank account.

At the time, Schad was on parole for second-degree murder in the 1968 strangulation death of a male sex partner in Utah. Where Grove encountered Schad remains a mystery. There was no physical evidence linking Schad to Grove’s body.

After giving numerous accounts as to how he came into possession of the victim's Cadillac and credit cards, at trial defendant admitted that all of his prior accounts were false. Defendant then testified that he was introduced to a "French couple" at a truck stop by a friend and thief he had met in prison, and it was they who exchanged cars with him.

Killer executed for 1978 murder of Bisbee man

By Michael Kiefer - Azcentral.com

Wed Oct 9, 2013

FLORENCE - The oldest man on Arizona's death row was executed this morning after 35 years in custody.

Edward Schad, 71, was sentenced to death for the 1978 murder of Lorimer Grove, 74, who was found dead in underbrush by the side of a road south of Prescott. A month later, Schad was arrested in Salt Lake City; he had Grove's Cadillac and his credit cards.

Schad joked with the medical staff as they inserted the catheters that delivered the barbiturate pentobarbital into his veins.

He was calm until the last, according to witnesses to the execution.

When it was his turn to speak, Schad said, "Well, after 34 years, I'm free to fly away home. Thank you, warden. Those are my last words."

The lethal drugs began to flow at 10:03 a.m. Schad was pronounced dead at 10:12.

Last night, Schad had a last meal of a 12-inch meatball submarine sandwich, a large order of french fries with catsup, two ears of corn on the cob, two ounces of cranberry sauce, a slice of apple pie and a 20-ounce vanilla milkshake.

He met with his attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Kelley Henry, Tuesday night as well and expressed his gratitude for the kindness of the correctional officers who guarded him during the last 35 days of his life, a period called "death watch," when the condemned prisoners are separated from the other inmates on death row.

This morning, Schad met with his longtime spiritual advisor, a Lutheran pastor who administered last rites. The pastor told Henry that Schad was "doing well," and had not yet heard that the U.S. Supreme Court had denied the final requests for a reprieve.

Then he went calmly to his death.

Troubled upbringing

Schad says he ended up on death row only because of a misunderstanding. He was a car thief and a forger, not a murderer, he told the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency a week before his execution.

His earlier second-degree murder conviction had been a case of mistaken identity, as well, he said.

The clemency board did not believe him; neither did the three juries that convicted him, nor a host of judges and justices right up to the U.S. Supreme Court over 34 years of appeals.

Edward Schad was born in 1942 near Syracuse, N.Y. According to his pre-sentence report from 1979 and from his statements at his clemency hearing, he grew up in a troubled home.

His father had never recovered from being held in a German prison camp during World War II. He was an alcoholic and abusive. Schad left home after high school and wandered the country, gathering criminal charges in four states, mostly for car theft and forgery.

“I never knew right from wrong until I got in the service,” he said at his clemency hearing.

And apparently even then, the lines between right and wrong were blurred.

Schad was bounced out of the Army in 1962 after being convicted in civilian court of joyriding. He re-enlisted in 1966. The record and Schad’s statements vary as to whether he was stationed in Germany or at Fort Lewis, Wash. But, in July 1968, he was in Salt Lake City while on leave.

A man named Clare Mortenson was found dead in his Salt Lake home. He was naked, with a white cloth around his face and neck; his hands were bound behind his back, and the autopsy showed he had been sodomized and had sodomized another person. DNA testing was not available.

Based on that evidence and the word of Mortenson’s friends that he frequently engaged in dangerous sexual behavior, the medical examiner listed the cause of death as autoerotic asphyxiation.

Investigators found a credit-card receipt for an airline flight to Germany booked in Schad’s name, and military police arrested him there. He had Mortenson’s jacket in his duffel bag.

Schad was convicted of second-degree murder, sent to prison and paroled in July 1977. He did not stay out of trouble for long.

On the last day of 1977, Schad rented a green Ford Fairlane in Salt Lake City for the weekend. He never returned it.

Instead, he drove his girlfriend and her children to New York, Florida and Ohio. He dropped the girlfriend off in Ohio and then took to the road. Because he was on parole, his impromptu road trip made him an absconder and a fugitive.

The murder

Lorimer Grove set out from Bisbee in his new Cadillac on Aug. 1, 1978. He was on his way to Everett, Wash., to visit family.

Where Grove encountered Schad remains a mystery. There was no physical evidence linking Schad to Grove’s body.

Schad claims he never saw Grove. His story at his clemency hearing was essentially the same as when he was arrested. He said he was at the Roadrunner Truckstop, which was on I-17 just north of McDowell Road, when he ran into a car thief named Travis, whom he knew from prison in Utah. Travis was traveling with a French couple with backpacks in a Cadillac that didn’t belong to them, he said.

“I told him he couldn’t just drive a car like that in here and leave it,” Schad told the caseworker who prepared his pre-sentence report in 1979. “I told him to take my car, which wouldn’t draw much attention.”

Travis and the French couple graciously traded the Cadillac for Schad’s stolen Ford rental, Schad claimed. The checks and credit card were in an envelope under the seat or in the glove box, depending on when Schad told the story.

He knew Grove’s name from the car registration. There was no money and no trailer, Schad said, though investigators found a mirror contraption in the abandoned Ford that Grove had fashioned to help him back up the trailer.

Schad headed east, stopping near Bisbee to purchase gas with Grove’s credit cards. He forged a check in Des Moines, Iowa, and kept driving.

On Sept. 3, 1978, he was pulled over for speeding in New York, but he told the police officer that he was transporting the car for a man named Larry. He drove back to Salt Lake and reunited with his girlfriend.

While in Salt Lake City, he told his girlfriend’s roommate that he had a stolen car, and the roommate called police. Schad was arrested. The details came together between Arizona and Utah law-enforcement agencies. Schad was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder, and in March 1979, he was booked into a Yavapai County jail.

Time almost up

Schad’s first conviction for felony murder and the resultant death sentence were overturned by the Arizona Supreme Court because of a faulty jury instruction. Schad was convicted and sentenced to death again in 1985. His attorneys appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It was a landmark case that determined that a jury did not have to unanimously choose one or the other alternative type of first-degree murder, but could split its votes between the two.

His appeals have flitted between state and federal courts for decades.

He was supposed to be executed in March, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution to determine if it mattered that his trial attorney had not presented his mental illness as a reason not to sentence him to death.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the stay on the day before his scheduled execution. The stay was lifted in June, and since his appeals had run out, the Arizona Supreme Court set today for his execution.

In the last weeks, Schad’s attorneys at the Federal Public Defender’s Office challenged whether members of the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency had been improperly influenced by the Governor’s Office to deny clemency to prisoners.

They also questioned the source of the drugs that the Arizona Department of Corrections had obtained for the execution. A U.S. District Court judge in Phoenix ordered the state to reveal the source of the drugs — the state begrudgingly complied in part — but she did not stop the execution.