[Lion-hearted Girl]

Name: James DEROSA

Date of Execution: June 18th, 2013

State: Oklahoma

Method of Execution: Lethal Injection

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Robbery

Number of victims: 2

Date of murder: October 2, 2000

Date of arrest: 3 days after

Date of birth: March 17, 1977

Victims profile: Curtis Plummer, 73, and Gloria Plummer, 70

Method of murder: Cutting their throats

Location: Poteau, LeFlore County, Oklahoma, USA

Status: Executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on June 18, 2013

Two-time killer executed at OSP

By Rachel Petersen - The McAlester News-Capital

June 18, 2013

McALESTER — A two-time convicted killer, and death row inmate at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, was executed via lethal injection Tuesday evening in the prison’s death chamber.

James Lewis DeRosa, 36, was convicted Oct. 19, 2001, of two counts of first-degree murder and was subsequently sentenced to death.

DeRosa did not make any last requests prior to his execution, this includes a last meal request. At around noon Tuesday, he was offered a meal, one that was being served to the entire inmate population, and he denied accepting the food, according to Terry Crenshaw, OSP warden’s assistant.

DeRosa’a execution began at 6:01 p.m. When the blinds between the execution chamber and the witness room were raised, DeRosa did not turn his head. He stared up at the ceiling. OSP Warden Anita Trammell asked him if he had any last words and DeRosa said, “No Ma’am.”

Trammell then said, “Let the execution begin.”

DeRosa blinked a number of times before he began to breath heavily. He had one last long exhale and his eyelids stopped blinking. The color began to drain from his face and he was pronounced dead by an attending physician at 6:07 p.m.

Members of the victim’s family spoke after DeRosa’s execution was complete. “This is not about DeRosa,” said Janet Tolbert, whose parents were murdered by DeRosa. “This is about Curtis and Gloria Plummer.” Tolbert said her family is glad that justice has finally been served. She said her parents suffered a “horrendous” death. “Nothing compared to that light death” DeRosa just had, she said.

Tolbert and her daughter, Dana Gilliam, both wore white t-shirts with pictures of the Plummers printed on the front.

Witnessing DeRosa’s execution were five members of the media, 13 members of the victim’s family, two of DeRosa’s attorneys, three law enforcement representatives, Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Justin Jones and DOC Deputy Director Laura Pitman.

Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 against granting DeRosa clemency earlier this month.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt filed a request March 25 with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set DeRosa’s execution date after the U.S. Supreme Court denied the inmate’s final appeal.

In October 2000, Curtis Plummer, 73, and Gloria Plummer, 70, both of Poteau, were found dead in their home with multiple stab wounds and with their throats cut. About one year later, in October 2001, DeRosa was found guilty by a jury of his peers for the LeFlore County first-degree murders of the Plummers. He was subsequently sentenced to death.

According to Pruitt, DeRosa was briefly employed by the Plummers and told several friends on multiple occasions he thought the elderly couple would be an easy target to rob. DeRosa’s 21-year-old friend, Eric Castleberry, now 33, and also known as John E. Castleberry, agreed to help with the robbery. Castleberry’s 18-year-old friend, Scotty White, now 30, agreed to drive.

Pruitt said DeRosa and Castleberry were welcomed into the Plummer’s home, which at the time was equipped with a security system. Once in the home, Pruitt said, DeRosa and Castleberry brandished knives and, while the couple begged and struggled for their lives, DeRosa stabbed the Plummers multiple times and slit their throats, the AG’s office reported.

“DeRosa and Castleberry left the scene with $73 and the couple’s pickup truck,” Pruitt said. “The truck was ditched in a nearby lake.”

In exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Castleberry testified at DeRosa’s trial. Castleberry is serving his two life sentences at OSP in McAlester.

White was charged with accessory to first-degree murder after the fact and received two 25-year sentences, to be served concurrently, and the last seven years to be served as probation. He is serving time at the Lawton Correctional Facility and has since been convicted of escaping from the Department of Corrections. He is scheduled to be released on Nov. 10, 2026, and has a parole hearing set in August of 2015.

DeRosa was received into the Oklahoma Department of Corrections on Dec. 10, 2001. He had been housed in Oklahoma’s death row at OSP in McAlester.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Name: Brian Darrell DAVIS

Date of Execution: June 25, 2013

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Rape

Number of victims: 1

Date of murder: November 4, 2001

Date of arrest: Same day (injured in a single-car accident)

Date of birth: May 10, 1974

Victim profile: Josephine "Jody" Haley Sanford, 52 (his girlfriend’s mother)

Method of murder: Stabbing with knife

Location: Kay County, Oklahoma, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on March 17, 2003. Executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on June 25, 2013

Final Meal: Davis requested no special last meal for his execution day. He ate what the other offenders at OSP had for dinner: BBQ bologna, bread, rice, cookies and lemonade.

Last Words: “First I would like to say I would like to give the glory to God.” Davis then began quoting biblical scripture. “I shall not die, but live,” he said. “His word is will and let His will be done. I give God the last word — Psalm 119: 17 and 18.” Davis then quoted more scripture and finished his last statement when he said, “Thank you.”

Summary: Davis returned home in the early morning hours after socializing at a local club, and found that his girlfriend, Stacey Sanford, and their 3-year-old daughter were missing.

Davis called Jody Sanford, Stacey Sanford’s mother, to ask if she knew where his girlfriend and daughter were. When Jody could not locate her daughter and granddaughter, she went to Stacey’s and Davis’s apartment.”

Davis made several conflicting statements regarding what happened while Jody Sanford was in his home, telling different stories to his girlfriend, to police and to the jury at his trial. He did admit to having sex with and stabbing Jody Sanford.

When Stacey Sanford arrived home shortly after 9 a.m., she found her mother’s body and called 9-1-1. Meanwhile, Davis was seriously injured in a single-car accident in Jody’s van and was arrested for driving under the influence. Jody Sanford had been beaten, stabbed six times, and suffered a broken jaw. DNA evidence confirmed that Davis had sex with her.

[MrCorpse]

Originally Posted by Lion-hearted Girl ↗

Name: Brian Darrell DAVIS

Date of Execution: June 25, 2013

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Rape

Number of victims: 1

Date of murder: November 4, 2001

Date of arrest: Same day (injured in a single-car accident)

Date of birth: May 10, 1974

Victim profile: Josephine "Jody" Haley Sanford, 52 (his girlfriend’s mother)

Method of murder: Stabbing with knife

Location: Kay County, Oklahoma, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on March 17, 2003. Executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on June 25, 2013

Final Meal: Davis requested no special last meal for his execution day. He ate what the other offenders at OSP had for dinner: BBQ bologna, bread, rice, cookies and lemonade.

Last Words: “First I would like to say I would like to give the glory to God.” Davis then began quoting biblical scripture. “I shall not die, but live,” he said. “His word is will and let His will be done. I give God the last word — Psalm 119: 17 and 18.” Davis then quoted more scripture and finished his last statement when he said, “Thank you.”

Summary: Davis returned home in the early morning hours after socializing at a local club, and found that his girlfriend, Stacey Sanford, and their 3-year-old daughter were missing.

Davis called Jody Sanford, Stacey Sanford’s mother, to ask if she knew where his girlfriend and daughter were. When Jody could not locate her daughter and granddaughter, she went to Stacey’s and Davis’s apartment.”

Davis made several conflicting statements regarding what happened while Jody Sanford was in his home, telling different stories to his girlfriend, to police and to the jury at his trial. He did admit to having sex with and stabbing Jody Sanford.

When Stacey Sanford arrived home shortly after 9 a.m., she found her mother’s body and called 9-1-1. Meanwhile, Davis was seriously injured in a single-car accident in Jody’s van and was arrested for driving under the influence. Jody Sanford had been beaten, stabbed six times, and suffered a broken jaw. DNA evidence confirmed that Davis had sex with her.

Where's the rest?

Lazy

[Lion-hearted Girl]

I know :(

Turns out they kill a lot of people
I'll get there

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Name: Kimberly MCCARTHY

Date of Execution: June 26, 2013

State: Texas

Method: Lethal Injection

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Robbery - Crack addict

Number of victims: 1 - 3

Date of murder: December 1988 / July 21, 1997

Date of arrest: Next day

Date of birth: May 11, 1961

Victims profile: Maggie Harding, 81, and Jettie Lucas, 85 / Dorothy Booth, 71 (her next-door neighbor)

Method of murder: Stabbing with knife

Location: Lancaster, Dallas County, Texas, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on November 24, 1998. Sentence reversed in 2001. Resentenced to death on November 1, 2002. Executed by lethal injection on June 26, 2013

Summary of Crime: On 7/21/97, McCarthy entered the residence of a 70-year-old white female in Lancaster with the intent to rob the victim. A struggle took place and victim was stabbed numerous times resulting in her death. McCarthy then used the victim's credit cards and used the victim's vehicle for transportation.

Kimberly McCarthy Executed: Texas Carries Out 500th Execution

By Michael Graczyk - Associated Press

June 26, 2013

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Texas marked a solemn moment in criminal justice Wednesday evening, executing its 500th inmate since it resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982.

Kimberly McCarthy, who was put to death for the murder of her 71-year-old neighbor, was also the first woman executed in the U.S. in nearly three years.

McCarthy, 52, was executed for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of retired college psychology professor Dorothy Booth. Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife and candelabra at her home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas. Authorities say McCarthy cut off Booth's finger to remove her wedding ring.

It was among three slayings linked to McCarthy, a former nursing home therapist who became addicted to crack cocaine.

She was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. CDT, 20 minutes after Texas prison officials began administering a single lethal dose of pentobarbital.

In her final statement, McCarthy did not mention her status as the 500th inmate to be executed or acknowledge Booth or her family.

"This is not a loss. This is a win. You know where I'm going. I'm going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love you all," she said, while looking toward her witnesses – her attorney, her spiritual adviser and her ex-husband, New Black Panther Party founder Aaron Michaels.

As the drug started to take effect, McCarthy said, "God is great," before closing her eyes. She took hard, raspy, loud breaths for several seconds before becoming quiet. Then, her chest moved up and down for another minute before she stopped breathing.

Friends and family of Booth told reporters after the execution that they were not conscious that Texas had carried out its 500th execution since 1982. They said their only focus was on Booth's brutal murder.

Five-hundred is "just a number. It doesn't really mean very much," said Randall Browning, who was Booth's godson. "'We're just thinking about the justice that was promised to us by the state of Texas."

Donna Aldred, Booth's daughter, reading a statement to reporters, said that her mother "was an incredible person who was taken before her time."

Texas has carried out nearly 40 percent of the more than 1,300 executions in the U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. The state's standing stems from its size as the nation's second-most populous state as well as its tradition of tough justice for killers.

Texas prison officials said that for them, it was just another execution. "We simply carried out the court's order," said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark.

With increased debate in recent years over wrongful convictions, some states have halted the practice entirely. However, 32 states have the death penalty on the books. Though Texas still carries out executions, lawmakers have provided more sentencing options for juries and courts have narrowed the cases for which death can be sought.

In a statement, Maurie Levin, McCarthy's attorney, said "500 is 500 too many. I look forward to the day when we recognize that this pointless and barbaric practice, imposed almost exclusively on those who are poor and disproportionately on people of color, has no place in a civilized society."

Outside the prison, about 40 protesters gathered, carrying signs saying "Death Penalty: Racist and Anti-Poor," "Stop All Executions Now" and "Stop Killing to Stop Killings." As the hour for the execution approached, protesters began chanting and sang the old ***** spiritual "Wade in the Water."

In recent years, Texas executions have generally drawn fewer than 10 protesters. A handful of counter-demonstrators who support the death penalty gathered in another area outside the prison Wednesday.

Executions of women are infrequent. McCarthy was the 13th woman put to death in the U.S. and the fourth in Texas, the nation's busiest death penalty state, since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. In that same period, more than 1,300 male inmates have been executed nationwide, 496 of them in Texas. Virginia is a distant second, nearly 400 executions behind.

Levin, had asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to halt the punishment, arguing black jurors were improperly excluded from McCarthy's trial by Dallas County prosecutors. McCarthy is black; her victim white. All but one of her 12 jurors were white. The court denied McCarthy's appeals, ruling her claims should have been raised previously.

Prosecutors said McCarthy stole Booth's Mercedes and drove to Dallas, pawned the woman's wedding ring she removed from the severed finger for $200 and went to a crack house to buy cocaine. Evidence also showed she used Booth's credit cards at a liquor store.

McCarthy blamed the crime on two drug dealers, but there was no evidence either existed.

Her ex-husband, Michaels, testified on her behalf. They had separated before Booth's slaying.

DNA evidence also tied McCarthy to the December 1988 slayings of 81-year-old Maggie Harding and 85-year-old Jettie Lucas. Harding was stabbed and beaten with a meat tenderizer, while Lucas was beaten with both sides of a claw hammer and stabbed.

McCarthy, who denied any involvement in the attacks, was indicted but not tried for those slayings.

In January, McCarthy was just hours away from being put to death when a Dallas judge delayed her execution.

McCarthy was the eighth Texas prisoner executed this year. She was among 10 women on death row in Texas, but the only one with an execution date. Seven male Texas prisoners have executions scheduled in the coming months.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Name: John Manuel QUINTANILLA Jr.

Date of Execution: July 12, 2013

State: Texas

Method: Lethal Injection

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Holdup

Number of victims: 1

Date of murder: November 24, 2002

Date of arrest: January 14, 2003

Date of birth: December 9, 1976

Victim profile: Victor Billings, 60 (retired deputy)

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Victoria County, Texas, USA

Status: Sentenced to death December 8, 2004. Executed by lethal injection on July 12, 2013

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: Asked to make a final statement before his execution, Quintanilla told his wife he loved her. "Thank you for all the years of happiness." He never acknowledged his victim's friends or relatives, including two daughters, who watched through a window.

Summary of Incident: Quintanilla and accomplice Jeffrey Bibb entered a game center in Victoria through a partially opened back door, carrying rifles and wearing gloves and pantyhose masks.

While his accomplice went to the game parlor, Quintanilla walked up to the clerk and ordered her to give him the money in her apron, which she did. Quintanilla was pointing his rifle at the clerk and at customer Linda Billings, who was standing next to her, when Billings' husband, Victor, 60, came up. Quintanilla shot Victor twice. Victor grabbed the muzzle of Quintanilla's gun, and he fired again. Quintanilla then shot at two customers as they ran out the front door. The head-high shots missed the customers and struck the door area. Victor Billings died from gunshot wounds to the torso. The robbers then fled with about $2,000.

Quintanilla was arrested in January 2003 on a warrant for an unrelated aggravated robbery. While in custody, he confessed to the murder at the game center. He then led authorities to a canal where divers recovered items used in the robbery. Accomplice Bibb was convicted of murder and received a 60-year prison sentence.

Texas man executed for killing during 2002 holdup

By Michael Graczyk - Associated Press

July 16, 2013

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man convicted of fatally shooting a retired sheriff's deputy during the robbery of an amusement center more than a decade ago was put to death Tuesday. John Manuel Quintanilla received lethal injection for gunning down 60-year-old Victor Billings at a game room in Victoria, about 125 miles southwest of Houston. The 2002 slaying came just a few months after Quintanilla had been released from prison after serving a sentence for several burglary convictions.

Asked to make a final statement before his execution, Quintanilla told his wife he loved her. "Thank you for all the years of happiness," he said. He never acknowledged his victim's friends or relatives, including two daughters, who watched through a window. As the lethal drug began taking effect, he snored about a half dozen times, then stopped breathing. At 7:32 p.m. CDT — 15 minutes after being given the drug — he was pronounced dead. Quintanilla's wife, a German national who married him by proxy while he was in prison, watched through an adjacent window and sobbed.

Quintanilla, 36, became the ninth Texas inmate to receive lethal injection this year and the 501st since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982. His was the first of two executions set for this week; the other is planned for Thursday. Quintanilla's punishment was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court refused two last-day appeals. His lawyers contended his confession was coerced by authorities threatening to also charge one of his sisters and that the statement improperly was allowed into evidence at his trial in 2004. The lawyers obtained affidavits from two jurors who said the confession was a key to their decision to convict him. "It is clear that Quintanilla would not have been convicted of capital murder if his confession had not been admitted — a fact confirmed by two of his jurors," appeals lawyer David Dow told the high court. The appeal also argued Quintanilla had deficient legal help during his trial and in earlier stages of his appeals, and that his case would give justices the opportunity to define filing rules in light of recent death penalty rulings from the court.

The Texas attorney general's office said the appeal was without merit and improperly filed, and that the juror affidavits also were improper. "There wasn't any coercion whatsoever," Dexter Eaves, the former Victoria County district attorney who was lead prosecutor at the trial, recalled last week. He also said that while the robbers, who fled with about $2,000, were masked, witnesses were able to "describe very clearly who the triggerman was." Court records show Billings, a retired chief deputy from nearby Edna in adjacent Jackson County, was at the game center with his wife on the Sunday before Thanksgiving in 2002 when the gunmen came in through a back door. Billings approached one of them and grabbed the barrel of the gunman's rifle "so no one else was going to be hurt and paid for it dearly," Eaves said. He said Billings was shot three times, the last one fired while he was on his knees. "A very cold killing," Eaves said.

During questioning by detectives for an unrelated robbery some two months later, Quintanilla made references to the still unsolved Billings case, then led authorities to a canal where divers recovered items used in the holdup. "They had the mask, the guns and his statements saying who did what," Jim Beeler, Quintanilla's lead trial lawyer, said. "He told them everything." Beeler said the trial judge overruled his objections and ruled the statements proper and admissible into evidence. He also said Quintanilla signed affidavits ordering that his defense team present no mitigating evidence during the punishment phase of his trial, where jurors deciding his sentence could have considered he had virtually no parental supervision while growing up. "You want to argue your case, completely and totally," Beeler said. "In that situation, we're not being allowed to present our case, based on our client. "It's extremely frustrating."

Prosecutors bolstered their case for Quintanilla's future dangerousness by presenting evidence he attacked a jailer with a homemade weapon while awaiting trial. "He did not do himself any favors," Eaves said. Quintanilla's accomplice, Jeffrey Bibb, 33, is serving 60 years for murder and 50 years for aggravated robbery.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Name: Vaughn ROSS



Date of Execution: July 18, 2013

State: Texas

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Argument

Number of victims: 2

Date of murders: January 31, 2001

Date of arrest: 4 days after

Date of birth: September 4, 1971

Victims profile: Douglas Birdsall, 53, and Viola Ross McVade, 18 (his girlfriend’s sister)

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Lubbock County, Texas, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on October 1, 2002. Executed by lethal injection on July 18, 2013

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:"Who are they? I know this is hard for y'all, but we are going to have to go through it. You know I don't fear death. I know we weren't expecting this, but this is what it is. We know the lies that were told against me in court. We know it's not true. I want y'all to be strong and keep going."

Summary of Incident: The bodies of Douglas Birdsall and Viola McVade were found inside Birdsall’s car in a ravine. Both had been shot numerous times and both had died from gunshot wounds to the head.

Police investigated the report of shots fired the night before, to see if there was a connection with the murders. In an alley behind Ross’s apartment, police discovered glass shards and two pools of blood. The larger pool of blood was consistent with Birdsall’s DNA profile.

A shell casing recovered from the scene matched the shell casings found inside Birdsall’s car. A latex glove tip found inside Birdsall’s car was tested. Blood on the exterior of the glove tip was consistent with Birdsall’s DNA profile. The inside of the glove tip contained DNA consistent with Ross’s DNA.

Police then searched Ross's apartment with his consent. They found a sweatshirt with a small bloodstain on it. They also found two latex gloves. Ross stated that he wore latex gloves on the night of the murders because he was going to mop his kitchen floor using bleach. The murder weapon was not found.

After his arrest, Ross spoke to his mother on a recorded telephone from the Lubbock County Jail. When she asked him whether he committed the crime, he responded that he "might have." Forensic testing showed that the blood on the ground in the alley and on the sweatshirt found in Ross's apartment matched Birdsall's DNA. DNA samples found inside the sweatshirt and the glove tip found in Birdsall's car matched Ross.

The prosecution contended that Birdsall had been looking for a prostitute and that a friend of McVade introduced him to her that evening. McVade was the intended target, and Birdsall was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

State executes former Texas Tech grad student in slayings

By Brandon K. Scott - ItemOnline.com

July 18, 2013

HUNTSVILLE — A former Texas Tech graduate student said he was lied on before becoming the 10th inmate executed in the state this year, and the second in three days. Vaughn Ross, 41, was killed by lethal injection for a double murder committed in Lubbock in January 2001. Ross was convicted of killing 53-year-old Douglas Birdsall and 18-year-old Viola Ross McVade, whose bodies were found in Birdsall’s car near a gully.

In his final statement, Ross was both calm and defiant. ”This is what it is,” he said to his friends and loved ones. “I know this is hard for ya’ll but we are going to have to go through it. We know the lies that were told against me in that court. We know it’s not true. I want y’all to be strong and keep going.” Except, there were no witnesses at the execution on Ross’s behalf, though his mother Johnnie Ross had been outspoken following the 2002 conviction. Ross did not address either of the victim’s family or admit to guilt in his final statement. “You know I don’t fear death,” Ross said, both his chest and right arm strapped to the death chamber gurney. “I know we weren’t expecting this, but this is what it is.”

Birdsall’s brother Roger stood silently witnessing the execution through a barred death chamber window. After the drugs were administered and Ross was visibly sedated, the victim’s brother wiped a single tear from his left eye. Roger Birdsall declined to speak with reporters to hasten the process, one Texas Department of Criminal Justice official said. Birdsall’s son, Nathaniel, told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, his father raised him to believe the death penalty was unjust. “I am saddened that the loss of two lives will be needlessly compounded by the taking of a third,” he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a final appeal by Ross roughly half an hour before he was taken from his holding cell at 6:03 p.m. Ross was pronounced dead exactly 35 minutes later. While he was in jail, tape-recordings showed Ross admitting to his mother that he “might have” been involved in the murders. Matt Powell, the Lubbock County district attorney who prosecuted the case, told The Associated Press last week that it was the closest thing they had to a confession, and that “a guy could never lie to his mama.”

The AP cited court documents that show Birdsall was introduced to McVade through a friend in pursuit of a prostitute. Rather than claiming innocence, Ross has contended his previous appeals attorneys neglected to note that his trial lawyers didn’t present evidence that may have persuaded jurors to sentence him to life in prison. Assistant Texas Attorney General Tomee Heining argued that that Ross’ trial lawyers called witnesses on Ross’ behalf and managed an “admirable mitigation defense” even though Ross had instructed his family and friends not to cooperate.

Ross was linked to the murders after detectives found his and Birdsall’s DNA on part of a latex glove in the car. Blood from both victims was traced through DNA tests on Ross’ sweatshirt. Birdsall was an associate dean of libraries at Texas Tech and McVade was the sister of Ross’ girlfriend, with whom there was a feud. Prosecutors contended that McVade was the intended target and Birdsall was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The victims suffered 11 wounds, and McVade was shot three times in the head at close range.

There are 279 death row inmates in Texas and like Ross, 108 of them are black. The remaining six executions on the schedule are white and Hispanic males, three apiece. Huntsville holds the nation’s most active death chamber. This was the 502nd state execution since 1982. Douglas Alan Feldman is set to die on July 31.

[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.

Alabama executes man advocates said was mentally ill

By Verna Gates - Reuters.com

July 25, 2013

(Reuters) - Alabama executed a convicted murderer on Thursday who prisoners' rights groups said was mentally ill. Andrew Reid Lackey, 29, was put to death by lethal injection at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama, prison officials said. It was the state's first execution since 2011. Lackey made no statement before his execution, according to prison officials. He was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. CDT (2325 GMT).

Lackey was convicted of killing Charlie Newman, an 80-year-old World War Two veteran in Athens, Alabama. Newman's grandson had told Lackey that his grandfather had a vault filled with gold bars, according to court documents. On a 911 recording from Newman's home, the veteran's last words were, "Come sit down and let me pray for you." He was trying to calm Lackey, who was a close friend of his grandson, according to court records. On the recording, Lackey could be heard asking for the location of the vault.

The Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based prisoners' rights group, argued that Lackey was mentally ill and had attempted suicide. He "lives in Andrew land," and takes multiple psychotropic drugs, the group said in a statement before the execution. Even though he had not exhausted his legal appeals, according to court records, Lackey wrote to the Alabama Supreme Court last year requesting that his death sentence be carried out.

The prisoners' rights group went to court to stop the execution. It argued that the judge should have properly evaluated Lackey's mental competency before permitting him to waive his appeals, but an appeals court allowed the judge's ruling to stand. Bryan Stevenson, the Equal Justice Initiative's director, said on Thursday that a family member had intervened on Lackey's behalf to expedite the execution.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Douglas FELDMAN



Date of Execution: 31 July 2013

State: Texas

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Traffic altercation

Number of victims: 2

Date of murders: August 25, 1998

Date of arrest: September 5, 1998

Date of birth: June 19, 1958

Victims profile: Robert Stephen Everett, 36 / Nicolas Velasquez, 62 (truck drivers)

Method of murder: Shooting (9mm pistol)

Location: Dallas County, Texas, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on September 22, 1999. Executed by lethal injection in Texas on July 31, 2013

Final 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: "I hereby declare Robert Steven Everett and Nicolas Velasquez guilty of crimes against me, Douglas Alan Feldman. Either by fact or by proxy, I find them both guilty. I hereby sentence both of them to death, which I carried out in August of 1998. As of that time, the State of Texas has been holding me illegally in confinement and by force for fifteen years. I hereby protest my pending execution and demand immediate relief."

Summary: Feldman was driving his motorcycle in Plano when Robert Everett, 36, driving an eighteen-wheel truck, passed him and suddenly pulled into his lane. Feldman took out a .9mm pistol and fired several shots into the back of Everett's trailer.

According to witnesses, Feldman then reloaded his weapon and pulled up alongside the cab of Everett's truck. He fired several more shots directly at Everett, killing him. Feldman fired a total of twelve gunshots at the truck. He rode into a parking lot, then returned to Everett's truck. Seeing that Everett was dead, Feldman began riding home.

45 minutes after the shooting, Feldman passed by a gas station in Dallas, about eleven miles from where he killed Everett, and saw a gas tanker truck refilling the station's supply. Feldman drove into the station and fired four shots. Two of them hit the driver, Nicolas Velasquez, 62, in the back, killing him. Feldman then returned home.

On 5 September, twelve days after the killings, Feldman was driving past a Dallas fast food restaurant in his Land Rover. He saw Antonio Vega using a pay phone next to a parked truck and shot him three times, seriously injuring him. A bystander noted Feldman's license plate number and gave it to the police.

When police arrested Feldman, they recovered two firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Ballistics testing showed that one of the guns, a 9mm pistol, was used in all three shootings.

Killer shows anger until death

By Brandon K. Scott - ItemOnline.com

July 31, 2013

Douglas Feldman blamed his victims for their own murders and protested his execution before he became the 11th inmate put to death this year by the state of Texas.

Feldman spoke clearly in his final statement, despite his message striking witnesses as bizarre.

The families of both victims Robert Everett and Nicolas Velasquez were present for the execution, and said they traveled from places like Lubbock and southwest Missouri to see justice carried in the death sentence for Feldman.

The 55-year-old inmate, who was sent to death row September 22, 1999, had his own idea of justice.

“I hereby declare Robert Steven Everett and Nicolas Velasquez guilty of crimes against me, Douglas Alan Feldman,” he said from the death gurney. “Either by fact or by proxy, I find them both guilty. I hereby sentence both of them to death, which I carried out in August of 1998. As of that time, the state of Texas has been holding me illegally in confinement and by force for 15 years.

“I hereby protest my pending execution and demand immediate relief.”

Feldman was pronounced dead 14 minutes later.

Feldman was convicted of killing in a 30-minute time span both men, who were driving 18-wheeler trucks, in the Dallas area in October 1998. Ballistics reports from a 9-millimeter handgun linked Feldman to the murders and two other shootings that did not result in fatalities.

Both families agreed that Feldman showed fear and nervousness, despite his rugged demeanor. Feldman’s right leg was shaking when witnesses entered the death chambers, and he appeared to resist the lethal injection as the Pentobarbital took effect.

John Everett, son of victim Robert Everett, said he believed Feldman’s statement showed what was in his heart.

“Very dark, very evil, very unremorseful,” Everett said. “We were not completely surprised by it.”

“I was prepared for that. I realized he was never going to be remorseful,” said Elizabeth Chavez, Velasquez’s daughter. “I prepared myself for that. I don’t think he ever found peace.”

Robert Everett’s daughter Emily Castillo was 12 years old when her father was killed. Now she’s married with children, but wishes her father could be around to see it.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” she said. “I just feel like it’s closure. My dad finally has justice after 15 years.”

Jason January, who prosecuted the case against Feldman, said he had never seen anyone as scared as Feldman appeared to be in his final moments.

“I thought he was literally shaking scared when we walked in,” January said. “Having seen a few of them (executions), I’ve never seen anyone that scared. So the guy that talked the toughest was the most cowardly.”

Feldman has often been referred to as “the road rage killer” but January wanted it to be clear that Feldman’s aggression was not momentary.

“Clearly, as we’ve seen from his history, the time he’s been in prison with his hundreds of violations, and today in his final defiant act of insulting the victims on his death gurney; it showed he didn’t have road rage, he had life rage,” January said. “And he was a very dangerous and evil person that needed to be put out of society.”

January also called Feldman “the poster child for the death penalty.”

While in prison, Feldman was recorded for 136 disciplinary cases. He also ripped a telephone from the wall just before a scheduled media visit.

In his final three days, Feldman spent most of the time visiting with friends, eating sandwiches and chips, and taking legal advice.

The families said Feldman looked at them before giving his final statement. Velasquez’s daughter Alice Hagemann said it was difficult listening to Feldman speak about her father without giving a response.

While the families came to the Huntsville “Walls” Unit seeking justice, finding peace continues to be a work in progress.

“We don’t find peace in his death,” John Everett said. “We find peace in day-to-day living.”

[Lion-hearted Girl]

John Errol FERGUSON





Date of Execution: August 5, 2013

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Robbery - Drugs - Rape

Number of victims: 8

Date of murders: July 27, 1977 / January 7, 1978

Date of arrest: April 5, 1978

Date of birth: February 27, 1948

Victims profile: Livingston Stocker, 33; Michael Miller, 24; Henry Clayton, 35; John Holmes, 26; Gilbert Williams, 37; Charles Cesar Stinson, 35 / Brian Glenfeld, 17, and Belinda Worley, 17

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Dade County, Florida, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on May 27, 1983. Executed by lethal injection in Florida on August 5, 2013

Final Meal: Ferguson chose to eat the same food other prisoners were being served as his final meal: A meat and vegetable patty, white bread, stewed tomatoes, potato salad, carrots and iced tea.

Last Words: "I just want everyone to know that I am the prince of God and will rise again."

Summary: Posing as a Florida Power and Light employee, Ferguson was let into a home by Margaret Wooden to check the electrical outlets. After looking in several rooms, Ferguson drew a gun, then bound and blindfolded Wooden.

Ferguson let two accomplices, Marvin Francois and Beauford White, into the home to continue searching for drugs and money.

Two hours later, the owner of the home, Livingston Stocker, and five friends returned home and were bound, blindfolded, and searched by Ferguson, Francois, and White. The seven bound and blindfolded people were then moved from the living room to a bedroom.

Later, Wooden’s boyfriend, Michael Miller, entered the house and was bound, blindfolded, and searched. Miller and Wooden were moved to another bedroom together and the other six men were moved to the living room.

At some point in the evening, Marvin Francois’ mask fell off and his face was revealed to the others. Wooden heard shots coming from the living room, where Francois was shooting the men. Ferguson placed a pillow over Wooden’s head and then shot her.

Not fatally wounded, Wooden saw Miller being shot and heard Ferguson run from the room. When the police arrived, they found six dead bodies, all of which had their hands tied behind their back and had been shot in the back of the head. Johnnie Hall survived a shotgun blast to the head and testified regarding the execution of the other men in the living room.

Accomplice White was convicted on all counts and was sentenced to death despite a jury's recommendation for life. He was executed on in 1987. Accomplice Francois was convicted on all counts and was also sentenced to death. He was executed in 1985. Accomplice Adolphus Archie, who drove the car used to drop off and pick up the shooters, pled guilty to Second-Degree Murder and was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment.

Brian Glenfeld and Belinda Worley, both 17 years old, were last seen around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, 01/08/78. The two were supposed to meet friends at an ice cream parlor, but their bodies were discovered the next morning in a wooded area. Glenfeld’s body was behind the wheel of a car, with gunshot wounds to his chest, arm, and head.

Worley’s body was found in a nearby dense growth, where she had been raped and then shot in the head. Several pieces of Worley’s jewelry were missing and cash was missing from Glenfeld’s wallet. Three months later, Ferguson was arrested at his apartment pursuant to a warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

At the time of the arrest, Ferguson was under indictment for the six murders that occurred in 1977. After a consent search of the apartment, in which a gun was recovered that was similar to the gun used to kill Glenfeld and Worley, Ferguson admitted to shooting the couple.

Miami killer John Errol Ferguson executed

By David Ovalle - MiamiHerald.com

August 5, 2013

STARKE -- After a life of bloodshed on the streets of Miami-Dade, then 35 years lingering on Death Row, Miami murderer John Errol Ferguson’s eyes darted to the execution supervisor looming over him.

“I just want everyone to know that I am the Prince of God and I will rise again,” Ferguson mumbled.

Then, the jowly and grayed 65-year-old rustled his feet underneath the white sheet of the gurney, lifted his head and peered intently at the witness window of the death chamber. At 6:01 p.m. Monday, the lethal drugs pumped through his veins, his head rested down, his mouth gasped and life slowly and quietly slipped away.

Ferguson, a killer of eight and at one time responsible for the largest mass slaughter in Miami-Dade history, was pronounced dead 6:17 p.m.

His execution caps a legacy of violence dating back to 1977, as well as a high-profile legal fight over whether Ferguson’s longtime schizophrenia and stated belief that he is the “Prince of God” made his execution a cruel and unusual punishment.

Michael Worley, whose 17-year-old sister Belinda Worley was raped and shot to death in 1978, said he believed Ferguson’s insanity was “fabricated and coached” even until the end.

“Thank goodness justice finally prevailed and he was finally executed,” Worley told the Miami Herald on Monday night. “I think he got off easy compared to what he did to the victims.”

Ferguson’s lawyers, who witnessed Monday’s execution, had fought for years to spare Ferguson, saying the man had a 40-year history of mental illness dating back to well before the murders.

Lawyer Christopher Handman criticized the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Monday afternoon denied a last-minute appeal to stay the execution.

“He has a fixed delusion that he is the ‘Prince of God’ who cannot be killed and will rise up after his execution to fight alongside Jesus and save America from a communist plot,” Handman said. “He has no rational understanding of the reason for his execution or the effect the death penalty will have upon him.”

Ferguson was the fifth Florida Death Row inmate to be executed since December.

In May, Gov. Rick Scott also signed a death warrant for Miami killer Marshall Lee Gore, but his execution has twice been stayed as his lawyers seek to halt it based on claims he, too, is mentally ill and should not executed. In recent months, Scott has accelerated the pace of death warrants.

Ferguson was one of the state’s longest serving Death Row inmates.

Prosecutors convicted Ferguson of the July 1977 shotgun murders of six people in Carol City during a home-invasion robbery. At the time, it was considered the worst mass murder in Miami-Dade history.

The dead: Livingstone Stocker, 33; Michael Miller, 24; Henry Clayton, 35; John Holmes, 26; Gilbert Williams, 37, and Charles Cesar Stinson, 35. Two survived: Johnnie Hall, 45, and Margaret Wooden, 24.

Ferguson was also convicted separately of murdering Worley and Glenfeldt, both 17-year-old Hialeah High students, in January 1978. The two had gone for ice cream, then parked at a field known as a popular lover’s lane.

Police said Ferguson tried robbing the couple, shooting Glenfeldt behind the wheel of his mother’s 1974 Pontiac LeMans, while Worley’s body was discovered a quarter-mile away; she had been raped and shot.

Michael Worley, who was 13 when his sister was killed, choked up when remembering her Monday night: “She was a good girl. I looked up to her. She had a lot of plans for life and she didn’t get a chance to see them through. He took it away from her.” Worley, who now lives in Broward County, did not attended the execution of his sister’s killer.

Ferguson was also convicted of attempted murder in the robbery of another couple at a lover’s lane. And he was a suspect, but never charged, with the robbery and killing of an elderly couple at a Miami motel.

Monday’s execution date came 10 months after Ferguson was originally slated to die by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke.

After months of legal wrangling, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in May rejected his appeal, upholding a trial judge’s ruling that Ferguson was competent to be executed.

“That most people would characterize Ferguson’s Prince-of-God belief, in the vernacular, as ‘crazy’ does not mean that someone who holds that belief is not competent to be executed,” according to the federal appeals court’s 65-page opinion.

His lawyers insisted that the state courts and the federal appeals court applied the wrong legal standard, set by the U.S. Supreme Court years ago, in determining Ferguson’s competency.

The federal appeals court’s ruling set the stage for Monday’s new execution date.

Just hours before he was killed, Ferguson dined on standard inmate fare: a meat patty with white bread, steamed tomatoes, potato salad, diced carrots and iced tea.

The convicted killer also met with two of his attorneys, Handman and Patricia Brannon, as well as a spiritual advisor: Sister Marina Aranzabal, according to a corrections spokeswoman.

Several unidentified relatives of the dead sat in the front-row of the death chamber, which has a one-way window facing Ferguson.

In the stuffy and eerie silence, the relatives sat stone-faced until a mocha-colored curtain rose to reveal Ferguson, strapped into the gurney, IVs discretely inserted into veins on each arm.

They sat stone faced but clearly apprehensive. One woman clasped her hands, prayer-like, resting them just below her nose as she watched. Next to her, a man cupped his mouth and chin, tapping his fingers on his lips.

As the minutes ticked away, the drugs took effect.

At 6:17 p.m., a doctor walked in, slid Ferguson’s eyelids up with his fingers and shined a flashlight into his pupils. No response. A stethoscope confirmed: Ferguson was dead.