[Lion-hearted Girl]

I will endeavor to update this thread regularly as executions occur, and post updated lists of scheduled executions as changes are made.

You may also like to view the following threads:

- Executions in the USA 2010
- Executions in the USA 2011
- Executions in the USA 2012
- Executions in the USA 2013
- Executions in the USA 2014

At the time of posting, this is the schedule of executions for 2015.

*On September 8, 2014, the Ohio State Department of Rehabilitation Corrections revised its execution schedule for all death sentences previously scheduled from March 2014 and beyond. This was done in order to comply with the August 6, 2014 Federal Court ruling that no executions could be carried out until at least January 2015. The court imposed this moratorium in order to compel a review of Ohio's lethal injection protocol. For more information about the ruling, click here.

[Benjison]

Judge denied a motion to introduce new DNA testing into the case......wah

[Lion-hearted Girl]

RE: Andrew Howard Brennan: Due to be executed this Tuesday the 13th of January

Click to view full article

Veteran convicted of murdering deputy sheriff seeks clemency citing Vietnam War PTSD

Lawyers for a Vietnam War veteran who is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the 1998 slaying of a deputy sheriff in Georgia, filed papers Wednesday asking that his life be spared.

The lawyers for Andrew Howard Brannan said their client should not be executed because his actions were linked to severe post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the Vietnam War.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles is scheduled to hold a clemency hearing Monday.

According to USA Today, Brannan's lawyers argued that "knowledge of PTSD and the frightful toll that it can exact on veterans has grown exponentially as a result of ... wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

They stated that the level of understanding about the disorder was not as high when Brannan was convicted in 2000 as it is now.

"It's not right to execute a decorated veteran for a crime that stemmed, without question, from the mental suffering that he incurred from serving his country,'' Brannan lawyer Tom Lundin told the newspaper in a telephone phone interview.

According to Valdosta Today.com, Brannan was convicted of killing Laurens County Deputy Sheriff Kyle Dinkheller, 22, during a traffic stop. Brannen was traveling in excess of 98 miles an hour on Interstate 16 when he was pulled over. The incident was caught on car-mounted video camera on the police cruiser.

According to the video shown the jury, Brannan got out of his truck and ignored Dinkheller's demands that he take his hands out of his pockets, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

"Brannan swore at the deputy and began dancing on the road and yelling, 'shoot me.' At one point he yelled he was a 'Vietnam combat veteran,' " the newspaper account says.

Then Brannan rushed the the deputy and they struggled for a few moments until Brannan ran back to his truck and got a .30 M-1 carbine. He shot Dinkheller nine times, including once at close range."

Brannan claimed during his trial that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, and presented experts who testified that he had been unable to distinguish right from wrong because post-traumatic stress disorder had triggered a flashback to Vietnam.

A court-appointed psychiatrist concluded, however, that Brannan was sane, and the jury could have inferred from comments made by Brannan during the crime and after his arrest that he shot the victim because he believed the 22-year old deputy was not showing him a sufficient amount of respect.

An Associated Press report that appeared in the Macon Telegraph, said that police found Brannan the next day hiding in a sleeping bag underneath a camouflage tarp about 100 yards from his house. He had been shot in the stomach, apparently by the deputy.

Veterans Administration doctors diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder in 1984 and determined that his condition had deteriorated to the point of 100 percent disability by 1990, the petition says. That mental illness was compounded by bipolar disorder diagnosed in 1996.

The jury did not hear firsthand details of his military service and didn't hear from his VA psychiatrist, who could have told jurors about the survivor's guilt he felt and near-death experiences that haunted him, the petition says. The psychiatrist also could have testified that while Brannan is not a danger when he takes his medication, he had not taken his medication regularly for at least five days before the shooting.

"He had been through horror and was damaged severely by it, and that's all documented," Brian Kammer, another lawyer for Brannan, told the AP. "It's hard to believe that a fair system that sorts out the worst of the worst from other kinds of murderers would put him in that category for execution."

Brennan challenged the legality of his conviction and sentence in 2003, and a state court judge threw out both on grounds that his trial lawyer had failed to present complete mental health defenses. But the state's supreme court rejected that ruling and reinstated the death sentence, according to the AP.

"Is it right to execute a mentally-ill veteran whose sole incidence of violent behavior is traceable directly and inexorably to mental illness resulting from his combat service?" Brannan's lawyers wrote in the clemency petition, urging the parole board to commute his sentence to life without parole.

If Brannan is put to death by lethal injection, he will be second man Georgia has executed in little more than a month, according to the Journal Constitution. Robert Holsey was executed on Dec. 9 for murdering a Baldwin County deputy.
---------------------------------------------
Photo 1: This undated prison photo provided by the Georgia Department of Corrections shows convicted murderer Andrew Brannan.

Photo 2: Lt. Andrew Brannan is shown here serving in Vietnam in 1970. (Photo courtesy the Brannan family)

Photo 3: Andrew Brannan opens fire on Sheriff Deputy Kyle Dinkheller in this screen grab of a police dashboard camera video taken Jan. 12, 1998.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

CLICK TO VIEW SOURCE

Georgia high court denies stay in Vietnam vet's death penalty case

The Georgia Supreme Court joined the state's parole board Tuesday in declining to stop the execution of Andrew Brannan, a decorated Vietnam War veteran convicted of murdering a 22-year-old sheriff's deputy in 1998.

The justices denied a stay of execution by a vote of 6-1, with one justice not participating.

Brannan is scheduled to die of lethal injection at*7 p.m.*ET Tuesday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

The state's high court also denied Brannan's request for an appeal on the basis that it is unconstitutional to execute a person with his medical conditions and combat history.

In denying clemency late Monday, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles said, "In reaching its decision, in addition to hearing testimony during the meeting on Monday, the board prior to the meeting had thoroughly reviewed the parole case file on the inmate, which includes the circumstances of the death penalty case, the inmate's criminal history, and a comprehensive history of the inmate's life."

Attorneys for the 66-year-old Brannan had hoped his sentence would be found unconstitutional.

His defense attorneys claim Brannan, who served in Vietnam in the early 1970s, was suffering from post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorder at the time of the shooting and was off his medication.

In a petition filed Monday with Butts County Superior Court, Brannan's attorneys requested his life be spared because "executing American combat veterans whose service-related mental impairments played a role in subsequent violent conduct violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and analogous provisions of the Georgia Constitution."

The document went on to say "death is inappropriate for those with diminished capacities to understand and process information, to communicate, to abstract from mistakes and learn from experience, to engage in logical reasoning, to control impulses and to understand the reactions of others."

Attorneys Joseph Loveland Jr. and Brian Kammer, who represent Brannan, say that the death penalty is reserved for the "worst of the worst" offenders who commit murder and that Brannan does not fit that category. They contend his mental problems were directly related to his combat service and defense of the country's interests and ideals.

Video on YouTube

The killing of Laurens County Deputy Kyle Dinkheller was captured on the deputy's dash camera just outside Dublin, Georgia. Versions of the video have been uploaded to YouTube.

Brannan is seen in the video confronting Dinkheller after being pulled over for driving almost 100 mph in his pickup.

Brannan appears to be confrontational from the start, acting irrational as the deputy tells him to keep his hands out of his pocket. He then mocks the deputy and at one point seems to dance around yelling, "Shoot me," at Dinkheller. Brannan then yells that he is a Vietnam veteran. He lunges at the deputy before he runs back to his truck, grabs a rifle and begins to shoot.

The video goes on to show a heated gunbattle as both men hide behind their vehicles for cover. Bullets appear to pierce the windshield of the deputy's car. Brannan's car door window shatters above his head.

In the video, Dinkheller and Brannan are shot and wounded in the battle. Brannan advances on the deputy, and off camera, you hear the deputy scream before Brannan repeatedly shoots him and then flees the scene. Dinkheller died, leaving behind a wife and child.

Brannan, who had no criminal record before the shooting, was convicted of the murder in 2000.

Defense: Crucial testimony never heard

During the trial, attorney Kammer says the defense presented evidence that Brannan suffered from PTSD but claims that crucial testimony from a Veterans Affairs doctor treating him was never heard.

His sentence was appealed, and a judge ordered a new sentencing trial, but that was later overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court.

Dinkheller's father, Kirk Dinkheller, posted on his Facebook page this month that "January 12, 2015 it will be 17 years since my son Kyle was murdered in the line of duty and on January 13, 2015 his killer will finally be held accountable. Nothing will ever bring my son back, but finally some justice for the one who took him from his children and his family."

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Brannan Execution Media Advisory - Inmate’s Last Meal

Forsyth*–Condemned murderer Andrew Howard Brannan is scheduled for execution by lethal injection at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13, 2015, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Brannan was sentenced to death for the January 1998 murder of 22-year-old Deputy Kyle Dinkheller in Laurens County.

Media witnesses for the execution are: Kate Brumback, The Associated Press; Randall Savage, WMAZ-TV; Phillip Ramati, The Macon Telegraph; Joseph Ambrose, WGXA; and Payton Towns III, The Courier Herald.

Brannan requested a last meal consisting of three eggs over easy, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, sausage, pecan waffles with strawberries, milk, apple juice, and decaffeinated coffee.

There have been 55 men executed in Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973. If executed, Brannan will be the 33rd inmate put to death by lethal injection. There are presently 84 men and one woman on death row in Georgia.

The Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison is located 45 minutes south of Atlanta off Interstate 75. From Atlanta, take exit 201 (Ga. Hwy. 36), turn left over the bridge and go approximately ¼ mile. The entrance to the prison is on the left. Media covering the execution will be allowed into the prison’s media staging area beginning at 5 p.m. on Tuesday

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Name: Andrew Howard BRANNAN



Date of Execution: January 13, 2015

Charge: Murder

State: Georgia

Age: 66

Race: White

Victim/s: (1) Sheriff's Deputy Kyle Dinkheller, 22



Victim's Race: White

Years from Sentence to Execution: 15

Method: Lethal Injection (1-drug - pentobarbital)

Last Words: In a prepared statement given to his lawyers, he said: "I am proud to have been able to walk point for my comrades, and pray that the same thing does not happen to any of them."

In his official last statement, moments before the injection was administered, Brannan said: "I extend my condolences to the Dinkheller family, especially Kyle's parents and his wife and his two children."

Last Meal: Three eggs over easy, hash browns, sausage, biscuits with gravy, and pecan waffles with strawberries. To drink, Brannan asked for milk, apple juice, and decaf coffee

______________________________

Final statement of 'PTSD' Army officer who apologized to victims' family before he was executed for killing cop
View Source

By KIERAN CORCORAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and CHARLENE ADAMS FOR MAILONLINE

A former Vietnam Army officer who blamed his PTSD for driving him to kill a cop spoke of his pride that he served his country before he was executed in Georgia last night.

Andrew Howard Brannan, 66, was given a lethal injection by authorities and died in prison in the city of Jackson after his appeals for clemency were denied.

He was executed for the 1998 murder of sheriff's deputy Kyle Dinkheller, 22, whom he shot nine times with a high-powered rifle after a traffic stop in Dudley, Georgia.

Lawyers argued that Brannan's combat experiences caused his mental illness and drove him to kill - but neither the Supreme Court of Georgia nor the United States Supreme Court stayed his execution.

He was pronounced dead at 8.33pm Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison.

In a prepared statement given to his lawyers, he said: 'I am proud to have been able to walk point for my comrades, and pray that the same thing does not happen to any of them.'

In his official last statement, moments before the injection was administered, Brannan said: 'I extend my condolences to the Dinkheller family, especially Kyle's parents and his wife and his two children.'

Before the execution, Brannan received visitors including five family members, a friend and a pastor, ate a last meal of eggs, biscuits and gravy and waffles, and recorded a final statement.

He had been convicted in the 1998 slaying of 22-year-old Laurens County sheriff's deputy Kyle Dinkheller, a married father of a young daughter.

A statement from the Georgia Department of Corrections last week detailed Brannan's requested final meal.

It said: 'Brannan requested a last meal consisting of three eggs over easy, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, sausage, pecan waffles with strawberries, milk, apple juice, and decaffeinated coffee.'

Dinkheller stopped Brannan after he was caught on January 12, 1998 driving at 98mph. The officer demanded he take his hands from his pockets after he pulled him over on a rural road.

Brannan, who was 49 years old at the time, then began cursing, dancing in the street and saying 'shoot me' before he grabbed a gun, rushed at the deputy and shot him nine times while he attempted to call for backup.

Lawyers for the Vietnam veteran said the shooting was tied to mental illness that can be traced directly to his military service and argued he should be spared execution - but lost their 11th hour appeal on Monday.

In a statement to CBS, Brannan's family said they were 'profoundly disappointed' that the appeals to save his life had failed.

Through his lawyers, they said that '[t]he death of Deputy Sheriff Kyle Dinkheller was a terrible tragedy.

'Executing a 66-year old decorated Vietnam veteran with no prior criminal record who was seriously ill at the time of the crime only compounds the tragedy.'

According to the convict's lawyers, Brannan was diagnosed in 1991 as being '100-per cent disabled' by PTSD. Five years later, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder disorder, according to CBS.

At the time of the shooting, the veteran was not on any medication, his current lawyers said, blaming his previous legal team for not making more of his mental history at his trial where a plea of insanity was rejected by the jury.


The horrifying moment that Brannan shot dead the officer was caught on his patrol car's dashcam.

On the tape, Dinkheller pulled Brannan's truck over for speeding in Laurens County, Georgia around 5.30pm.

Officer Dinkheller repeatedly asked the suspect to remove his hand from his pockets - in response, Brannan danced around and sang, appearing to mock the deputy.

The 66-year-old then cursed and yelled at the deputy and proclaimed that he was a 'goddamn Vietnam combat veteran'.

The suspect then ducked inside his pickup truck, pulled out a M-1 carbine rifle and began firing at the deputy.

The two men exchanged shots, leaving Brannan with a wound to the abdomen while Dinkheller was shot nine times.

Dinkheller can be heard screaming on the dashcam tape as Brannan closed in on him and delivered one last shot at point-blank range before yelling: 'die f*****'.

The suspect was found during a search the next morning and taken into custody.

Officer Dinkheller left behind an expectant wife and 22-month-old daughter when he died on January 12, 1998. Deputy Dinkheller's son was born in early September 1998.

Earlier this month, the fallen officer's father, Kirk Dinkheller, wrote on Facebook: 'January 12, 2015 it will be 17 years since my son Kyle was murdered in the line of duty and on January 13, 2015 his killer will finally be held accountable.

'Nothing will ever bring my son back, but finally some justice for the one who took him from his children and his family.'

At his 2000 trial, Brannan, who had no prior criminal record, pleaded guilty by reason of insanity.

However a court-appointed psychiatrist said Brannan was in his right mind when he killed Dinkheller.

The psychiatrist also said Brannan may have killed the 22-year-old officer because he felt he was being disrespectful.

The veteran's own psychiatrist was not called as a witness at the trial.

Brannan pleaded guilty by reason of insanity which was rejected by the jury. He was found guilty and sentenced to death.

His attorneys have tried numerous times - three appeals, four petitions, and five motions - to avoid execution, saying that the veteran's damaged mental health led him to killing Dinkheller.

Brannan served as a first lieutenant with the U.S. Army in Vietnam after volunteering in 1968. He received commendations and a Bronze Star for his service as an officer.

According to CBS, he acted as a Forward Observer - directing fire at the enemy, near the Laos border.

A fellow veteran, Ray Chastain, wrote a letter for his friend to the parole board. It read: 'During the period when Lieutenant Brannan served, the Forward Observer had the shortest life expectancy of any category of soldier in Vietnam.'

[rob666]

I dunno..... It's only in the last 10 years that executing people for crimes committed under age 18 was banned....... Until 2002 people deemed mentally retarded were executed.

Maybe eventually the definition of insanity in a criminal case will change too?

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Name: Johnny Shane KORMONDY





Date of Execution: January 15, 2015 - 8:16pm

State: Florida

Age: 42

Date of Birth: May 20, 1972

Race: White

Conviction: Murder

Method of Murder: Shooting

Date of Offence: July 11, 1993

Characteristics: Home Invasion; Robbery; Rape

Victim/s: (2) Gary McAdams (Murdered) and his wife Cecilia (raped repeatedly but not killed)



Victim's Race: White

Years from Sentence to Execution: 21

Method: Lethal Injection (3-drug: midazolam)

Last Words: "I pray to Jesus Christ, son of God, I'm coming home."

Last Meal: Fried alligator tail, fried shrimp, fried okra, fried eggs, hash browns, vanilla ice cream, and a cream soda.

Codefendant Information:

Curtis Buffkin - sentenced to life for his participation in the offense.

James Hazen - sentenced to life for his participation in the offense.

Circumstances of Offense:

In the early morning hours of 07/11/93, the victims, Gary McAdams and his wife Cecilia McAdams, had returned from a high school reunion. They heard a knock at their door.

When Mr. McAdams opened the door, Curtis Buffkin was on the other side holding a gun. Buffkin forced his way into the house and ordered the McAdams to get down on the kitchen floor and keep their heads down.

James Hazen and Johnny Kormondy then entered the house. Both Kormondy and Hazen had socks on their hands. After the three men took personal valuables from the McAdams, the phones were disconnected from the wall and the blinds were closed.

At this point, one of the men took Mrs. McAdams to a bedroom in the back and forced her at gunpoint to remove her dress and to perform oral sex on him.

One of the other men, described as having sandy-colored hair that hung down to his collar bone, entered the room and proceeded to rape Mrs. McAdams while the first man forced her to perform oral sex on him again.

After she was taken to the kitchen, naked, and placed with her husband, one of the men took her back to the bedroom and raped her again. While he was raping her, a gunshot was fired in the front of the house.

Mrs. McAdams heard one of the men yell for “Bubba” or “Buff”, and the man raping her stopped and ran to the front of the house. Mrs. McAdams left the bedroom and was walking towards the front of the house when she heard a gunshot from the bedroom. When she entered the kitchen, she saw Mr. McAdams on the floor with blood coming from the back of his head.

After the murder, Kormondy’s wife asked him to leave the family home. Kormondy left and moved in with Willie Long. Kormondy confessed to Long about the murder and admitted that he had shot Mr. McAdams but, explained it had gone off accidentally. Long went to the police because of the $50,000 reward for information.

During the trial, the medical examiner testified that Mr. McAdams’ death was caused by a contact gunshot wound, meaning the barrel of the gun was pressed to Mr. McAdams’ head.

Additional Information:

Kormondy, Hazen, and Buffkin were indicted on 07/27/93 and tried separately. Buffkin was offered a plea bargain by the State in return for assistance in the prosecution of Hazen and Kormondy.

The trial records are inconsistent as to the location of Hazen and Buffkin at the time of Mr. McAdams shooting. During Kormondy’s trial, Mrs. McAdams testified that Buffkin was with her in the bedroom when the shot was fired.

In testimony given by Officer Hall, Kormondy told him in an unrecorded statement that Buffkin fired the fatal shot and that Hazen was in the bedroom with Mrs. McAdams. In a confession recorded for the jury, Kormondy stated again that it was Buffkin who fired the fatal shot.

During Hazen’s trial, Buffkin testified that Kormondy fired the fatal shot, and that Hazen was in the bedroom with Mrs. McAdams. Hazen testified that he was not present at the scene when the crimes occurred.

______________________________

Ringleader of rape and murder executed in Florida

Click to view source

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — Florida has executed the convicted ringleader of a 1993 home-invasion robbery that ended with the murder of a Pensacola banker and the rape of his wife.

Johnny Shane Kormondy was pronounced dead at 8:16 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison, shortly after the lethal injection was administered. The execution was delayed by two hours by a late appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court that was eventually denied.

The 42-year-old Kormondy and two associates were convicted of forcing their way into the Pensacola home of Gary and Cecilia McAdams in 1993. Gary was fatally shot, and Cecilia raped repeatedly.

The two other men were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Kormondy is the 21st inmate executed under Gov. Rick Scott. The same number of prisoners was put to death under former Gov. Jeb Bush. The death penalty was reinstated in Florida in 1979.

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Originally Posted by rob666 ↗

I dunno..... It's only in the last 10 years that executing people for crimes committed under age 18 was banned....... Until 2002 people deemed mentally retarded were executed.

Maybe eventually the definition of insanity in a criminal case will change too?

Probably.....or....the death penalty may be abolished!

[rob666]

Originally Posted by Lion-hearted Girl ↗

Probably.....or....the death penalty may be abolished!

Good point.

Ive seen cases where the accused was undeniably mentally ill, but as long as they could get them medicated to the point of understanding what was going on in the trial that was sufficient....... Their mental state at the time of the offence wasn't considered.