Second inmate in as many days heads to death chamber

Associated Press ^ | December 4, 2004 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Second inmate in as many days heads to death chamber

08:24 AM CST on Thursday, December 4, 2003

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Strawberry ice cream in a plastic bowl helped send accused killer Ivan Murphy to death row for the fatal beating of an 80-year-old woman he'd known since childhood.

"We dusted the inside of a Cool Whip bowl and found his fingerprint," said former Grayson County District Attorney Robert Jarvis, recalling evidence in Murphy's capital murder trial. "He told officers he hadn't been there in 20 years. He was lying about that."

Murphy, 38, was set for lethal injection Thursday night, the 24th convicted killer to be executed this year in Texas and the second in as many days.

Murphy was condemned for the Jan. 9, 1989 murder of Lula Mae Denning at her home in Denison, about 70 miles north of Dallas and just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border.

"I wasn't there," he said in a recent death row interview. "No way I can be associated with this crime. I know I got framed."

He said Wednesday all his appeals had been exhausted.

Murphy had a previous record for theft in Grayson County and was paroled in May 1985 to McAlester, Okla., after serving 61/2 months of a three-year prison term.

Also Online

	Texas Executions: Coverage from TXCN.com
	Offender profile: Ivan Murphy
Related links
	Texas Department of Criminal Justice
	Scheduled executions
	Offenders on death row

A week after the Denning slaying, he was arrested in Hugo, Okla., on two counts of shooting with intent to kill. Murphy said he was responding to someone who shot at him.

"I was wrong for having a gun," he said. "But that's what happens when you're weak. To me, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a case of bad luck. I know I didn't kill nobody. I'm not a killer."

A Murphy accomplice, Douglas Stoff, also was convicted of her slaying but received a life term.

Police were summoned to Denning's home after she couldn't be reached by phone.

"I remember a little old lady sitting in her chair with her blood splattered all over the wall and the ceiling and dripping down on the newspaper," Jarvis said. "She died in her own chair in her own living room. It was horrible.

"They took either her cane and or a sawed-off shotgun they brought with them and just beat her as she sat in her chair."

The investigation showed Stoff and Murphy were at Stoff's house sniffing paint and doing drugs and went to Murphy's old neighborhood, where he was known as "Pee Wee," to rob her. According to Murphy's statement to police, they went to steal her purse and because she knew him, she invited them in and offered him the ice cream.

At some point, she was attacked and robbed of jewelry, including a $7,000 wedding ring that another man said he bought the next morning from Murphy, Jarvis said. Evidence also showed the attackers may have returned to the woman's house a second time.

"Police took advantage of me because I was in a drunken stupor," Murphy said of his comments to officers who questioned him about the slaying.

"Why would we pick Ivan Ray Murphy to pin a murder on?" Jarvis asks, dismissing the inmate's claims. "I feel very confident we have the correct individual that did the crime. I don't have any problems with this verdict at all."

Ice cream -- Blue Bell Moollennium Crunch -- was on a lengthy final meal request Murphy submitted to Texas prison officials. Spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said while the prison system did have Blue Bell ice cream, it was unlikely the premium flavor he wanted was available.

Wednesday night, 61-year-old Richard Duncan was put to death for killing an elderly Houston couple 16 years ago in a scheme to share their life insurance proceeds. Three more Texas inmates are set to die on consecutive nights next week.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/120403dntexexecute.6ba90dc2.html

[MeekOneGOP]

I missed the report yesterday, but there was an execution yesterday as well.
It's mentioned at the end of this article ...

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas Executions ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[Joe 6-pack]

'bout time they shortened the long green mile!

[MeekOneGOP]

Recent execution threads:

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[dfwgator]

Another one bites the dust.

[You Gotta Be Kidding Me]

"Police took advantage of me because I was in a drunken stupor."

The murdering bastard owes me a new monitor, too! After reading that, coffee came bursting out of me as a twenty megaton laugh erupted from deep within my core!!!

"I was wrong for having a gun."

Well, yeah, if you're a convicted felon while you have it.

[Dog Gone]

Three more Texas inmates are set to die on consecutive nights next week.

Texas's response to charges of overcrowding in state prisons...

[76834]

Texas is really a great place to live, gentle climate, nice people etc.
Only thing to remember is if you plan on killin, rapin, robbin or doing crime you probly need to stay where you are.
We deal very harshly with criminals.
From the recent news it would appear that the folks up in ND and Minnesota might consider adopting some of our policies

[MeekOneGOP]

Even more than I thought earlier. I had heard that four were to be wheeled out this month. Now they say five.

Two down, three to go.

[No Truce With Kings]

"I missed the report yesterday, but there was an execution yesterday as well.
It's mentioned at the end of this article ... "

It's not necessarily a *bad* thing that you missed the report. Rather it indicates that execution has evolved to the point where it isn't really headline news.

Why should it be? We don't have front-page stories about other forms of trash removal by the state, after all.

I wasn't really unhappy when Shuttle flights ceased being major stories. After the first 10 or so, the only time they were big news was when something went royally wrong. And I cannot say I am unhappy that executions are now not big news.

[Mark]

California death row is becoming "old age" home. We can reduce the population on death row by just relesing them as they each hit 100 years old - no longer a threat.

[Mark]

relesing=releasing

[TexNotMex]

People who kill 80 year old women in their homes should be put to death. I do think that he got what he deserved, but why should the taxpayers have to pay something like $71.50 for the chemicals for his lethal injection? $71.50!!! They should have just got a big rock, chained him to it and tossed him in a lake. That seems more fitting for his brutal crime against an eldery woman.

Cost of chemicals for lethal injection: $71.50
Cost of a big rock and some chain: Less than $71.50

[Tacis]

"It's not necessarily a *bad* thing that you missed the report. Rather it indicates that execution has evolved to the point where it isn't really headline news. '

Funny you should mention! Texas executions are usually covered in the Dallas Morning News on the 2nd or 3rd inside page of the 2nd section. They do get very little coverage.

As I read the paper the morning, however, last night's bad guy, including his picture, was on the 3rd or 4th page of the FIRST section and I wondered why it was receiving so much noteriety. I read these articles just to see how much better we are doing that Oklahoma. The only thing I could figure was that the guy claimed he was innocent and that's what the paper was featuring, not the innocence of the person who this guy brutally murdered.

The neocommunist media desperately wants to cover the execution of a guy who was actually innocent. There is big bucks and, maybe, a Pulitzer. My view is that I know that 100% of the victims were innocent. Executing an innocent killer is unfortunate, but 99% is certainly good enough for government work.

[76834]

Cost of a .22 LR hollowpoint, just a few pennys.
Use inmate labor to dig a hole in "Peckerwood Cemetary", no cost.

[MeekOneGOP]

Well, California should throw out their trash as well, but if they're keeping them locked up ...

Well, I guess that's a WHOLE lot better than turning them loose to repeat their horrendous acts !

[LibKill]

He will be executed for what he did. That is good.

True justice would execute him for being the kind of slime that would do what he did. That would be better.

[MeekOneGOP]

hehe ! Well, actually the approximately 10 years they stay in the hole after caught costs a lot more than the chemicals used to take them out.

[In this particular case, just under 15 years].

Welcome to FreeRepublic.com, btw ! ...

[MeekOneGOP]

AP
Ivan Murphy

Second inmate in as many days executed

07:50 PM CST on Thursday, December 4, 2003

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A former mechanic with an extensive criminal record in Oklahoma was executed Thursday night for fatally beating an 80-year-old woman he'd known since childhood.

Ivan Murphy, 38, was the second convicted killer executed in as many nights in Texas and the 24th this year. The total is the highest in the nation.

"This is a celebration of life, not death," Murphy said in a brief final statement while strapped to the death chamber gurney. "Through Jesus Christ we have victory over death."

He thanked Pope John Paul II and others for prayers, love and support. "I want to thank everybody around the world and Father, let your will be done."

As the drugs began taking effect, he gasped several times. Ten minutes later, at 6:24 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/120503dntexexecution.97717.html

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas Executions ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[doug from upland]

yum.....what a lucky guy

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Classic vanilla ice cream with a combination of dark chocolate chunks, creamy caramel chunks, roasted pecan halves, chopped almonds and walnut pieces.