Posted on 04/26/2005 11:28:44 PM PDT by kingattax
BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) - An inmate who fatally stabbed his grandmother more than 30 times to get cash for crack cocaine was executed early Wednesday in Missouri's new death chamber.
Donald Jones, 38, died by injection at 12:07 a.m. at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center. Jones' relatives had asked Gov. Matt Blunt to spare his life, arguing the 68-year-old victim would not have sought vengeance against her grandson.
Blunt declined to intervene Tuesday, for the second time in a little more than a month refusing to grant clemency to a condemned inmate despite a recommendation to do so by the state parole board.
In a handwritten statement that began "Praise God!" Jones thanked his family and friends for their support.
"To my family, you will never truly know how your love, prayers and forgiveness has sustained me all these years," Jones wrote. "To my mother, who truly has been hurt the most, your love and strength I carry with me always."
The U.S. Supreme Court also refused Tuesday to step in on behalf of Jones, who just hours before his execution said "spiritually, I am totally prepared" to die.
"I'm really at a good place right now. I feel good that if (death) is my plan, I'm going to see my grandmother," Jones told The Associated Press by telephone.
Jones became the 63rd inmate put to death - all by injection - since the state resumed executions in 1989, with most of those executions carried out at the Potosi Correctional Center, about 25 miles west of Bonne Terre.
Jones said he was high on PCP-laced crack cocaine when he went to grandmother Dorothy Knuckles' St. Louis home in March 1993 to ask her for more money for drugs.
When Knuckles lectured him about his abuse of drugs and refused to give him cash, Jones beat her with a butcher's block of knives, then stabbed her to death.
Jurors convicted him in June 1994 after just three hours of deliberations, recommending the death sentence. The next month the judge condemned him, despite pleas from his family to spare Jones' life and imprison him for life without parole.
Twelve years from the time of the crime til his punishment.
he cost the taxpayers of missouri a pretty penny
I'm not sure you're going to be in the same place as your grandmother, and if you are, I doubt she wants to see you.
He should have been put to death about 12 days after the murder, not 12 years.
No, AP, no. A jury of his peers condemned him for STABBING HIS GRANDMOTHER TO DEATH FOR CRACK MONEY.
I really tire of the MSM's games.
in the ungodly world of the MSM, all truth is relative and good is evil and evil is good.
And?
you commented it took 12 years to execute him.
Oh, OK. Twelve years is relatively speedy.
you make some good points
Executing criminals should be the first disassembly line business. People bitch and moan there isn't enough prison space, well, let's turn it around and start freeing up space while at the same time saving taxpayer money.
Why did the parole board want to keep him alive??
i dont know
ROTFLOL! Of course, you're right, but calling it a disassembly line is hilarious.
Look, prison space can be doubled without enlarging or expanding current facilities.
Say there's two per cell now, with only two beds per cell.
Assign four to the same cell, and have them rotate shifts:
while two prisoners are spending their 12 hours in the cell, the other two are spending their 12 hours outside.
Very generous warden you would make! LOL!
Right, but why should they be entitled to their own private cells, when 4 could share the facilities quite
nicely by my rotation scheme?
Absolutely! Of course, when two are outside, they should be put to work. for example, crushing gravel at a local gravel pit!
YES! Now you're understanding my scenario. Twelve hours labor or exercise, and twelve hours rest. It could actually be done in shifts of 8 hours each: labor, rest, and outside recreation, which could triple the number assigned to same cell, but that might be a bit too hard to handle and control.
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