Posted on 09/28/2005 2:25:18 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) - A man who beat his ex-wife to death with an unloaded shotgun during an eight-hour furlough from prison was executed early Wednesday, hours after the governor denied his request for clemency.
Alan Matheney, 54, was pronounced dead at 12:27 a.m. EST after receiving a lethal injection at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Matheney said his attorney would give his final statement.
Matheney was sentenced to death in 1990 for murdering 29-year-old Lisa Bianco. Prosecutors said he drove to the South Bend suburb of Mishawaka, broke into Bianco's home, chased her outside and beat her to death.
When granted the prison furlough, he had been serving an eight-year sentence for a 1987 assault on Bianco and confining their two children.
The murder came just months after images of Willie Horton, a murderer who committed a rape while on prison furlough in Massachusetts, helped derail Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis' 1988 bid for the White House.
In Indiana, then-Gov. Evan Bayh suspended the state's prison furlough program after Bianco's murder. The program has since been reinstated, but with tighter restrictions.
The state also agreed to pay $900,000 to Bianco's estate and the couple's children, who were home at the time of the attack.
Bianco had divorced Matheney in 1985. She continued to fear her husband even after his incarceration and had gotten assurances from prison officials that she would be notified if he was ever released.
She was not notified of the furlough, however, and Matheney violated the terms of his pass and an earlier court order when he left central Indiana for her home.
On Tuesday, Gov. Mitch Daniels denied defense lawyers' request to consider blocking the execution on grounds he was mentally ill.
Millie Bianco, the victim's mother, said although she believed Matheney deserved to be executed, she had mixed feelings about Daniels' decision.
"This is a man who washed dishes in my kitchen and who could be charming, who loved his dog," she told The Associated Press by telephone from her home in Lake Alfred, Fla. "At times your mind skips back to those parts. So it is hard."
Matheney spent his final day Tuesday meeting his two grandchildren for the first time, said Java Ahmed, an Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman. His 22-year-old daughter brought her 7-month-old daughter and 2-year-old son to visit.
About 20 death penalty opponents marched in front of the prison banging drums Tuesday evening to protest the execution.
It was the state's fifth execution in 2005, the most in a single year in Indiana since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1977.
AP-ES-09-28-05 0201EDT
Really Bizarre...Oh, I think I'll let the Kiddies visit Grandpa @ the prison. :(
I love a happy ending.
Somebody screwed up big time. At least justice was finally served.
It is hard alright, hard to understand some people!
Forget about him being charming, and think about the sustained cruelty to your daughter, and the agony and terror of her last moments as he beat her to death.
So if some Democrat uses this case against Evan Bayh in the Donk Primary, like Algore used Willie Horton against Dukakis, do you think the Republican front-runner will get blamed again?
Yeah, somebody named Evan Bayh. I'll remember this one-- he's a likely candidate for President, could very well end up being the Hildebeast's running mate.
http://bayh.senate.gov/about.html
Wow! I read "mother" and I skipped that paragraph. That statement was from the victim's mother! Sure he loved his dog, but he killed your daughter! You really have to wonder about a mind that can have a hard time balancing those two out properly...
How many anti-death-penalty protestors showed up for this one?
About 20 death penalty opponents marched in front of the prison banging drums Tuesday evening to protest the execution.
(according to the article)
What the lib press won't report that here was another case of a women (the murderer's spouse) who was killed because she didn't have a gun. While the libs love to print stories about accidental gun deaths or people being murdered by guns, they never consider the fact that many people are killed because they weren't armed. The ex-wife was BEATEN!!! to death by her ex-husband, not shot. Once again, the people most likely to be saved by having guns (females) seem to be the people who are most anti-gun. The simple fact is the average female is no match physically for the average male. The hand gun is the great equalizer.
Nice to see Evan Bayh was on top of things! (sarcasm)
Sentenced to death in 1990. What year is this? 2005? Wow, that's almost swift justice!
The excuse for their release was that a few of the residents committed suicide on the grounds. The truth is that had occurred over and over various times through out the history of the hospital but was played up big time when the hospital became a shambles and would have needed a lot of funds to repair or rebuild.
I remember that shorty after the long time residents of the hospital were release that they started to show up in the paper as being arrested for various crimes and one ran out in the street and got killed by a car. Many that had been released had violent histories.
The Central State property remains a nice piece of sprawling real estate right in the center of downtown Indiana to date.
Agreed.
Maybe. But also remember this: to quote Steven King's THE GREEN MILE, he's square with the house now. One way or 'tother.
Yeah, guns don't kill people, guns wieled as baseball bats by evil thugs kill people....
Excellent post.
The poor woman depended on the State to protect her.
She paid for that misplaced faith with her life.
Evan Bayh is a worthless little pretty boy who got elected because of his dad's name. He also spent the state blind.
They ought to execute the guys who granted the furlough.
Who'd have imagined that he would do that????
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.