Posted on 12/01/2005 10:48:33 AM PST by doug from upland
NOTE: More than 600 death row inmates who had been sentenced to death between 1967 and 1972 had their death sentences lifted as a result of Furman, but the numbers quickly began to build up again as states enacted revised legislation tailored to satisfy the Supreme Court's objections to arbitrary imposition of death sentences. The first execution under the new death penalty laws took place on January 17, 1977, when convicted murdered Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah. Gilmore's was the first execution in the United States since 1967. After Gilmore, 998 more have been executed. Tookie Williams has a shot at making history and being No. 1000. He should see it as an honor. If a FReeper artist wants to illustrate, maybe I could write a nice children's book about it that could be posted online. That is the lesson that Tookie should be teaching. If you murder four people in cold blood, you must give up your life. Got it, kids? =================================================================
Texas Execution Delayed
The state’s final execution of 2005 has been delayed for at least 90 days.
El Paso State District Judge put the Dec. 7 execution of death row inmate Tony Ford on hold Tuesday to allow time for DNA tests on clothing,
Ford’s attorneys contend the test will show their client is innocent of the 1991 murder of Armando Murillo, 17.
The 32-year-old death-row inmate's attorneys contend eyewitnesses misidentified him as the killer.
But El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza has said he's confident the right man is on death row.
Prosecutors allege Ford forced his way into the victim’s mothers home and demanded money, jewelry and a vehicle.
Murillo’s mother and sister were also shot, but survived.
The delay means Texas finishes 2005 with 19 executions.
That's four fewer than last year but still the most in the country.
At least eight inmates have execution dates for 2006, three in January.
Works for me.
Why hasn't that been done before now?
Fitting somehow...
We have an execution scheduled for next week here in Maryland, so if that happened that person will be 1,000.
Why do people in this site keep thinking Tookie is next in line? Unless the execution of the man in North Carolina has been stayed, he will become number 1000 tomorrow?.
Abort Tookie!
You can be certain that if he'd be number 1000, then Schwarzenegger will do something to make sure he's not.
I don't see the point in celebrating- this person likely murdered someone who had a family who is being denied closure by this delay. This isn't a game- real people are being affected.
What? I read that the guy in Texas would be No. 1000. Will both of you get the phone numbers of the prisons? We need to call them and ask if they will delay so that Tookie can win the honor. I really will make the calls.
are you confident arnie isn't going to grant clemency?
I believe that Arnold knows his political career would end. I would help get signatures to recall him.
Welcome Rucky Customer 1000!
>>scheduled for 2:00 AM tomorrow morning<<
In the famous words of Curly Howard, "you can't do that. I don't get up that early!"
if Tookie's book was so inspirational why is it that his children grew up to be thugs? I don't think his ideal of parenting should be idolized at all. His teachings are false. Robbing and killing are wrong. He should die for murdering four innocent citizens.
North Carolina to carry out 1,000th execution since '76
By ANDREA WEIGL
Raleigh News & Observer
November 30, 2005
- North Carolina is set to administer the 1,000th execution in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty almost 20 years ago.
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner granted clemency to a killer who was scheduled to be executed Wednesday. That means North Carolina's execution of Kenneth Lee Boyd, if it proceeds, will be the milestone. Boyd is set to die by lethal injection at 2 a.m. Friday at Raleigh's Central Prison.
Boyd, 57, was convicted in the 1988 shootings of his estranged wife, Julie Boyd, and her father, Thomas Dillard Curry, in their Rockingham County home. Prosecutors say Boyd shot his wife nine times in front of two of his children, pausing to reload.
Boyd's chances for a reprieve rest with the federal courts and with Gov. Mike Easley, who is considering clemency. Earlier Tuesday, the N.C. Supreme Court and a federal district court refused to delay Boyd's execution.
"It's a disturbing comment on our country that we're ready to execute our thousandth human being," said Boyd's lawyer, Thomas Maher of Chapel Hill. "My hope is that the courts will take this case seriously and the governor will take this case seriously."
An Easley spokeswoman, Sherri Johnson, said the governor will treat this case no differently than any other. "The governor gives every clemency case careful and thorough review," Johnson said.
Craig Curry, whose sister and father Boyd killed, said the execution should be carried out.
"He's responsible for what he did. He needs to be held accountable," Curry said from his home in Stoneville in Rockingham County.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional, ruling that states meted out the punishment arbitrarily. By 1976, some states had rewritten their death penalty laws to conform with the court's decision. Executions resumed the next year when a Utah firing squad killed Gary Gilmore.
Texas leads the nation in executions since then, with 355; North Carolina is seventh, with 38.
Boyd is the third inmate on North Carolina's death row scheduled for execution within a month's time. Steven Van McHone and Elias Syriani, whose children's pleas for his life won national media attention, died this month.
On Tuesday, Warner granted his first death row clemency - to Robin Lovitt, 42, who was convicted of killing Clayton Dicks in 1999 during a robbery at an Arlington pool hall. Lovitt's hope for exoneration was lost when a court clerk destroyed the murder weapon, scissors that might have borne biological evidence.
"The Commonwealth must ensure that every time this ultimate sanction is carried out, it is done fairly," Warner said in a statement. "The actions of an agent of the Commonwealth, in a manner contrary to the express direction of the law, comes at the expense of a defendant facing society's most severe and final sanction."
By late Tuesday, North Carolina prison officials had not discussed whether to prepare for a larger-than-usual group of protesters for Boyd's execution. Death penalty opponents stand outside the prison on execution nights.
Death penalty opponents expressed disappointment that North Carolina would garner national attention for such an event.
"The world is watching. How embarrassing and tragic for North Carolina it would be to execute the 1,000th person in the modern era, especially given the broad support for a temporary suspension of executions," said Stephen Dear, who heads People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.
Dear called Boyd's case "emblematic" of problems with the death penalty in North Carolina.
Maher had pleaded with the governor to have mercy on his client, whom he described as a soft-spoken, hardworking Vietnam veteran with no prior criminal history. Maher said Boyd had been drinking and was struggling with the failure of his marriage when the murder occurred
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