Free Republic

Donald Beardslee's execution at San Quentin Prison Wednesday morning was a struggle for dignity. The five guards who labored 16 minutes to insert the lethal injection needles into his arms struggled for composure, their lips tightening as they undoubtedly realized this was taking twice as long as usual. The 30 witnesses gathered in the observation room to watch through the thick glass of the apple-green death chamber struggled to keep their cool as the minutes dragged on, shifting uncomfortably on their feet, crossing and uncrossing their arms. Nervous coughs were the only sounds breaking the tension. And there, being put...

Condemned murderer Donald Beardslee, who killed two young Peninsula women in 1981 while on parole from an earlier murder conviction, was executed by lethal injection early today at San Quentin State Prison. Beardslee spent the last hours before his execution talking with his spiritual adviser and members of his legal team. He skipped the traditional last meal and only drank grapefruit juice before his death. No members of Beardslee's family were present for the execution, and the sole person who attended on his behalf was his attorney, Jeannie Sternberg. Beardslee, of Redwood City, was convicted of the shotgun killing of...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declined on Tuesday to grant clemency to killer Donald Beardslee, setting the stage for the first execution in three years in the most populous U.S. state. Beardslee, 61, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco at one minute after midnight on Wednesday morning for killing two women in 1981.

Brain defects caused him to follow orders, attack pair, they say: Lawyers for Donald Beardslee, scheduled to die by lethal injection Jan. 19 for the murders of two young women in San Mateo County in 1981, appealed to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency Thursday, arguing that Beardslee is a mentally impaired dupe who is facing execution for crimes orchestrated by others. "The jury was unaware of the extent to which his actions and conduct were controlled by severe brain damage that impaired his functioning since birth,'' attorneys Michael Laurence and Susan Garvey said in a 48-page petition to Schwarzenegger. They...