Free Republic

HUNTSVILLE — Proclaiming his innocence, a former county jail officer described at his capital murder trial as a sexual sadist was put to death today for raping and smothering the 3-year-old son of his girlfriend. In a brief final statement, William Wyatt Jr. thanked relatives for their support. ``I went home to be with my father, and I went home as a trooper,'' he told them. Then he addressed his victim's father and grandmother, who watched through a window a few feet from him. ``I did not murder your son,'' Wyatt said. ``I did not do it. I just want...

(August 3, 2006)—William Wyatt, Jr. 41, was executed Thursday evening in Huntsville for the death of his girlfriend's three-year-old son, Damien Willis who was sexually assaulted and then smothered at his mother’s home in Texarkana in 1997. Wyatt admitted leaving the toddler alone in a bathtub, but said he was no capital murderer. Jurors in Bowie County found otherwise, relying on evidence and statements Wyatt made to authorities acknowledging the slaying. Attorneys for the former Bowie County jailer asked appeals courts to block the execution, arguing that Wyatt didn't testify at the punishment phase of his trial because he wrongly...

A television documentary team has pieced together details surrounding the case of a 16-year-old girl, executed two years ago in Iran. Atefah Sahaaleh: wrongly described as being 22 years old On 15 August, 2004, Atefah Sahaaleh was hanged in a public square in the Iranian city of Neka. Her death sentence was imposed for "crimes against chastity". The state-run newspaper accused her of adultery and described her as 22 years old. But she was not married - and she was just 16. Sharia Law In terms of the number of people executed by the state in 2004, Iran is estimated...

23 July 2006 EXCLUSIVE: HANGED FROM A CRANE AGED 16 EXCLUSIVE JUSTICE IRAN STYLE: SICK GIRL EXECUTED BY JUDGE SHE DEFIED Her crime? She had sex with an unmarried man By Susie Boniface IT WAS exactly 6am and the start of another blisteringly hot summer day when 16-year-old Atefeh Rajabi was dragged from her prison cell and taken to be executed. Every step of the way the troubled teenager plagued by mental problems shouted "repentance, repentance" as the militiamen marched her to the town's Railway Square. The Iranian judge who had sentenced Atefeh to death was left unmoved as he...

A convicted killer who chose the electric chair because he was apparently unnerved by the prospect of lethal injection awaited execution Thursday. Brandon Hedrick, 27, was set to become the first person executed in the electric chair in the United States in more than two years. He was condemned to die for the 1997 murder of 23-year-old Lisa Crider, who was abducted, robbed, raped and killed with a shotgun blast to the face. Virginia's Death Row inmates are given the option of dying by injection or electrocution. Three other Virginia inmates have opted for the electric chair over injection since...

Jarratt, Va. (AP) -- A man convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman was executed Thursday, becoming the first person in the United States to die in the electric chair in more than two years. Meanwhile, a child sex offender was executed in Texas for abducting and killing a 5-year-old girl. In Virginia, Brandon Hedrick, 27, was pronounced dead at the Greensville Correctional Center at 9:12 p.m. after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeals and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine denied his request for clemency. "I pray for the people that are unsaved," Hedrick said in his final words....

RICHMOND, Va. -- A killer scheduled to be electrocuted Thursday may have chosen to die in the electric chair because he feared lethal injection, his attorney said.

(July 20, 2006)--Texas prison carried out a second consecutive execution Thursday as Robert Anderson, 44, of Amarillo, was put to death for the 1992 abduction and slaying of five-year-old Audra Reeves. The girl lived with her mother in Florida, but had arrived in Amarillo days earlier to spend the summer with her father. After an unsuccessful rape attempt, the girl was beaten, stabbed and then drowned. Her body was found in a Styrofoam ice chest in a dumpster Anderson's history of sexual offenses involving children began as a teenager. He has asked that no additional appeals be filed on his...

RICHMOND, Va. - A convicted killer who chose the electric chair because he was apparently unnerved by the prospect of lethal injection awaited execution Thursday. Brandon Hedrick, 27, was set to become the first person executed in the electric chair in the United States in more than two years. He was condemned to die for the 1997 murder of 23-year-old Lisa Crider, who was abducted, robbed, raped and killed with a shotgun blast to the face. Virginia's death row inmates are given the option of dying by injection or electrocution. Three other Virginia inmates have opted for the electric chair...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - An apologetic San Antonio gang member was executed Wednesday for the shooting death of a man during a robbery attempt in the driveway of his victim's home. With two brothers of his victim watching nearby through a window, Mauriceo Brown told them he was "sorry you lost a brother, a loved one and friend." Brown looked toward another window where his mother and two siblings were among the witnesses. He told them he loved them. "Keep your heads up and know that I will be in a better place," he said. He then looked again toward his...

LIVINGSTON, Texas -- Every day, Norma LaHood and her husband pass the spot where 10 years ago their son was gunned down. It's the driveway outside their San Antonio home. "It was our choice," LaHood says of the couple's decision to continue living at their home following their 25-year-old son's death. "My husband said they will not chase me out of my home. My son loved his home."

Columbia -- Making no final statement and keeping his eyes trained on the ceiling, William "Junior" Downs was put to death by lethal injection Friday for the 1999 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 6-year-old South Carolina boy. The 39-year-old Augusta, Ga., man said he stopped Keenan O'Mailia as the boy rode his bicycle along a dirt path. Downs said he asked the boy his name, then threw him to the ground and strangled him. Downs did not pursue any appeals after pleading guilty to the crimes in 2002. Before he was sentenced to death, he said he deserved to...

(7/11/06 - HUNTSVILLE, TX) - Condemned murderer Derrick Sean O'Brien has been executed for the torture, rape and strangling of two teenage girls. O'Brien is one of six gang members convicted in the 1993 slayings of 14-year-old Jennifer Ertman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena in Houston. The US Supreme Court had been asked to block tonight's execution. O'Brien's defense argued there's no legal procedure for condemned Texas prisoners to challenge whether the drugs used in lethal injections could cause unconstitutional pain.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. halted executions in Missouri until the state makes sweeping changes to ensure that inmates do not suffer when they are put to death. The judge cited "numerous problems" with the state's lethal injections, including the use of possibly nonsterile needles, inadequate heating and/or air conditioning, and a generally depressing atmosphere. "The nonsterile conditions are especially egregious since they could lead to these prisoners getting infections," said Gaitan. "Improperly set thermostats inflict unnecessary suffering. You know how it is when a room is too cold or too hot. You just can't be comfortable." Gaitan said...

Mexico City, Jun 28 (EFE).- Authorities here expressed regret Wednesday over the execution of Mexican citizen Angel Maturino Resendiz, the notorious "Railroad Killer," at a prison in Huntsville, Texas. Resendiz, sentenced to death in 2000 for the rape-murder of a Houston doctor but also believed responsible in a dozen other slayings, was executed Tuesday night by lethal injection "despite medical evidence about the severe mental disturbances he suffered," the Mexican foreign ministry said in a communique. A Texas court ruled last Wednesday that Resendiz, who asked for forgiveness before being executed and said he deserved his fate, was mentally competent...

(6/27/06 - HUNTSVILLE, TX) - Train-hopping serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz, linked to at least 15 indiscriminate murders near railroad tracks around the country, was executed Tuesday night. In his final statement, Resendiz asked for forgiveness. He was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. CDT.

(6/27/06 - HUNTSVILLE, TX) - US Supreme Court appeals are still pending for convicted killer Angel Maturino Resendiz -- so Texas prison officials have delayed the scheduled start time of his execution. Officials won't proceed tonight in Huntsville until the appeals are resolved. The death warrant remains in effect until midnight.

Excerpt - ST. LOUIS — A federal judge on Monday halted executions in Missouri until the state makes sweeping changes to ensure that inmates do not suffer excruciating pain when they are put to death. U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. cited "numerous problems" with the state's lethal injections, including a lack of a written protocol setting drug levels and a dyslexic doctor who is in charge of mixing the three drugs used. ~ snip ~

(June 6, 2006)--Texas executed its eleventh death-row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening in Huntsville. Thirty-four-year-old Timothy Tyler Titsworth was put to death for the 1992 slaying of his 26-year-old girlfriend in the mobile home they shared in Amarillo. Christine Marie Sossaman was bludgeoned about 16 times with a dull ax as she slept. Evidence showed Titsworth was high on crack cocaine at the time of the July 23,1992, attack.

WASHINGTON — Murder charges may be brought against some Marines for what may be the worst atrocity committed by U.S. military personnel in Iraq, a senior Pentagon official said Friday.