Date of scheduled execution

State

Victim name

Inmate name

Status

July 17, 2001

Oklahoma

Ruth Porter, 64

Jerald Harjo

executed

Jerald Wayne Harjo was convicted in the Jan. 16, 1988, murder of 64-year-old grandmother Ruth Porter in her rural Seminole County home. Harjo broke into Ruth's home to try to find the keys to her van and killed her in her bed, authorities said.  Investigators believe he also raped her.  Ruth's daughter found the body of the elementary school secretary the next morning. A pillow had been forced onto her face, crushing her windpipe. Authorities said Harjo had been bicycling to his brother's house when it began to rain. He decided to ditch the bicycle and steal Ruth's van.  At the time, Harjo was on a suspended sentence for stealing a car.  He confessed to the murder after investigators found his muddy tennis shoe prints on Ruth's floor and her van at his brother's house, former Seminole County Sheriff Charles Sisco said.  Harjo's final appeal was denied May 14 by the U.S. Supreme Court.  

Date of scheduled execution

State

Victim name

Inmate name

Status

July 20, 2001

Alabama

Rhonda Hardin, 12 

Danny Joe Bradley 

stayed

On January 24, 1983, twelve-year-old Rhonda Hardin and her younger brother were left in the care of their stepfather, Danny Joe Bradley. The children's mother had been hospitalized for over a week. The children normally slept in one bedroom and Danny Joe Bradley and their mother in another. On the night of January 24, 1983, some friends went to the Bradley home where they saw Rhonda and her brother together with Danny Joe Bradley. When the friends left at approximately 8:00 p.m., Rhonda was watching television with her brother and Bradley. Rhonda was lying on the couch, having taken some medicine earlier in the evening. She asked her brother to wake her if she fell asleep so that she could move to the bedroom. When her brother decided to go to bed, Bradley told him not to wake Rhonda but to leave her on the couch and also told him to go to sleep in the other room instead of his own bedroom. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Bradley arrived at the home of his brother-in-law who testified that Bradley arrived driving his automobile and that he was "upset" and "acted funny" and said he had "talked loud and acted like he was nervous and all, which I had never seen him do before." Bradley's father-in-law testified that Bradley came to his house at approximately midnight and told him that Rhonda was gone. Bradley's next-door neighbor said that at approximately 12:50 a.m., Bradley appeared at his home. The neighbor testified that Bradley told him that he and Rhonda had argued over some pills Rhonda wanted to take. He claimed that he had fallen asleep and when he awoke, Rhonda was missing. Bradley then said "let me run over to Rhonda's grandma's house and I'll be back in a few minutes." Bradley returned ten or fifteen minutes later. The neighbor testified that Bradley wanted to go to the hospital rather than report Rhonda's disappearance to the police. They waited at the hospital for one and one-half hours before they were able to enter Mrs. Bradley's room. Throughout that period of time, the neighbor tried to persuade Bradley to go to the police station to report that Rhonda was missing. When the men eventually saw Mrs. Bradley, she told Danny Joe Bradley to report Rhonda's disappearance to the police. They went to the police station where Bradley told an officer that Rhonda was missing. Bradley also told the officer that he and Rhonda had argued earlier in the evening and that she had left the house sometime around 11:00 or 11:30 pm. Bradley claimed that he had fallen asleep and that when he awoke, Rhonda was gone. He stated that he left the house at 11:30 p.m. to go to his neighbor's house to look for Rhonda. Bradley specifically indicated that he had not left the house until he began looking for Rhonda and that he went to the neighbor's home when he learned that Rhonda was missing. After talking with the police, Bradley and the neighbor returned to the neighbor's apartment.  At approximately 7:30 the next morning, Rhonda's body was found in a wooded area less than six-tenths of a mile from Bradley's apartment. Rhonda's body was dressed in a pair of maroon-colored corduroy pants, a short-sleeved red knit shirt, green, white, brown, and purple striped leg warmers, a bra, and a blue windbreaker. Rhonda's tennis shoes were tied in single knots. Several members of her family testified that she always tied her shoes in double knots. Shortly after Rhonda's body was discovered, two plainclothes officers from the Piedmont Police Department arrived at Bradley's residence. Bradley told the police that he had discovered Rhonda missing at approximately 11:20 or 11:25 p.m. and had gone to the neighbor's house in search of her. He also told officers that he had not left the apartment until he began his search for Rhonda. In addition to giving a statement, Bradley consented to a search of his residence and his automobile, submitted to fingernail scraping, submitted to a polygraph test, blood and saliva tests, and gave his clothing to the authorities. After obtaining the consent-to-search form, the police searched his residence and his automobile, seizing several items of physical evidence including a pillowcase, a damp blue towel from a bathroom closet, the living room light switch plate cover, a red, white, and blue sheet from the children's bedroom, a white "heavy" sheet from the washing machine, and fiber samples from the trunk of Bradley's car. At trial, testimony showed that, contrary to Bradley's statements to police on both January 24 and January 25, 1983, a local police officer had seen Bradley in his car at 9:30 p.m. in the area where Rhonda's body was discovered. The officer, who had known Bradley for more than twenty years, positively identified him. Forensic evidence showed that Bradley's fingernail scrapings matched the red, white, and blue sheet taken from the children's bedroom, the fibers from the leg warmers and the pants Rhonda was wearing on January 24, 1983. Fibers found in the trunk of Danny Joe Bradley's car matched Rhonda's clothing. A pathologist testified that Rhonda's body had "evidence of trauma - that is, bruises and abrasions on her neck." She had seven wounds on her neck; the largest was an abrasion over her Adam's apple. The pathologist testified that he had taken swab and substance smears from Rhonda's mouth, rectum, and vagina. Rhonda had been anally and vaginally raped and the samples were consistent with Bradley's blood type. The red, white, and blue sheet on the bed in the children's bedroom contained a stain which included spermatozoa. The white blanket which had been placed in the washing machine also had two large stains consistent with fecal-semen. Semen was found on the blue towel located in the bathroom and the mattress cover contained a number of seminal stains. At trial, Bradley's sister-in-law also testified that a day after Rhonda's funeral she heard Bradley say "I know deep down in my heart that I done it," and Bradley's stepson testified that Bradley had frequently rendered the children unconscious by squeezing their necks. Bradley testified in his own defense. He explained his inconsistent statements to police by suggesting that he had left his home at the time he was observed by the officer who knew him because he had intended to steal a car, remove its motor, and sell it. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of capital murder on counts one and three of the indictment. These counts charged murder during the commission of a rape or sodomy in the first degree. The same jury deliberated in the punishment phase and recommended twelve to zero that Bradley be sentenced to death.  UPDATE: The Alabama Supreme Court indefinitely delayed the July 20 execution of Bradley pending DNA testing of evidence in the 1983 rape and strangulation of his 12-year-old stepdaughter in Calhoun County.