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|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
September 9, 2010 |
Alabama |
Ruby Lois Gosha |
Holly Wood |
pending |
| On the
night of September 1, 1993, Holly Wood brutally killed Ruby Lois
Gosha, who was Wood’s former girlfriend and the mother of his child.
About two weeks prior to murdering Ruby, Wood had assaulted Ruby,
cutting her and causing her to lose the use of two fingers. In
addition to the testimony of Ruby’s mother in that regard, the
autopsy showed recent bruises on Ruby’s palm and the back of her
left hand, two recent trauma-induced scars on her right forearm, and
recent scars on her left forearm and upper arm. On the night of the
murder, around 5:00 p.m., Ruby’s mother told Wood to leave her home
(where Ruby lived) and not come back. Wood returned to Ruby’s
mother’s house around 9:00 p.m., snuck into Ruby’s bedroom with his
12-gauge shotgun, and shot Ruby in the head and face, fracturing her
skull and injuring her brain. There was a gunshot wound near her eye
and one near her cheek. Ruby was dead by the time the ambulance got
her to the hospital. After shooting Ruby, Wood that night told his
cousin, Calvin Salter, “I shot that bitch in the head, and [blew]
her brains out and all she did was wiggle.” Wood also told Salter
that he had attempted to stab Ruby in the heart sometime prior to
the shooting, but Ruby had thrown her arm up to protect herself, and
he had stabbed her in the arm instead. Thus, although Ruby had tried
to escape Wood’s domestic violence and although her mother had tried
to keep Wood away from her home, Wood managed to sneak into the home
late at night and kill Ruby at point-blank range in her own bed. At
the time Wood killed Ruby, he was already on parole for a prior
violent felony shooting of another former girlfriend, Barbara Siler,
whom he had shot through the window of her home. Wood had another 18
arrests on his record. On October 20, 1994, the jury unanimously
convicted Wood of capital murder during a first-degree burglary. The
jury recommended a death sentence by a 10-2 vote. After a
pre-sentencing report and a separate sentencing hearing, the trial
judge sentenced Wood to death. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
September 10, 2010 |
Washington |
Holly Carol Washa, 21 |
Cal Brown |
pending |
 In
1984, Cal Coburn Brown was sentenced as a dangerous offender for his
attempted assault on a 24-year-old woman in Corvallis, Oregon.
Brown, a freshman at Oregon State University at the time, had been
introduced to the woman by her babysitter. Brown appeared at the
woman's home wearing a hat and carrying a backpack. He persuaded her
to let him rest what he claimed was a sprained leg. When she turned
her head to call him a cab, Brown flung a 43-inch leather thong over
her head to choke her, but the thong caught on her lip. The victim
recalled the thong instantly tightening and she was yanked off her
feet backwards. She landed on her stomach six feet away with the
thong still around her neck and Brown kneeling behind her. She
rolled to her side and saw him wild-eyed staring into her face." He
held her, and she screamed and a police officer who happened to be
nearby arrested him. Police found a large knife and a roll of
two-inch wide duct tape in his backpack. The woman's two small sons
were home during the attack. At the time, Brown already had an
extensive criminal record, including a 1977 conviction in California
that involved a knife assault on a woman in a shopping center. Brown
served the minimum seven-and-a-half-year sentence for the Oregon
attempted assault conviction and was released on parole from the
Oregon State Penitentiary on March 25, 1991, after receiving a
favorable psychiatric evaluation. Upon Brown's release, he was
placed under the supervision of a parole office who specialized in
the supervision of sex offenders. The parole officer was given a
letter from the district attorney who had prosecuted Brown on the
dangerous offender case. In the letter, the DA stated that not only
did he consider Brown to be one of the most dangerous criminals whom
he had ever prosecuted, but also that "unless he has undergone a
remarkable transformation in prison, he will remain a potential
mutilator and killer of women." During the first two months of his
parole, Brown had enrolled as a student at Oregon State University
and had met with his parole officer. Towards the end of that period,
the parole officer could not get in touch with Brown and on May 23,
1991, requested that an arrest warrant be filed on Brown. On the
very same day, Brown carjacked Holly Carol Washa in the parking lot
of a hotel near the Seattle-Tacoma Airport and demanded at
knifepoint that she "drive or die." He later forced her into the
passenger seat, tied her hands behind her back and drove her to his
motel nearby. In his motel room, Brown forced Holly to remove her
clothing, then tied her to the bed and raped and tortured Holly
repeatedly for the course of several hours. The next day, Brown
forced Holly to call in sick at her job at TCI Cablevision. He again
tied Holly to the bed, gagged her and sexually assaulted her with
foreign objects, including a bottle. He whipped her and shocked her
with an electrical cord. Eventually, Brown put Holly Washa in the
trunk of her car, slit her throat, stabbed her repeatedly and left
her to bleed to death in a parking lot. Several days later, Holly's
body was found in the trunk of her car. After stabbing Holly, Brown
then flew to Palm Springs, California, to rendezvous with his next
victim, a woman named Susan, whom he had met on an airplane a few
days earlier and with whom he had made weekend plans. While inside
their hotel room, Brown offered to give Susan a backrub. He was
rubbing her back when he suddenly jerked her arms behind her back in
a "very fast, brutal way. He said, 'Don't scream." I did scream
and...he slit my throat." Brown handcuffed Susan with her arms
behind her back. She saw blood on the pillow. "At that point he
lowered the knife so that I could see it. It was down near my heart,
pointed toward me." Brown stopped the bleeding with a makeshift
bandage of sanitary napkins held against her throat with her nylons,
and then sexually assaulted Susan. Then he forced her to write a
check for $4000 to him. He left the room to get more bandages.
Amazingly, Susan was able to call the front desk and summon the
police, who arrived and obtained a description of Brown from Susan,
and arrested Brown in the hotel parking lot. Brown quickly gave
audio-taped confessions to both the rape and attempted murder of
Susan in California, and the rape and murder of Holly Washa in
Washington. After pleading guilty in California and receiving a
sentence of life imprisonment, Brown was tried in Washington. A jury
convicted Brown of aggravated first-degree murder, and sentenced him
to death. In 2007, when the US Supreme Court agreed to hear an
appeal from Brown, Holly's family expressed their frustration. "Here
he is, all these years later, enjoying the life that some people
don't have," said Ruthcile Washa, the grandmother of Holly Washa, a
21-year-old Nebraska native who came to Seattle to follow her
big-city dreams and was murdered by Brown. "The death penalty will
give us peace of mind that he won't get out and do this to someone
else." Washa left tiny Ogallala, Nebraska because she wanted to be a
flight attendant. Washa left Ogallala in February 1988 to attend a
three-month course at the International Air Academy in Vancouver,
Wash. Three months later, she moved to Seattle. She worked part-time
as a dispatcher at TCI Cablevision and two weeks before her murder
began a second job in a Hickory Farms store in Southcenter mall. Her
former boyfriend, Don Briscoe, said he and Holly had met in the
Vancouver school and lived together until the month prior to her
murder. He said they had decided to take a break from their
relationship but remained close friends. "She was the sweetest
person; she cared about people so much," Briscoe said. In 2005, the
9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Brown's death sentence, but
it was reinstated by the US Supreme Court in 2007. Brown had a
prior execution date in March 2009 but received a stay. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
September 14, 2010 |
Pennsylvania |
Creed D. Vincent, 4
James A. Dick , 18 mos |
Anthony
Dick |
pending |
| Anthony
Dick told police he shot his wife, then the two boys, and himself.
Betty Dick was hit in the back and in the head. The boys had both
been shot in the head. Anthony Dick shot himself in the stomach.
*There are still appeals pending in this case and the execution is
not expected to take place on this date. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
September 15, 2010 |
Ohio |
Marichell Chatman
Linda Chatman
Marchae Chatman |
Kevin Keith |
pending |
| Kevin
Keith was sentenced to death for the aggravated murders of Marichell
Chatman, Linda Chatman, and Marchae Chatman and his convictions for
the attempted aggravated murders of Quanita Reeves, Quinton Reeves,
and Richard Warren. On the evening of February 13, 1994, Marichell
Chatman, her seven-year-old daughter, Marchae, and Richard Warren,
who had been living with Marichell and Marchae for several weeks,
were at Marichell’s apartment in the Bucyrus Estates. At the time,
Marichell was babysitting her young cousins, Quanita and Quinton
Reeves. At approximately 8:45 p.m., Marichell’s aunt, Linda Chatman,
arrived at the apartment to pick up Quanita and Quinton, Linda’s
niece and nephew. A few minutes after Linda arrived, Warren,
momentarily diverted from a basketball game he was watching on
television, noticed a man standing outside the apartment door.
Although the man began to walk away without knocking, Warren opened
the door. The man turned and asked for Linda. While Linda went
outside and spoke with the man, Marichell told Warren the man’s full
name. Although Warren could recall only the first name, Kevin, he
later identified Keith as the man at the door. Marichell also
mentioned that Kevin had been involved in a big drug bust. After a
short time, Linda and Keith returned to the apartment, where Keith
and Warren had a brief conversation. According to Warren, Keith
appeared to have his turtleneck shirt pulled up over the bottom part
of his face and even drank a glass of water through it. After
drinking the glass of water, Keith pulled a nine-millimeter handgun
from a plastic bag he carried and ordered everyone to lie on the
floor. Keith repeatedly scolded Marichell for using his first name
when she asked what he was doing and why. Despite Marichell’s pleas
with Keith on behalf of the children, Keith placed the gun to her
head. After ordering Marichell to be quiet, Keith said, “Well, you
should have thought about this before your brother started ratting
on people.” Marichell responded, “Well, my brother didn’t rat on
anybody and even if he did, we didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Testimony at trial confirmed that Marichell’s brother, Rudel
Chatman, was a police informant in a drug investigation involving
Keith. According to the presentence report, the month prior to the
murders, Keith was charged with several counts of aggravated
trafficking. Next, Warren heard a gunshot but was forced to turn
away when a bullet struck him in the jaw. Warren heard ten to twelve
additional shots, two more striking him in the back. After he heard
the apartment door close, Warren ran out of the apartment, across a
snow-covered field to Ike’s Restaurant, yelling for help. Four or
five more shots were fired, one striking him in the buttocks and
knocking him down. Warren was able to get up and obtain help from
the restaurant. Another Bucyrus Estates resident, Nancy Smathers,
heard several popping noises at approximately 9:00 p.m. As she
looked out her front door, Smathers saw No. 01-4266 Keith v.
Mitchell, et al. Page 3 a large, stocky black man run to the parking
lot and get into a light-colored, medium-sized car. As the car sped
away, it slid on the icy driveway and into a snowbank. When the
driver got out of the car, Smathers noticed that the car’s dome
light and the light around the license plate did not work. The
driver rocked the car back and forth for nearly five minutes before
he was able to free the car from the snowbank. Several weeks later,
Smathers informed Bucyrus Police Captain Michael Corwin that, after
seeing Keith on television, she was ninety percent sure Keith was
the man she had seen that night. When medical personnel arrived at
the Bucyrus Estates apartment, Linda and Marichell Chatman were
dead, having suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including fatal
wounds to the neck or head. All three children initially survived
the attack. However, Marchae’s two gunshot wounds to her back proved
fatal. The Reeves children each sustained two bullet wounds and
serious injuries. Approximately eight hours after the shootings,
Warren was recovering from surgery at a Columbus hospital. During a
postoperative interview with a nurse, Warren wrote “Kevin” on a
piece of paper as the name of his assailant. Later that day, Bucyrus
Police Captain John Stanley had two telephone conversations with
Warren. During the second conversation, Stanley mentioned three or
four possible last names for Kevin. At trial, Stanley could only
recall that he mentioned the names Kevin Thomas and Kevin Keith.
Warren stated that he was seventy-five percent sure the name he
heard from Marichell was Kevin Keith. When shown a photo array of
six suspects, Warren chose Keith’s picture and told police he was
ninety-five percent sure that Keith was the murderer. Investigators
recovered a total of twenty-four cartridge casings from the crime
scene area, which had all been fired from the same gun. In addition
to those, investigators recovered a casing found on the sidewalk
across from the entrance to a General Electric plant. On the night
of the murders, Keith picked up his girlfriend, Melanie Davison,
from work at the entrance to the General Electric plant where the
casing was found. At the snowbank where Smathers witnessed the
getaway car slide, investigators made a cast of the tire tread and
of the indentation in the snowbank made by the car’s front license
plate number—“043.” The indentation from the license plate matched
the last three numbers of a 1982 Oldsmobile Omega seized from
Melanie Davison shortly after she visited Keith in jail, under the
pseudonym of Sherry Brown, a few weeks after the murders. The
Oldsmobile was registered to Alton Davison, Melanie’s grandfather,
and was also regularly used by Melanie. Davison had put four new
tires on the Omega six months prior to the murders. Davison
estimated that by February 1994, the new tires had been driven less
than 3,000 miles without any problems or need for replacement.
Although the cast taken of the tire tread at the crime scene did not
match tires found on the Oldsmobile Omega one month later, the cast
did match the tread of the tires purchased by Alton Davison as shown
on the tire’s sales brochures. Additionally, the tires found on the
Oldsmobile Omega had been manufactured in January 1994 and showed a
minimal amount of wear. The grand jury indicted Keith on three
counts of aggravated murder, each carrying a specification that the
murder was committed as part of a course of conduct involving the
killing of two or more persons. Keith was also indicted on three
counts of attempted aggravated murder. After a two-week trial, a
jury found Keith guilty of all counts. Following the verdict,
defense counsel requested a presentence investigation and a
post-conviction sanity hearing. During the penalty phase of the
trial, defense counsel waived both opening and closing statements.
The court submitted, without objection, the presentence
investigation report and the results of the psychological
examination to the jury. The jury recommended and the trial court
imposed a death sentence for each of the aggravated murder counts. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
September 16, 2010 |
Pennsylvania |
Marlee Reed, 4
|
Brentt
Sherwood |
pending |
| Brentt
Michael Sherwood was sentenced to death for the beating death of
Sherwood's four year old step-daughter, Marlee Reed, on December 7,
2004. At about 1:00 p.m. that day, Sherwood, who was home
baby-sitting Marlee, called 911 and reported that she had passed
out. When EMTs arrived, they observed that the child's skin showed
cyanosis, and that she had significant bruising on her abdomen,
chest, arms, legs, neck, and face, she did not have a discernible
heartbeat, and was not breathing. The EMTs asked Sherwood what had
happened to the child and he told them that he had just awakened and
found her in that condition. He then added that she had fallen. The
EMTs tried, unsuccessfully, to revive the child for thirty minutes
and then took her to Sunbury Community Hospital where additional
efforts were made to revive her. Although doctors were able to
restore some vital functions, Marlee did not regain consciousness.
Marlee was then flown by helicopter to Geisinger Medical Center
where she died the next morning having never regained consciousness.
When Marlee arrived at Geisinger Medical Center, she was in critical
condition and underwent exploratory surgery which revealed that most
of her internal organs had been damaged and that she had suffered
several broken ribs. She had nineteen observable bruises and well
over fifty discrete bruises according to one of the doctors who
treated her. Many of the bruises on her arms were likely inflicted
while Marlee was attempting to defend and protect herself from
Sherwood. The injuries she suffered, according to one of the doctors
who treated her, were comparable to injuries seen in children
ejected from automobiles travelling at sixty-five miles an hour. She
lost so much blood that it could not clot and during the course of
treatment she received several total blood transfusions. In addition
to calling 911, Sherwood had also telephoned his wife Heather
Goodeliunas, Marlee's mother, and told her that she had to come home
immediately because Marlee was not breathing. (After Marlee's death,
her mother divorced Appellant and took back her maiden name.) Ms.
Goodeliunas hurried home and as she entered the residence, Sherwood
began apologizing to her, saying repeatedly, “I'm so sorry baby.” In
addition, Ms. Goodeliunas received a telephone call from Sherwood
after he had been taken to police headquarters during which he
stated, “Do you think I would put myself at risk for going to jail
for the rest of my life for manslaughter?” Although Sherwood never
spoke to Ms. Goodeliunas again, he did send her letters. In a letter
dated December 10, 2004, he wrote, “I am so sorry about what
happened. I know that a million sorries wouldn't make up for what
happened.” Sherwood added, “Right now I feel like the lowest piece
of **** that I could ever think of, and rightfully so. I feel like I
let you down.” Sherwood ended the letter by writing, “I hope I hear
from you soon so I can explain myself.” Sherwood told one of the
first police officers to arrive at the scene on December 7, 2004,
that he did not know what had happened to Marlee and remarked that
an eight year old child had fallen on her a few days before. Marlee
had apparently been injured by an older child on December 4, 2004,
while attending a party with her grandparents. They took her to a
hospital emergency room on December 5, 2004, because she was
complaining that her arm and elbow hurt. The doctor who examined
Marlee found nothing seriously wrong with her and did not observe
any bruises or other injuries on her body. Sherwood then prepared a
handwritten statement at the scene where he wrote that a ten-year
old child had been carrying Marlee and had dropped her during a
recent dinner party at Marlee's grandparents' residence. Sherwood
also wrote that Marlee had fallen off a small play table earlier
that morning and had complained that she felt dizzy and had pains in
her stomach. Sherwood added that he entered the living room and
panicked when he found Marlee unconscious. Sherwood stated he
immediately splashed some water on her and then placed her in the
bathtub but when that failed to resuscitate her, he called 911.
After Sherwood prepared this handwritten statement, police asked him
if he would agree to go to the police station with them. Sherwood
agreed but asked during the ride to the station if he was under
arrest. Police told him that he was not in custody. Sherwood was
not restrained during the ride to the police station. Police
headquarters was located inside the borough hall and Sherwood was
placed in the borough hall meeting room, a large room having four
doors located adjacent to police headquarters. When a tape recorder
was brought into the room and Sherwood was asked if he minded if the
interview was tape recorded, Sherwood affirmatively stated: “I feel
like I should have an attorney.” The interview ended immediately.
Approximately five minutes later, and after the chief of police was
advised that Sherwood had appeared to request the assistance of an
attorney, an agent with the county's probation department asked to
speak to Sherwood, who was under county supervision for a previous
drug conviction. Upon the arrival of a probation officer and two
United States Marshals, Sherwood was told that he was being detained
because he had violated the rules of his supervision. Sherwood then
spoke to the probation officer. Sherwood told him that Marlee had
fallen off a table. Sherwood also said that the bruises observed on
the child were not caused by him but were the result of her having
been dropped by an older child at her grandparents' home a few days
earlier. Sherwood was then transported to county prison. At no time
was Sherwood given Miranda warnings prior to being incarcerated. On
December 9, 2004, Corporal Richard Bramhall of the Pennsylvania
State Police went to county prison to speak to Sherwood. After the
Corporal told Sherwood that he considered Sherwood's remark two days
earlier about feeling as though he needed an attorney to be
ambiguous and not a clear invocation of the right to counsel, the
corporal administered Miranda warnings to Sherwood. Sherwood waived
his Miranda rights and provided a statement wherein he admitted that
he had beaten the child to death. In this statement, Sherwood said
that he was home watching Marlee and became angry because she said
that she did not want to be there with Sherwood. Marlee had recently
begun visiting her natural father which apparently caused friction
in her relationship with Sherwood; Sherwood said in the December 9
statement that Marlee's rejection of him hurt his feelings. As a
result, he slapped the child in the face. Sherwood said that a
couple of hours after he slapped Marlee, they watched a movie.
Afterwards Marlee said to Sherwood that she felt sorry for him.
When he asked why, she said, “Because you're mean.” Upon hearing
Marlee's response, Sherwood said he “snapped” and punched Marlee in
the stomach with a closed fist and kicked her in her stomach or
back, which caused her to fall to the floor. He then kicked her
several times more in her stomach and back and also punched her as
she lay on the floor. Marlee asked him to stop and tried to stand.
She was unable to get to her feet and fell back to the floor where
she was struck some more by Sherwood. Marlee eventually got up and
ran into a bedroom where Sherwood punched her again and caused her
to fall; he continued to kick and punch her. The beating, Sherwood
stated, continued even though Marlee pleaded for him to stop.
According to Sherwood, the beating lasted ten minutes in total and
he stopped hitting Marlee a couple of times before again resuming
his assault. Sherwood had no explanation as to why he resumed the
assault after twice stopping and indicated that when he finally
ended the assault, he knew that he had “done something bad.” Marlee
stood up after the beating and Sherwood picked her up and placed her
on the living room couch. At various times she told him that she
felt dizzy and that her stomach hurt. After 15-20 minutes, he
noticed that she was no longer moving or breathing so he placed her
lifeless body in a tub of cold water in an attempt to resuscitate
her. When this failed to revive Marlee, Sherwood took her from the
tub, called 911, and began to perform CPR on her. Sherwood admitted
that he had used drugs the previous evening, but stated that he was
not “high” when the beating occurred. In addition to Sherwood's
various statements, there was additional evidence presented by the
Commonwealth. Police obtained three search warrants for Sherwood's
residence. Those searches yielded various pieces of evidence
containing blood spatter that was later tied to the victim. Also,
Ms. Goodeliunas testified at trial. She stated that she had left for
work about 8:45 a.m. on December 7, 2004 and left Marlee in
Sherwood's care. At that time Marlee appeared to be fine. She
admitted that she and Sherwood had used illegal drugs the previous
evening but that when she awakened Sherwood that morning to tell him
that he had to babysit Marlee, he did not appear to be under the
influence of the drugs. Following hearings on various motions,
including a motion to suppress the statements Sherwood gave to
authorities and the physical evidence seized from Sherwood's
residence, which was granted in part and denied in part, Sherwood
was tried before the Honorable Harvey Wiest of Northumberland County
and a jury. At trial, the Commonwealth introduced evidence showing
that no one who had come in contact with Sherwood on the day of the
murder observed anything indicating that Sherwood was under the
influence of an intoxicating substance or that he was not in
complete control of his faculties. Several people did observe
bruises and other injuries to Sherwood's hands. An autopsy revealed
that Marlee died from significant blunt force trauma that could have
resulted from kicks and punches to her torso which caused extensive
splenic lacerations, contusions of and bruises to her pancreas,
kidney, small intestine, and liver and a laceration of the colonic
mesentery with accompanying marked intra-abdominal hemorrhage. Other
injuries included multiple abrasions and contusions to her face and
extremities and fractures of several ribs and a compression fracture
of her seventh thoracic vertebral body. The injuries were consistent
with her having been kicked and punched over a period of
approximately ten minutes. The Commonwealth also introduced evidence
showing that Sherwood struck Marlee on several occasions prior to
December 7, 2004. Immediately following a few of these prior
incidents, during which Marlee had been struck hard enough to cause
her to bleed, Marlee told her mother, who was not present to witness
them, that Sherwood had given her a “knuckle sandwich.” Sherwood
testified in his own defense. After Sherwood told the jury about the
problems he had while attending school and his long-time abuse of
alcohol and drugs, he testified about the day Marlee died. According
to Sherwood, after his wife left for work, he slapped Marlee because
she stated that she did not want to be there with him. He then
played with her for a while and had her watch a movie. When the
movie ended, Marlee approached him and stated that she did not like
him because he was mean. Sherwood testified that he was hurt by
the remark and began to strike her uncontrollably for about two and
one half to three minutes at which time he regained control of
himself and stopped striking her. After he stopped hitting Marlee,
Sherwood, who testified that he was “really high,” played on the
computer for about an hour while thinking about remarks his wife had
made to him before leaving for work concerning his failure to take
responsibility for chores around the house. After playing on the
computer, Sherwood decided to give Marlee a bath. When she began
asking Sherwood why he was giving her a bath because he was not her
father, Sherwood again “lost it” and began hitting Marlee for about
two and one half to three minutes. He then bathed her and when he
finished and was drying her off, Marlee began repeating that
Sherwood was mean and was not her father. In response, Sherwood
testified, he began striking and kicking her again for approximately
two and one half to three minutes. Although he realized that he had
hurt Marlee, Sherwood testified that he did not believe that her
injuries were serious because she did not lose consciousness.
Sherwood then placed Marlee on the living room couch. When he
observed that she had stopped breathing, he attempted to revive her
by placing her in cold water. When that failed, he called 911.
Sherwood explained that he told authorities that Marlee had fallen
and had been hurt the previous weekend because they were the first
things that came to his mind. He testified that when he gave his
statements, he had no recollection of the incident, and that as time
passed he remembered more of it. He blamed the incident on a loss of
control precipitated by Marlee's statements that she did not like
him. Sherwood testified that he did not intend to kill Marlee.
Sherwood also introduced expert testimony that it was possible that
he was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis at the time of the
murder and that he was incapable of forming specific intent to kill
at the time of the murder because of the combination of mental
disorders and drug-induced intoxication. At the conclusion of the
trial, the jury convicted Sherwood of first-degree murder,
aggravated assault, and endangering the welfare of children. At the
penalty hearing the Commonwealth presented the aggravating
circumstances related to the murder of a child under the age of
twelve and torture. Sherwood presented four mitigators: 1) he was
under the influence of extreme mental and emotional disturbance; 2)
his capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to
conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially
impaired; 3) his age; and 4) the catch-all mitigator. The jury
unanimously found both aggravating circumstances and no individual
juror found any mitigating circumstance. As statutorily required,
the jury sentenced Sherwood to death. Sherwood was formally
sentenced to death on July 30, 2007. In addition, the trial court
imposed a consecutive sentence of three and one half to seven years
incarceration and imposed a fine of $2500.00 on Sherwood on the
endangering welfare of children conviction. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
September 23, 2010 |
Virginia |
|
Teresa
Lewis |
pending |
| |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
September 28, 2010 |
Tennessee |
Ronald
Owens |
Gaile
Owens |
commuted |
| The
evidence shows that over a period of months, Gaile K. Owens
solicited several men to kill her husband, Ronald Owens. One of
these men was Sidney Porterfield. She met with him on at least three
occasions, the last being at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 17, 1985.
At that time, she told him that her husband would either be home
alone that night or would be at the church playing basketball. That
evening Ronald and Gaile Owens and their two sons attended evening
church services. Afterwards, when Ronald remained at church to play
basketball, the boys asked, as they usually did, to stay with their
father. Gaile Owens refused their request and took them to a
restaurant for dinner and then to the home of Gaile Owens' sister,
where they stayed until approximately 10:30 p.m. When they arrived
home at about 11:00 p.m. Ronald's automobile was in the driveway.
The doors were open, the interior light was on and Ronald's coat and
tie were on the seat. They found the back door to the house
partially open, and the keys in the lock. There were signs of a
struggle in the kitchen and blood was splattered on the wall and
floor. Ronald was found in the den unconscious, his head covered
with blood. Ronald died some six hours later from multiple blows to
his head. The autopsy revealed that Ronald had been struck at least
twenty-one times with a blunt instrument, described by the forensic
pathologist as a long, striated cylinder such as a tire iron. The
blows had driven his face into the floor, crushed his skull and
driven bone fragments into his brain. Ronald also had sustained
extensive injuries to his hands and strands of hair between his
fingers indicated he had been covering his head with his hands when
he was beaten. After the killing, George James, one of the men
solicited by Gaile Owens to kill her husband, contacted the police
and told them of Gaile Owens' offer. James then assisted the police
by permitting them to record telephone conversations he had with
Gaile Owens. After one of 4 the calls, James met Gaile Owens in the
Raleigh Springs Mall in Memphis. James was wearing a hidden body
microphone, which was being monitored by police in a nearby
automobile. Gaile Owens paid James sixty dollars to keep quiet,
telling him that it was all the money she had. She also stated that
she had had her husband killed because of "bad marital problems." Gaile Owens was placed under arrest at the conclusion of her meeting
with Mr. James. At first, Gaile Owens claimed that she only had
hired people to follow her husband and "to rough him up." She did
admit paying out some $4,000 to $5,000 to various men for expenses.
Later she confessed to offering three men $5,000 to $10,000 to kill
her husband and to talking with a man known as "little Johnny" at
2:30 p.m. on the day of the murder about killing her husband. She
had promised to pay him three or four days after the murder. When
asked why, Gaile Owens stated, "We've just had a bad marriage over
the years, and I just felt like he had, mentally I just felt like he
had been cruel to me. There was very little physical violence." The
man who met Gaile Owens on Sunday afternoon was identified by
witnesses as Sidney Porterfield. A witness also placed Porterfield
in the vicinity of the Owens' house a week before the killing.
Porterfield also made a statement to the police which was entered
into evidence. According to Porterfield, he met with Gaile Owens on
three occasions to discuss plans for the killing of Ronald, the last
being at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 17, 1985. He stated that
Gaile Owens offered him $17,000 to kill her husband, and that he
told her he would have to check out the situation. (Shortly after
her husband's funeral Gaile Owens had asked her father-in-law for
$17,000 "to pay some bills.") He further stated that he went to the
Owens' house that evening at about 9:00 p.m. On leaving his
automobile, he put a tire iron in his pocket in case he encountered
a dog. Porterfield stated he was walking in the back yard of the
Owens' house when Ronald Owens came home; that Ronald would not
accept his explanation that he was looking for a house, but informed
him he was going to hold him until the police arrived; that Ronald
grabbed him by the arm and attempted to pull him into the house.
According to Porterfield, Ronald had a briefcase in one hand and was
grasping Porterfield with the other. (No attempt was made to explain
how Ronald, with his hands thus occupied, unlocked the door to the
house.) Porterfield said he tried to break away and, when he was
unsuccessful, struck Ronald with the tire iron. The men were then in
the kitchen. Ronald threw his hand up for protection, but would not
release Porterfield. Porterfield then continued to strike Ronald
with the tire iron, with the result that he did extensive damage to
both of Ronald's hands and to his head. On leaving the Owens' house,
Porterfield threw the tire iron and the gloves he was wearing into a
dumpster. They were never recovered. Defendant Porterfield offered
no evidence in his defense. Gaile Owens presented the testimony of a
neighbor, who testified that Gaile Owens was almost hysterical after
her husband was found. A funeral home employee also testified. He
stated that a large balance was owing on Ronald's funeral bill,
presumably to show that Gaile Owens did have large debts to pay
after her husband's death as she had represented to her
father-in-law in attempting to secure a loan. In the bifurcated
sentencing hearing, the forensic pathologist again testified for the
state concerning the circumstances of Ronald’s death, such as blood
being inhaled, bone fragments being driven into his brain, and the
fact that Ronald had lived six hours after the beating. Two
photographs showing the head wounds suffered by Ronald also were
introduced. In addition, the state presented proof that Porterfield
had been convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon in 1968 and of
simple robbery twice in 1971. The state also relied on the
circumstances of the killing as shown by evidence in the guilt phase
of the trial. In mitigation, the defendant Owens presented evidence
that she had been treated by a psychiatrist on one occasion in 1978
for severe behavioral problems. She also called two jail employees
who testified that Gaile Owens was a good prisoner who caused no
problems, volunteered to work, and attended Bible study classes.
Porterfield presented no evidence in mitigation. In imposing the
sentence of death, the jury found three aggravating circumstances
with respect to Porterfield, and two with respect to Gaile Owens. No
mitigating circumstances were found. Specifically, the jury found
that Porterfield (1) had been previously convicted of one or more
felonies involving the use or threat of violence to the person; (2)
that he committed the murder for remuneration or the promise of
remuneration, or employed another to commit the murder for
remuneration, or the promise of remuneration; and (3) that the
murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it
involved torture or depravity of mind. The jury found the same
aggravating circumstances in sentencing Gaile Owens, except for the
finding of previous conviction of a felony involving the use or
threat of violence to the person. |
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