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Eight killers were executed in the month of March,
1999. They had killed at least 10 people.
Seventeen
killers were given a stay in February
1999. They have murdered at least 28 people.
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/1/99 |
Ohio |
Carol Lutz |
Daniel Wilson |
stayed |
| On May 8, 1992, Daniel
Wilson kidnapped and murdered Carol Lutz, after meeting her at a bar, by
setting fire to her car after locking her in the car's trunk.
In 1984, at age 14, Wilson was of delinquency by reason of involuntary
manslaughter and aggravated burglary, in the death of an 81-year-old man. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/3/99 |
Arizona |
Ken Hartsock |
Walter LaGrand |
executed |
| As youths, Walter LaGrand and his brother
Karl set fire to a golf course, which did $20,000 damage, while the family
lived at a military post in Texas. Karl and Walter were convicted
of the armed robbery of 3 Tucson supermarkets in a 6-day period in 1981. They both were imprisoned at that point. After their release, the
brothers wanted a quick fix for their money woes. On the morning
of January 7, 1982, Walter and Karl LaGrand drove from Tucson, where they
lived, to Marana intending to rob the bank. They brought a briefcase with
a steak knife, bandanas, electrical tape, police radio scanner and toy
gun inside. They arrived in Marana sometime before 8:00 a.m. Because the
bank was closed and empty the LaGrands drove around Marana to pass time. They eventually drove to the El Taco restaurant adjacent to the bank. Ronald Schunk, manager of El Taco, testified that he arrived at work at 7:50 a.m.
The moment he arrived, a car with two men inside drove up to the El Taco.
Schunk described the car as white with a chocolate-colored top. The car's
driver, identified by Schunk as Walter LaGrand, asked Schunk when the El
Taco opened. Schunk replied, "Nine o'clock." The LaGrands then left.
Hartsock, the bank manager, showed up a few minutes later and brought the
U.S. and Arizona flags outside to be raised for the day. Karl pulled
the toy gun and ordered him inside the building. A 20-year-old female
teller pulled up a few minutes later. Dawn Lopez arrived for work
at the bank at approximately 8:00 a.m. When she arrived at the bank she
noticed three vehicles parked in the parking lot: a motor home; a truck
belonging to the bank manager, Ken Hartsock; and a car which she did not
recognize but which she described as white or off-white with a brown top.
Because Lopez believed that Hartsock might be conducting business and desire
some privacy she left the parking lot and drove around Marana for several
minutes. She returned to the bank and noticed Hartsock standing by the
bank door with another man whom she did not recognize. Lopez parked
her car and walked toward the bank entrance where Hartsock was standing. As she passed the LaGrands' car, Walter emerged from the car and asked her
what time the bank opened. Lopez replied, "Ten o'clock." Lopez continued
walking and went into the bank. When she entered the bank she saw Hartsock
standing by the vault with Karl LaGrand. Karl was wearing a coat and tie
and carrying a briefcase. Karl told her to sit down and opened his jacket
to reveal a gun, which was later found by the police to be a toy pistol.
Walter then came through the bank entrance and stood by the vault. Lopez
testified that Walter then said, "If you can't open it this time, let's
just waste them and leave." Hartsock was unable to open the vault
because he had only one-half of the vault combination. The bank employees
told the LaGrand brothers that they only knew half of the combination to
the safe and that they would have to wait for a 3rd bank employee to report
to work before it could be opened. The LaGrands then moved Lopez
and Hartsock into Hartsock's office where they bound their victims' hands
together with black electrical tape. The LaGrands became increasingly
anxious as the other employee failed to show up. Walter accused Hartsock
of lying and put a letter opener to his throat, threatening to kill him
if he was not telling the truth. Lopez and Hartsock then were gagged with
bandanas. Wilma Rogers, another bank employee, had arrived at the
bank at approximately 8:10 a.m. Upon arriving, Rogers noticed two strange
vehicles in the parking lot and, fearing that something might be amiss,
wrote down the license plate numbers of the two unknown vehicles. She then
went to a nearby grocery store and telephoned the bank. Lopez answered
the phone after her gag was removed; her hands remained tied. Karl held
the receiver to Lopez' ear and listened to the conversation. Lopez answered
the phone. Rogers asked for Hartsock but Lopez denied that he was there,
which struck Rogers as odd because she had seen his truck in the bank parking
lot. Rogers then told Lopez that her car headlights were still on, as indeed
they were. Rogers told Lopez that if she did not go out to turn her head-lights
off, then she would call the sheriff. A few minutes later Rogers asked
someone else to call the bank and they also were told that Hartsock was
not there. Rogers then called the town marshal's office. After
the first telephone call the LaGrands decided to have Lopez turn off her
headlights. Her hands were freed and she was told to go turn off the lights
but was warned that "If you try to go--if you try to leave, we'll just
shoot him and leave. We're just going to kill him and leave." Lopez went
to her car and turned off the lights. Upon her return to the bank her hands
were retied. Hartsock was still bound and gagged in the same chair. Lopez
was seated in a chair, and turned toward a corner of the room. Hartsock,
believing that Karl LaGrand was about to attack the woman, kicked him in
the shins. A savage response ensued. Lopez testified that soon
thereafter she heard sounds of a struggle. Fearing that Hartsock
was being hurt, Lopez stood up, broke the tape around her hands and turned
to help him. Lopez testified that for a few seconds she saw Hartsock struggling
with two men. Karl was behind Hartsock holding him by the shoulders
while Walter was in front. According to Lopez, Walter then came toward
her and began stabbing her. Lopez fell to the floor, where she could see
only the scuffling of feet and Hartsock lying face down on the floor. She
then heard someone twice say, "Just make sure he's dead." Hartsock's
throat was slashed and he suffered 23 other knife wounds, at least 6 of
which could have been fatal, investigators said. The woman also was
stabbed 7 times in the head, side and shoulder but survived.
The LaGrands left the bank and returned to Tucson. Lopez was able
to call for help. When law enforcement and medical personnel arrived at
the bank Hartsock was dead. Lopez was taken to University Hospital
in Tucson. Law enforcement personnel quickly identified the LaGrands
as suspects. By 3:15 p.m., police had traced the license plate number to
a white and brown vehicle owned by the father of Walter's girl friend,
Karen. The apartment where the LaGrands were staying with Karen was
placed under surveillance. Shortly thereafter Walter, Karl and Karen left
the apartment and began driving. They were followed and soon pulled over. Walter and Karl were then arrested and the car was searched. Karen's apartment
was also searched and a steak knife similar to one found at the bank was
seized. Karl's fingerprint was found at the bank. A briefcase containing
a toy gun, black electrical tape, a red bandanna, and other objects was
found beneath a desert bush and turned over to the police. When questioned
after their apprehension, Walter made no statements, but Karl confessed
to the crimes in two different statements. He stated that he had stabbed Hartsock and Lopez, but that Walter had not stabbed anyone and that Walter
had been out of the room at the time. Following a jury trial, both were
convicted on all charges. After considering mitigating and aggravating
circumstances, the judge sentenced both defendants to death. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/5/99 |
North Carolina |
??? |
Harvey Lee Green, Jr. |
stayed |
| ??? |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/8/99 - 3/15/99 |
Georgia |
??? |
Larry Jenkins |
stayed |
| ??? |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/9/99 |
Texas |
Adeline Dannenberg |
Robert Lookingbill |
stayed |
| When Robert Lookingbill
was 24 years old, he beat his grandparents with an iron bar as they slept
in San Juan, Texas. Adeline Dannenberg was beaten to death on 12/5/89
but her husband, Lookingbill's grandfather, survived. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/9/99 |
Virginia |
Thomas Haynes, 63 |
George Quesinberry |
executed |
| In the late night/early morning hours of
September 24, 1989, George Quisenberry visited a friend at a trailer court
in Prince George County. Eric Hinkle also was present. The 3 got
drunk drinking rum and Quesinberry suggested breaking into the office and
warehouse of the Tri-City Electric Supply Co. in Chesterfield County. Quesinberry
bought electrical supplies there and was familiar with its premises. Hinkle
and Quesinberry drove to Quesinberry's stepmother's home and picked up
a handgun, a .45-cal. Remington semi-automatic. They arrived at the
business at approximately 6 a.m. Quesinberry pried open a rear door with
a screwdriver, and the two entered and began rummaging through offices.
They found a desk with a locked drawer and Quesinberry fired a shot, breaking
the lock. They found a box of money in a cabinet. Haynes, 63, arrived
at the office, turned on the lights and discovered Hinkle and Quesinberry.
Haynes, who was unarmed, fled and Quesinberry chased him, firing as he
ran. One gunshot wound severed Hayne's spinal cord. The other shot was
fired with the muzzle pressed against Hayne's back. Later, when Haynes
tried to push himself up, Quesinberry struck him a hard blow in the head
with the handgun. The blow fractured his skull. Hinkle turned himself
in to police at 7:00 that night and implicated Quesinberry. When police confronted
him, Quesinberry told them where they could find the murder weapon and
his share of the $200 in coins that had been taken from the business. Tom Haynes' relatives described him as a kind, community-oriented man who
was always willing to help people who he felt hadn't been given a chance. "He was a fantastic person," said his widow, June Haynes-Garrett. "He would
have given those jerks (who killed him) probably a job or some money, you
know, if they really needed it." Ms. Haynes-Garrett said her husband
was killed three days before their 40th wedding anniversary. "We
had planned a trip," she said. "We were going to Cancun." |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/10/99 |
Missouri |
Tom Jackson, 62 |
Roy Roberts |
executed |
| 62-year-old Tom Jackson was a guard at
the state prison in Marion Co. Missouri when he was attacked by Roy Roberts,
Rodney Carr and Robert Driscoll on 7/3/83. Roberts was convicted
of helping to kill prison guard Tom Jackson during a riot at the medium-security
state prison in Moberly in July 1983. Four witnesses testified at his trial
that he held Jackson while two other inmates plunged makeshift knives into
his eyes and repeatedly into his chest and stomach. Denver Halley,
a captain at the prison at the time and the main person who indentified
Roberts, said Roberts was the inmate who held Jackson while 2 others stabbed
him. "I have no doubt in my mind," Halley said Tuesday. "I knew Roberts
and I was close enough to blow in his ear. I was no more than 2 feet from
him while they were stabbing Tom and I was trying to get to him to pull
them off." He said he didn't know the inmate with the knife. But
Roberts, who weighed more than 300 pounds, had grabbed Jackson from behind,
slipped his arms under Jackson's armpits and pulled his shoulders back
to expose his torso. "Roberts stands out like a red rose in the Sahara
Desert," Halley said. "There is no way I would forget something like that." He said Roberts avoided getting blood on his clothing because he was behind
Jackson during the attack. Halley, now 76 and retired in Macon, Mo.,
said he had no reason to implicate Roberts unfairly. "I know they
are saying that I picked him out from a whole wing of prisoners to say
he did it," Halley said. "That's a crock." The attack occurred July
3, 1983, when Halley led a group of 6 guards into a common area to remove
an unruly prisoner, one of several who had become drunk on homemade alcohol. As the guards approached,
about 3 dozen prisoners mobbed them, Halley
recalled. Several guards, including Halley, were injured. Roberts, who was in prison on an armed robbery conviction, admitted to
punching a guard during the melee. But he denied any role in Jackson's
death. The inmates who stabbed Jackson were later identified as Rodney
Carr and Robert Driscoll. But Roberts was the only one who stayed on death
row. Driscoll was convicted and sentenced to death. But the conviction
was reversed in 1995 by a federal appeals court because of a prosecutor's
error. He will be retried in November. The jury that convicted Carr
of murder deadlocked on punishment, so the judge's only option at the time
was to sentence him to life in prison. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/12/99 |
Texas |
Inez Phillips, 75 |
Stan Faulder |
stayed |
| Stan Faulder was sentenced
to death in 1977 for the murder of Inez Phillips, age 75, which took place
during the burglary of her home in Gladewater, Texas in 1975. Mrs. Phillips
was the matriarch of a prominent Texas oil family. The conviction was reversed
on appeal. At the second trial, pivotal testimony came from an accomplice
in the crime. Stan Faulder was again sentenced to death. He
and a girlfriend robbed Phillips' home in the mistaken belief that there
was a large sum of money in her safe. He signed a confession after his
arrest. Her 1975 torture - in a failed attempt to find rumored jewels
and cash - and murder were so savage that few residents can remember anything
so horrible before or since in Gladewater. Phillips, a favorite schoolteacher
and matriarch of a wealthy oil family, was covered in bruises from being
beaten; her skull was crushed while she was still breathing. The
generous patron of local charities who was often called "saintly" died
only after being stabbed about 20 times with a knife plucked from her kitchen.
It was left embedded in her chest, cracking through bone to spear her body
to her bed. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/16/99 |
Pennsylvania |
James Scanlon, 61 |
Ronald Rompilla |
stayed |
| Ronald Rompilla
was convicted in the 1988 robbery and killing of an Allentown tavern owner. Rompilla was convicted of killing James Scanlon in the former Cozy Corner
Tavern. Scanlon, 61, who had been set on fire after being repeatedly
stabbed, was found dead by his son behind the bar Jan. 14, 1988. Rompilla was convicted of the crime later that year. His death sentence
was upheld by the state Supreme Court in January 1995. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/17/99 |
Illinois |
Linda Sutton, 28
Molly, 19
Unnamed woman,
35
Lorraine Borowski, 21
Shui Mack
Sandra Delaware
Rose Beck Davis
Carole Pappas, 31 |
Andrew Kokoraleis |
executed |
| Andrew Kokoraleis was
convicted of a ritualistic mutilation and murder in DuPage County. Kokoraleis, of Villa Park, Illinois, was one of the "Ripper" killers
who police say kidnapped, raped, tortured, murdered and mutilated as many
as 18 Chicago-area women in 1981 and 1982. Kokoraleis, his brother
and two friends are believed responsible for up to 18 cult-like mutilation
deaths in DuPage and Cook Counties. In some cases the gang -- Kokoraleis,
his brother Tommy, Edward Spreitzer and ringleader Robin Gecht -- cannibalized
their victims. In some cases they cut off a breast with piano wire. They would
masturbate on the body part and then eat it. "I've done many homicide cases and I'd never heard
of anything so horrendous in my life," said Elmhurst Police Chief John Millner, who was a detective and polygraph expert who took the November
1982 confession of Tommy Kokoraleis. "He talked about raping the
women, stabbing the women, having sex with the knife wounds, cutting their
breasts off to leave what he called 'Robin's mark.'" On May 23, 1981,
Linda Sutton, 28, was kidnapped and ten days later her mutilated body was found
in a field near a motel. Her left breast had been cut off and was missing. In
June of 1981, a young woman named Molly was reported missing by her parents when
she failed to return home. Molly's body was found near a canal in a remote area
and her left breast had been amputated. She had been raped and sodomized and was
murdered by being repeatedly stabbed and slashed. Lori Borowski was beaten, mutilated and stabbed
after she was abducted on May 15, 1982, as she was entering the real estate
office where she worked. Co-workers found Lori's shoes and the contents of her
purse scattered outside the office door. Her body was found 5 months later, in
October, on the
property of a cemetery near Darien. Two weeks after the disappearance of
Lori, a prostitute was picked up by a customer. She was handcuffed and her
breast was slashed, then she was dumped on the side of the road, injured but
alive. On August 28, the body of teenager Sandra Delaware was found on the banks
of the Chicago River. Sandra had been stabbed and strangled and her left breast
had been removed. On September 8, Rose Beck Davis was found stabbed and
strangled in a Chicago alley. Her left breast was amputated. On September 11,
Carole Pappas, the 31-year-old wife of a major league baseball pitcher,
disappeared from a shopping trip. On October 6, a 20-year-old prostitute was
found near a railroad track, with deep cuts to her right breast and an amputated
left breast, however she was still alive and recovered from her injuries. On
October 20, police arrested Robin Gecht for the brutal attacks on the two
prostitutes who survived. Soon authorities connected the other three men to
Gecht, and began putting together their case. After failing a polygraph, Tommy
Kokoraleis, 23, described for investigators the "Satanic Chapel" in Gecht's
bedroom and told them about holding women captive to be tortured with knives and
gang-raped before being sacrificed to Satan. He said that the cult consisted of
himself and his brother Andrew, Gecht and Edward Spreitzer, 23. He detailed how
the group would sever one or both of the victim's breasts with a thin wire
wrapped around the flesh. He said that each of them would "take communion" by
eating a piece of the breast before placing it in Gecht's "trophy box."
After being sentenced to death for Lori's murder, Kokoraleis filed numerous
appeals of his death sentence, but all were rejected, including a request
to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case. Gecht is
serving 120 years for attempted murder, rape, kidnapping and deviate sexual
assault. Spreitzer, 38, was sentenced to death for murder. Tommy Kokoraleis got 70 years for murder. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/18/99 |
Illinois |
Dana Rinaldi |
Ron Kliner |
stayed |
| Ronald Kliner was given a death sentence for
the contract murder of Dana Rinaldi in Palatine in 1988. Dana Rinaldi's
husband, Joseph, who promised Kliner, his boyhood friend, and another man
a share of a life insurance policy payment, earlier was sentenced to 60
years in prison. Another man, Michael Permanian, was convicted of
murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the crime. Rinaldi, who pleaded
guilty to 1st-degree murder for hiring the killers, was sentenced to 60
years in prison. Permanian received 75 years. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/18/99 |
Texas |
Robert Read |
Steven Staley |
stayed |
| In Fort Worth, Tracey
Duke, Steve Staley and Duke's girlfriend Brenda Rayburn tried to rob a
Steak and Ale restaurant on Oct. 15, 1989. Robert Read, the restaurant
manager, offered himself as a hostage in place of the employees and customers
who had been corralled into the back of the restaurant. Read was
fatally shot as he sat in the getaway car, and the trio then began shooting
at police, according to court records. The trio was arrested after
a short chase. At the time of the murder Staley, who killed Read,
was an escapee from a Denver halfway house. Rayburn, the driver,
received a 30-year sentence in a plea agreement with prosecutors.
In his 1991 plea agreement, Duke pleaded guilty to 1 count of murder for
Read's death and 2 counts of attempted capital murder for shooting at police.
He took the plea to avoid the death penalty and knew that prosecutors would
seek the death penalty if he successfully appealed his sentence.
In 1996, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals voided his sentences.
The appellate court ruled that Duke should have had 3 hearings because
he accepted plea bargains for 3 consecutive life sentences. Instead all
his pleas were heard during the same session. Duke, who has
asked for a retrial by jury, said he met Staley in Colorado, and the 2
soon began committing crimes. They killed a man in Colorado and committed
a host of robberies in Kansas and Oklahoma before heading to Texas, Duke
said. "When I met him, I got deeper and deeper," Duke said.
Duke said his addiction to heroin and his admiration of Staley led him
to commit crimes. Now he is free from drugs, he said, and could be a productive
member of society. Duke said he realizes he might get the death penalty
now that the case is going to trial. That's OK, he said. "Then I
got appeals." |
| Date of scheduled
execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/18/99 |
Pennsylvania |
Leonard Miller
William Nicholls, 34
???
??? |
John Lesko |
stayed |
| For a week during the
Christmas holidays in 1980, John Lesko and Michael Travaglia went on a
crime binge near Pittsburgh that came to be called the "kill for thrills"
spree. Between Dec. 29, 1979, and Jan. 3, 1980, they took the lives
of a church organist, an unemployed security guard, a seamstress and a
rookie police officer. John Lesko was sentenced to death in the 1980
killing of Leonard Miller, a rookie police officer from Apollo, Armstrong
County. Lesko pled guilty in the drowning of William Nicholls, 34,
of Mount Lebanon. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/22/99 |
Illinois |
John Rajca, 19
Christopher Rajca, 17 |
John Szabo |
stayed |
| John Szabo was sentenced to death after he
fatally shot and stabbed brothers John and Christopher Rajca, 19 and 17,
on January 27, 1979, during a drug deal south of Naperville, Illinois.
Szabo, then 21, met John and Christopher Rajca in a gravel pit to buy drugs.
During the deal, the boys were shot and stabbed. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/23/99 |
Ohio |
Terrence Walker, 23
Antonio Hunter, 19 |
Kareem Jackson |
stayed |
| In Clinton Township Ohio, 23-year-old Terrence
Walker and his cousin, 19-year-old Antonio Hunter were robbed of about
$45 and a small amount of marijuana and shot, execution-style, in their
apartment by 23-year-old Kareem Jackson and several accomplices.
The murders occurred on 3/25/97. In October of 1997, Jackson
attempted to escape from jail before trial, breaking both legs in a jump
from a second story. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/23/99 |
Pennsylvania |
Otis Reynolds, 22
Kevin Anderson, 19
Gavin Anderson
William Graham, 63 |
Christopher Williams |
stayed |
| Christopher Williams was convicted in the
1989 murders of 3 men in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Otis Reynolds,
22, Kevin Anderson, 19, and Gavin Anderson, were drug dealers from New
York. They had come to the Philadelphia area with $26,400 in drug
money to buy guns. The three men were shot and their bodies were
dumped in different various locations. The jury recommended three
death sentences. On 2/18/89, Williams had killed William Graham,
63, a cab driver who was shot in the back of the head. Williams received
a life sentence in this case. Testimony showed that he killed William
Graham to prove that he could kill an innocent person. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/25/99 |
Texas |
unnamed victim
Carolyn Kay "Katy" Davis |
Charles Rector |
executed |
|
On October 17, 1981, Katy
Davis was beaten and raped by Charles Rector and several accomplices. The men
followed Katy to her home in Austin, Texas but when she saw three strangers
outside her apartment, she turned and walked the other way. She returned later,
only to be attacked by two men, who forced her to open the door. They ransacked
her apartment before taking her to the Town Lake area where she was gang-raped,
shot in the head and dumped in Town Lake where they repeatedly forced her head
underwater until she drowned. When arrested a couple of hours later, Rector was
wearing some of her clothing, had her jewelry in his pockets, was driving her
car and his knife was later found in her apartment, yet he still claimed
innocence. Rector had a criminal record dating back to age 12 and was on parole
for a previous murder at the time of Katy's brutal killing. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/25/99 |
Virginia |
David Wilkey, 18 |
David Fisher |
executed |
|
On 11/21/83, in Bedford Co. Virginia, eighteen-year-old
David Wilkey was shot and killed while on a hunting trip. David's
death was initially believed to be an accident but the killer, Bobby Mulligan,
broke down and confessed to his father 3 years after the murder. David Fisher hired Bobby Mulligan for $7,000, in order to collect on a
$25,000 policy. Fisher had 25 previous convictions and was
born Leeman Curtis Fortner but had undergone a name change when he enrolled
in the federal witness protection program after being involved in organized
crime. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/25/99 |
Texas |
Jerry Dean, 80
Sylvia Dean, 75
Maria Lozano, 75 |
Jeff Doughtie |
stayed |
|
Convicted killer Jeffrey Carlton Doughtie
dropped his options for appeals and requested that he be executed March
25. Doughtie, who said he wants to be an example to kids of the results
of drug use, told state District Judge Joaquin Villarreal III he is ready
to die. "I'm not crazy," Doughtie said. "I want it done with." Doughtie waived his appeal options in federal court and then told
Villarreal in state court that he appreciated the way the court has treated
him. The judge then ordered the March 25 execution date. Doughtie
is fulfilling a promise he made when the Texas Supreme Court upheld his
conviction 2 years ago - that he would volunteer to be executed. The drug-addicted transient went on a crime spree in 1993 in Corpus Christi,
first killing an elderly couple who sold antiques, then strangling and
bludgeoning to death a 75-year-old woman. He was convicted of capital
murder in both cases and was sentenced to die for the deaths of Jerry and
Sylvia Dean, who owned Golden Antiques and Collectibles. A customer
came into the store on Aug. 2, 1993, and found the couple unconscious and
lying in pools of blood. Jerry Dean, 80, died hours after the attack. His wife, Sylvia, 75, lingered in a coma for 25 days before she died. In a written confession, Doughtie said he beat the couple when they refused
to give him money. He was also convicted for the Aug. 22, 1993, slaying
of 75-year-old Maria Lozano, who was bludgeoned with a perfume bottle and
strangled in her Corpus Christi home. Last fall, Doughtie wrote a
letter requesting an April execution, but said he wanted to move up the
date. "I have a friend in Germany. She's coming over and I'd
just as soon get it over with," Doughtie said. It is the 1st time
an inmate has requested his own execution date in Villarreal's court, the
judge said. "It was a very brutal crime. He's always faced
up to it," Villarreal said. "I think he's the same person. I think whatever he did he did under the influence of drugs." Pat
McGuire, Doughtie's attorney, said he believes that his client is by nature
a "peaceful and kind and gentle person." But, he added, "Jeffrey Doughtie on drugs is a monster and he knows that." Villarreal presided
over the capital murder trials and said Doughtie has always been respectful,
often making jokes in the courtroom. "Last time I saw him I gave
him 20 years," he said, referring to felony robbery, burglary and parole
violation cases resolved after Doughtie received the death penalty. "He asked me, "Can I serve the 20 before I do the other one?'" After
his execution date was set, Doughtie was allowed to make a phone call to
his mother from the courthouse. UPDATE: Less than a week before his
scheduled execution date, Doughtie asked for and received a stay. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/25/99 |
Pennsylvania |
Kathy Lynn Fair, 22 |
Freeman May |
stayed |
| Freeman May was convicted in the 1982 stabbing
murder of a 22-year-old woman in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Kathy Lynn
Fair, mother of a three year old son, was last seen at a bank by her sister
on 9/4/82. Her body was not found for over 6 years. There were
only bones left, which indicated she had been stabbed to death. Most
of her clothing had been removed. May was convicted of raping and
stabbing a 17 year old and a 14 year old and sentenced to 15-35 years.
While in jail, he wrote a letter to a female prisoner in which he told
her about the murder, which resulted in Kathy's body finally being found.
The same knife May used to attack the teenagers was linked to Kathy's murder. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/26/99 |
North Carolina |
unnamed victim
Paul Gwyn |
James David Rich |
executed |
|
Rich has been on death row for just
over four years
for the stabbing death in August 1994 of another inmate, Paul Gwyn. While Rich was serving a life sentence for murder, he stabbed
a fellow inmate to death. Rich pleaded guilty to 1st degree murder in the 1994 stabbing death of Paul Gwyn at the Eastern Correctional Institution in
Greene County. The killing occurred because Rich did not like an educational program at the prison and wanted to be transferred to
Central Prison. Rich somehow believed that Gwyn could help him get transferred
but refused. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/29/99 |
Ohio |
Robin Dennis, 19 |
Maurice Mason |
stayed |
| In Essex Ohio, on 2/8/93, a pregnant 19-year-old
Robin Dennis left a party with Maurice Mason, a parolee, to get a television
set for her husband. Her body was found five days later in an abandoned
warehouse near Marion Ohio. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/30/99 |
Texas |
Preston Boyles, 73
Gary Coker, 18
Billy St. John, 18 |
Robert White |
executed |
| Robert Excell White was sentenced to die for
the 1974 murders of 3 people in a filling station robbery near McKinney
that netted $66. White was accused of killing a 73-year-old man and
two 18-year-old boys near dawn on May 10, 1974. Gary Coker and Billy
St. John were 2 teenagers who had stopped to put oil in their truck at
the Hilltop Grocery Store and gas station on State Highway 380, about 3
miles east of McKinney. The store was owned by Preston Broyles. Shortly
after the boys arrived, White and 2 companions entered the store.
They forced the 3 victims to lie face down, took $6 from the cash register
and $60 from their wallets, and then argued over who would kill the victims.
White shot each of them several times with a .30-caliber carbine with at
least one of the boys begging for his life. The day before the Hilltop
murders, White had been drinking in Waco with an acquaintance, who sharpened
a knife for him. White took the knife, stabbed the man and stole several
guns, including the weapon used at the Hilltop store. A few days
after those slayings, White turned himself over to Mississippi authorities
and confessed to all 4 killings. Authorities soon caught his companions,
James Owen Livingston, then 29, and Gary Dale Livingston, 24. White,
37 at the time of the crime, was convicted of capital murder for killing
Mr. Broyles and sentenced to death Aug. 26, 1974. He was never tried for
the other killings. James Livingston was also convicted and sentenced
to die, but the sentence was commuted to life in 1983, according to the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Gary Livingston was convicted
of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Records show he was released
in July 1984. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/31/99 |
Texas |
??? |
Gustavo Garcia |
stayed |
| Gustavo Garcia was sentenced to death in the
1990 murder of a Plano liquor store clerk during a robbery. The Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals ordered a new trial for Garcia in 1994 but reversed
itself in March 1996 and upheld his conviction. Garcia came to death row
on Jan. 8, 1992, from Collin County. |
| Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
| 3/31/99 |
Ohio |
Pete Copas, 43
Convenience store clerk |
James Hanna |
stayed |
| In Lebanon Correctional
Institute in August of 1997, James Hanna was serving time for a previous
murder and attempted murder when he killed Pete Copas, 43, who was his
cellmate. Pete was sleeping when he was stabbed in the eye with a
sharpened paint brush handle and beaten with a padlock placed in a sock.
He died three weeks later. In 1978 Hanna had murdered a convenience
store clerk in Toledo, Ohio, by stabbing him 33 times. A customer
who walked into the store was also attacked and stabbed 37 times but survived. |
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