May 3, 2007

On May 3, 2007, the state of Alabama bid farewell to a prisoner via lethal injection rather than the electric chair.

As of July 1, 2002, the state changed the method of execution from Yellow Mama to the final cocktail — or from the electric chair to lethal injection.

Of course, if a prisoner made a specific request for death by electrocution, then the state would abide by the wishes of the condemned and bring out Yellow Mama for the festivities.

After arriving on Death Row on August 18, 1979,  inmate Aaron Lee Jones, 55 years old, was executed by lethal injection for murdering Carl Nelson and Willene Nelson in Blount County.  He was terminated during the political term of Governor Bob Riley.

With his execution, Jones became the 16th execution for the year 2007 and the 1,073rd prisoner to die since capital punishment was re-introduced in the United States in 1976.

May 3, 2005

On May 3, 2005, 43 year old Lonnie Wayne Pursley was executed by the state of Texas with the final cocktail, also known as lethal injection, for the capital crime of murder.  He became the 19th execution for the year 2005 and the 963rd inmate to be put to death since capital punishment was re-introduced in 1976.

So what was the murder for which he was convicted?  Well, it is not as though he was a stranger to the judicial process.

And, truth be told, if Texas didn’t have such a penchant for early parole, then crime wouldn’t be so prevalent.

You see, Lonnie was released early in 1987 from what was supposed to be a five-year stint for robbery.

In 1990, he was returned to prison for a ten-year sentence for (surprise) robbery.  They released him just after he served six months.  That’s right — six MONTHS!  Of a 10 YEAR sentence.  Hmm, that’s like 5% of his total sentence.

Do you think you see why Texas has a problem?

So, he’s back out on the street but how long do you think that will last?  A little over a year goes by and he’s back in the clink and this time it’s a 20 YEAR sentence for (surprise! surprise!) burglary.  He served a whole THREE YEARS of this sentence (15% of total sentence) before being paroled in the fall of 1995.

Well, about a year and a half pass by before we next hear from our boy and this time it’s robbery with a side order of murder-to-go.

On March 28, 1997, Robert Earl Cook, 47, was driving to his home  in the Deer County subdivision in Livingston, Texas, when he crossed paths with Lonnie Wayne Pursley.  On this Good Friday, Pursley, his wife and children were visiting family in Shepherd.  Holidays bring out the best in us, don’t ya think?

After a really good pissing fight with the wife, Pursley stomped out of the house.  It is theorized that Cook offered Pursley a drive.  You know, I’ll just throw this out to any who may have not heard the old warning from their mammy and pappy:  don’t hitchhike and don’t pick up hitchhikers, k?

They went to Cook’s place where Pursley managed to talk Cook into driving out into the woods.  There, Lonnie beat the man to death, robbed his corpse of his jewelry and departed the scene.  Tooling around in the dead man’s bloodspattered car was a real Einstein move.  Hawking the dead man’s jewelry to buy drugs was an even better Mensa-move.

So, when you added the DNA evidence to the overwhelming witness testimony, old Lonnie Pursley was convicted of a rather brutal murder solely perpetuated for feeding his current habit of the moment.

But given his ultra-familiarity with the judicial system, it was clear he did not fear any real retribution in terms of punishment given how care-free Texas had been with his previous sentences, so this last dance must have been a real surprise for Lonnie.

May 3, 2002

On May 3, 2002, the state of South Carolina put Richard Charles Johnson, 39 years old,  to death via lethal injection for murder.  Statistically unusual, he was a white offender who was put to death for crimes against a black victim.

He became the 24th prisoner to be executed for the year 2002 and the 773rd since the death penalty became active again in the United States in 1976.

But this is a long and sordid tale that begins with the murder of a black state trooper by a white whacko.  It is a seventeen-year trek to exact the ultimate price for murderous actions, littered with attempts by do-gooders who have nary a thought to the victim’s loved ones.

On September 27, 1985, Dan Swanson was on his way to Florida, driving a big ol’ motor home.  Keen for company, he picked up three hitchhikers:  Curtis Harbert, Richard Johnson, and a girl with severe mental health issues, Connie Sue Hess.

You know that old warning:  don’t hitchhike and don’t pick up hitchhikers?  Guess ol’Dan hadn’t heard it.

Well, the trio hopped into Dan’s vehicle and they now made a quartet.  I guess Richard liked being part of a trio more than he did being a part of a quartet because he murdered Dan Swanson shortly after accepting Dan’s offer for a ride.

That’s as logical a reason as any, isn’t it?  There’s just no pleasing some people and it appears Richard is one of them folks.

So, they were back to being a trio, but now with a cool motor home to tool around in, not to mention all of Dan’s belongings too.  However, it seems that driving a big old RV is an acquired talent.  Hmm.  Richard should have waited to waste poor Dan.  Maybe if Dan had been driving the vehicle, instead of being stuffed into one of the mattresses in the back of the motor home, well, just maybe the state troopers wouldn’t have had a call regarding a large vehicle driving in an erratic fashion on Interstate 95.

Sometimes things happen for a reason, you know?

Trooper Bruce Kenneth Smalls responded to the call and pulled the vehicle over.   As the 30-year-old approached the driver’s side, he was shot six times.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting.

Originally, both Hess and Harbert testified that Richard Johnson shot the trooper.  The jury found Johnson guilty and sentenced him to death.

Well, as we all know, the decision of a jury of your peers means squat nowadays, so the appeals began and the games begin.  The process would drag on until 2002.  It landed in Governor Jim Hodges lap with judges, prosecutors (old and new), religious organizations, the NAACP, and all and sundry do-gooder organizations weighed in with their pleas for him to grant Johnson clemency and let him live.  Johnson’s lawyers pointed out that Connie Sue Hess now confessed to being the shooter.

Really?

Well, truth be told, she initially told the cops it was Johnson, butm by the time she went through the first trial, she started telling different stories, and by 1999, she was the one heading up the three musketeers.  Of course, she’s been living in a Nebraska home for the mentally ill, but don’t let that interfere with what is undoubtedly her unfettered recollection of that night in 1985, k?

Oh, and the fact that Curtis Harbert’s testimony has never varied nor changed, you just sweep that aside, k?

Yeah, well, back to planet earth and the pressure on the governor.  While the trooper was black and the killer was white, the NAACP is opposed to the death penalty on principle, so that’s why they wanted the governor to grant clemency.

The others?  Well, they have their reasons, none of which make a bit of sense.  One former chief justice declared that as one of the eye witnesses was unreliable, then the guilt of the prisoner was in doubt.  Realy?  A jury didn’t think so.  “Beyond a reasonable doubt…..”  Isn’t that the criteria?

But you see, these people are sooooo much more intelligent than twelve people who have gone through the trial and discussed and evaluated the evidence.

Either a jury’s decision means something or it doesn’t.  And if it doesn’t, then stop wasting the time of the citizen with jury duty.  We’ll get along with other thankless activities, don’t you worry.

But the governor had all of this pressure and hounding to deal with.  What’s a man to do?

The governor, a thoughtful and intelligent man, asked the victim’s loved ones for their input.

How about that?  He remembered that there was a victim (two in this case) and that there was another side to this issue.

I guess all of those civil rights and religious people are too busy thinking for us dumb masses that they can’t remember to include the other half of this criminal’s actions.

Who fights for the victim?  No one.  They don’t vote and they don’t pay taxes, so kiss your worth goodbye if an ass-hat snuffs out your life.

The good news is that Governor Hodges, upon learning that the sister and the son of Bruce Smalls wanted the jury’s decision to be left alone and carried out, denied clemency to the murderer.

And so, the end of the story is that South Carolina gave Richard Johnson a ticket to leave a la lethal injection.  A bit late, like seventeen years, but better late than never.

May 3, 1996

On May 3, 1996, Keith Daniel Williams was put to death by the state of California for the murder of three Latino victims.   He was given lethal injection a la “the final cocktail”.  He became the 16th inmate executed for the 1996 year, and the 329th prisoner to be executed since the re-introduction of capital punishment in the United States of America in 1976.

May 3, 1995

On May 3, 1995, Emmitt Foster was executed by the state of Missouri for the capital crime of murder.  He was put to death via lethal injection, thereby becoming the 19th inmate to die in 1995 and the 276th prisoner to be executed since the re-introduction of capital punishment in 1976 in the United States of America.

Foster was convicted of the murder of Travis Walker.  The governor under which the sentence was carried out was Mel Carnahan.  He was executed at the Potosi Correctional Center in Potosi, Missouri.

May 3, 1994

On May 3, 1994, Paul Rougeau was executed via lethal injection by the state of Texas for the crime of murder.  He was the 236th prisoner to bid the world adieu since capital punishment became legal again in the United States in 1976.

May 3, 1935

In a fit of jealousy, 28-year-old Joseph Alisero murdered Graziella Viens.

On May 3, 1935, he was hanged at Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

May 3, 1899

On May 3, 1899, the death penalty was exacted against Frederick Andrews.

The 45-year-old Kensington man was found guilty of murdering his wife.

Well, okay.  She wasn’t really his wife per se, but his live-in lover.  In today’s society, they would be considered married by their common-law habitat.

Actually, by today’s standards, she would be considered a victim of domestic violence.  You see, Frederick Andrews was that timeless entity that thrives in all eras and all societies:  the lay-about-louse.  He was shacked up with Mrs. Frances Short, a 55-year-old widow, but he himself was far too important to dirty his hands with anything remotely resembling work.

But he had to have money coming in or else he’d starve!  So it was up at the crack of dawn for Mrs. Short and off to the markets to peddle fruits and vegetables every day in order to keep ol’Freddie in the style to which he felt himself entitled.

So when she dragged her sorry bones back to home every day, you might imagine that he had supper waiting for her, perhaps a nice bath drawn for her to soak in, perhaps a foot massage, right?

You might imagine that, but then you might imagine that monkeys regularly fly out of her butt as well.  You’d be safer with the monkeys than with any scenario where Frederick behaved like a human being.

No, the Mrs. regularly came home after an all-day selling session to be greeted by the fists of Frederick.  She was beaten on a fairly regular basis by this idiot who obviously liked his situation.

However, like all men who brutalize their wives/girlfriends/lovers, he got a little carried away with himself and really got to enjoying the festivities on March 12, 1899.  On this day, beating her to a pulp just didn’t quite cut it — so he really cut it; her throat, I mean.

He sliced open her throat and proceeded to stab her more than forty times with his wittle bitty pen knife— they’re not dangerous, right?

So, after he had spent his energy in this frenzy of mayhem, she was laying in a puddle of her own blood, slowly dying on the kitchen floor.

Can’t you see him, slowly coming to the realization that he had really gone a bit overboard with his loved one?

No?

Well, how about, he began to grasp the fact that he had seriously damaged his meal ticket?

No?

Yeah, I know, I know.  This type of male doesn’t ever come to any kind of logical realization.   🙂

While she was dying on the kitchen floor, good ol’Freddie stripped her clothes off and went out to see what he could get at the local pawn shop.

Ain’t that just sooooooo romantic?

Tell you what is romantic and warms the cockles of my heart:  he was arrested for the murder of Mrs. Frances Short and went on trial at the Old Bailey.

Frederick Andrews of Kensington, London, was found guilty and sentenced to death.

On May 3, 1899, he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, in Surrey County.

All’s well that ends well!