Joshua Bishop was executed by the State of Georgia for the murder of a man during a robbery. According to court documents Joshua Bishop and Mark Braxley would murder Leverett Morrison because they wanted his Jeep. After Joshua Bishop was arrested he would confess to the murder of Ricky Lee Willis. Joshua Bishop would be sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on March 31, 2016
Bishop, 41, was put to death by lethal injection at 9:27 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Butts County. The sentence was carried out shortly after the United States Supreme Court denied Bishop’s request for a stay of execution.
A possible reprieve from the nation’s highest court was all Bishop had left after the Georgia Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon declined to halt his execution. The State Board of Pardons and Paroles also denied his plea for clemency Thursday.
The original execution hour of 7 p.m. came and went, as is the norm in death penalty cases.
During his final evening of life, Bishop ate all of his last meal: a barbecue sandwich, Brunswick stew, potato chips, coleslaw, lemonade and purple candy. He also received 13 visitors — a mixture of friends, clergy and legal reps — and recorded a final statement.
Bishop is the third man Georgia has executed this year. There is another lethal injection scheduled for April 12 — Kenneth Fults for murdering his neighbor in 1996.
Bishop was 19 when he and 36-year-old Mark Braxley murdered Morrison because they wanted the keys to his Jeep.
The three men had spent much of June 25, 1994, drinking at a local bar before they moved their party to Braxley’s trailer where they smoked crack.
Morrison, 35, was asleep but woke up when Bishop tried to fish his keys out of his pocket. Bishop and Braxley hit Morrison with a car battery and then beat him with a curtain rod until he was dead. They left his body between two dumpsters, set fire to his Jeep, and returned to Braxley’s trailer to clean the murder scene.
Then they went back to the bar to drink.
While Bishop confessed to killing Morrison — as well as a second murder investigators did not yet know about — he still went to trial and was ultimately sentenced to die. Braxley, however, pleaded guilty and is serving a sentence of life with parole.
The two were never tried on charges of killing Ricky Lee Wills on June 9, 1994, but evidence of Wills’ murder was used to secure a death sentence for Bishop. Bishop and Braxley said they killed Wills because he he’d had sexual contact with Bishop’s mother, who was a prostitute and drug and alcohol addict.
Adam Ward was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a code enforcement officer. According to court documents Adam Ward would fatally shoot code enforcement officer Michael Walker as he was taking photos of garbage surrounding Ward residence. Adam Ward would be executed by lethal injection on March 22, 2016
Adam Ward More News
The U.S. Supreme Court was considering whether a Texas man who killed a city worker in 2005 should be spared from a lethal injection, as his lawyers argue that a ban on executing mentally impaired prisoners should be extended to him.
Adam Ward’s attorneys say he’s delusional and should not be put to death because of his mental illness. His execution is set for Tuesday evening and would be the fifth this year in Texas and ninth nationally.
Ward, 33, insists he was defending himself when he killed code enforcement officer Michael Walker, who was taking photos of junk piled outside the Ward family home in Commerce, about 65 miles northeast of Dallas.
“Only time any shots were fired on my behalf was when I was matching force with force,” Ward told The Associated Press last month from a visiting cage outside death row. “I wish it never happened but it did, and I have to live with what it is.”
Evidence showed the 44-year-old Walker had a camera and cellphone but no weapon.
In a videotaped statement to police following his arrest, Ward said he believed Commerce officials long conspired against him and his father, described in court filings as a hoarder who had been in conflict with the city for years. Evidence showed the Ward family had been cited repeatedly for violating housing and zoning codes.
In their appeal to the high court, Ward’s attorneys renewed arguments that he is mentally ill and contended his execution would be unconstitutional because of evolving sentiment against executing the mentally ill.
The justices have ruled that mentally impaired people, generally those with an IQ below 70, may not be executed. However, the court has said mentally ill prisoners may be executed if they understand they are about to be put to death and why they face the punishment.
State attorneys, who said evidence showed Ward’s IQ as high as 123, said the late appeal did not raise a new issue, meaning it was improper and without merit. They also disputed claims of changing attitudes about executing the mentally ill.
Evidence of Ward’s delusions, paranoia and bipolar disorder was presented at his 2007 trial and resurfaced in earlier unsuccessful appeals. The Supreme Court last October refused to review Ward’s case.
“It’s frustrating, tormenting, it’s depressing,” Dick Walker, the father of the man killed, said Monday. “I believe in appeals. I really do. … It shouldn’t drag on for almost 11 years.”
Witnesses said Michael Walker was taking photos of the Ward property on June 13, 2005, when he and Ward got into an argument.
Walker told Ward he was calling for assistance. Ward thought that meant police were on their way to kill him, Ward’s lead trial attorney, Dennis Davis, said last week.
“Mr. Walker walked into a hornet’s nest and didn’t know it,” Davis said.
Walker made the call and waited near the back of his truck. Ward went inside the house, emerged with a .45-caliber pistol and started firing. Walker was shot nine times.
“I think the only thing he was there for was harassment,” Ward said from prison.
Dick Walker, an emergency medical technician when the shooting happened, was the first medic to arrive at the Ward property. He said he “had to intubate my own son on scene to save his life.”
He said he’s spent years “getting rid of my anger” and in the last year prayed to forgive Ward for the slaying. Still, he believes the punishment is justified.
“I do want him to get the sentence he was given by the jury, and he definitely deserves it,” said Dick Walker, who planned to witness Ward’s execution.
Coy Wesbrook was executed by the State of Texas for the murders of five people. According to court documents Coy Wesbrook would murder his ex wife and her boyfriend before murdering three more men. Coy Wesbrook would be sentenced to death and would be executed by lethal injection on March 10, 2016
Coy Wesbrook More News
A man convicted of killing five people including his ex-wife in a 1997 shooting rampage near Houston was put to death Wednesday.
Coy Wesbrook’s lethal injection was the eighth this year nationally and fourth in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any state. Two Georgia inmates have been executed so far in 2016, plus one each in Alabama and Florida.
Before being executed, the 58-year-old Coy Wesbrook apologized profusely to some of his victims’ relatives who witnessed the punishment.
“I want to say that I’m sorry for the pain that I have caused you people,” he said. “I’m sorry I can’t bring everybody back. I wish things could have been a lot different.”
Wesbrook said he loved his daughter and all his supporters. “I pray that the Lord take care of me and all of you,” he said.
He concluded by telling relatives of his victims that he “can understand your outrage and why you are mad at me. God be with all of us.”
As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital took effect, he took two deep breaths, then began snoring. A few seconds later, all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead at 8:04 p.m. CST.
The execution was delayed about 90 minutes. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said prison officials had anticipated an additional appeal would be filed by a death penalty opponent whose appeal hours earlier was rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court.
That appeal sought another review of claims that Wesbrook was mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty under U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we waited, and when nothing was filed, we went forward (with the execution),” Clark said.
Coy Wesbrook killed his ex-wife, Gloria Jean Coons, 32; her roommate, Diana Ruth Money, 43; and three men: Antonio Cruz, 35, Anthony Ray Rogers, 41, and Kelly Hazlip, 28.
Wesbrook, a former security guard and delivery driver, married Coons in 1995. They divorced the following year but continued seeing each other. They had lunch Nov. 12, 1997, and talked about reconciling. That was on his mind when he showed up that night at her apartment in Channelview, just east of Houston. Instead, he found people partying.
He testified at his 1998 trial that Coons humiliated him by having sex with two of the men at the party while he was there. He said when he tried to leave, Cruz grabbed the keys to his truck and joined others in taunting him. He said he “lost it,” walked out, grabbed a rifle he kept in the truck and returned, shooting each person once. Coons was the final victim.
Court records show the five shots were fired within 40 seconds. Each victim was shot at close range.
Neighbors who heard the gunfire and called police saw Wesbrook emerge from the apartment, place the rifle inside his truck and stand calmly by the tailgate of the pickup to wait for sheriff’s deputies to arrive.
“If I could change things and turn back time and bring all these people back and I could be in my right mind and not under the influence of any alcohol, none of this would have taken place,” Wesbrook said recently from death row.
At least 10 other Texas inmates are scheduled to be executed in the coming months, including two later this month
Travis Hittson was executed by the State of Georgia for the murder of another sailor. According to court documents Travis Hittson and Edward Vollmer would murder fellow Navy sailor Conway Utterbeck whose body was dismembered and spread over two states. Travis Hittson would be convicted and sentenced to death. Travis Hittson would be executed February 18, 2016
Travis Hittson More News
A former Navy crewman was executed Wednesday in Georgia for killing a fellow sailor whose remains were found buried in two states.
Travis Hittson, 45, was declared dead at 8:14 p.m. by Warden Bruce Chatman after receiving an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted in the April 1992 killing of Conway Utterbeck.
When Chatman asked if he wanted to make a final statement in front of witnesses, Hittson said, “No, sir. I’m alright.” He then agreed to have a prayer read.
Georgia doesn’t announce exactly when the lethal drugs begin flowing, and the injection isn’t visible to observers. But the warden left the execution chamber at 8:04 p.m., and records from past executions show the lethal drug generally begins to flow within a minute or two of the warden’s departure.
Hittson blinked repeatedly for several minutes and then appeared to take several deep breaths before becoming still about four minutes after the warden left the execution chamber.
Hittson’s lawyers had said he was mistreated and neglected as a child and constantly craved the approval of others. That, they said, combined with alcoholism and relatively low intelligence, made it easy for his direct supervisor in the Navy, Edward Vollmer, to manipulate him into killing Utterbeck.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is the only entity in Georgia authorized to commute a death sentence, on Tuesday denied Hittson’s request for clemency. The board didn’t give a reason for the denial, which is standard.
Hittson’s lawyers also contended in a court filing that his constitutional rights were violated during sentencing when a judge allowed a state psychologist who had examined Hittson to recount damaging statements Hittson had made about Utterbeck.
A Butts County judge on Tuesday rejected those arguments and the state Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal of that decision and denied a stay of execution.
The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to halt the execution.
Hittson, Utterbeck and Vollmer were stationed in Pensacola, in the Florida Panhandle, in April 1992 when they went to Vollmer’s parents’ home in Warner Robins in central Georgia for a weekend.
Hittson told investigators he and Vollmer went out drinking the second night they were there, leaving Utterbeck at the house. As they were driving back to the house, Vollmer told Hittson that Utterbeck planned to kill them both and that they needed to “get him” first, according to court filings.
When they reached the house, where Utterbeck was sleeping in a recliner, Vollmer put on a bulletproof vest and took a sawed-off shotgun and a handgun from his car and gave Hittson an aluminum baseball bat. On Vollmer’s instructions, Hittson hit Utterbeck several times in the head with the bat and then dragged him into the kitchen where Vollmer was waiting, according to court filings. Vollmer stepped on Utterbeck’s hand and Hittson shot him in the head, according to court filings.
Vollmer said they needed to cut up Utterbeck’s body to get rid of the evidence, according to court filings. Hittson told investigators he began to cut the body with a hacksaw but he became sick and Vollmer finished dismembering the body, according to court filings.
They buried Utterbeck’s torso in Houston County in central Georgia and brought the rest of the remains back to Pensacola and buried them there.
When investigators began questioning Utterbeck’s shipmates a couple of months later, Hittson confessed and also implicated Vollmer, according to court filings. He led investigators to Utterbeck’s remains and other crime scene evidence.
Travis Hittson was convicted of malice murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and theft by taking. He was sentenced to die for the malice murder conviction.
Vollmer reached a plea deal and is serving a life sentence. He was denied parole in 1999 and again last year. Reconsideration of his case had been set for 2020, but based on information offered at Hittson’s clemency hearing, the parole board on Wednesday reset that for 2024. Eight years is the maximum delay between consideration dates allowed by board rules.
Travis Hittson was the second person executed in Georgia this year. The state executed five inmates last year, the most it has executed in a calendar year since 1987.
Miguel Gaitan and Joel Ramos were both fourteen years old from Washington State that would murder four people, According to court documents Miguel Gaitan and Joel Ramos would murder Michael and Lynn Skelton and their two children Lynn and Bryan. Apparently the two teen killers were attempting to impress a street gang. Miguel Gaitan would be sentenced to four life prison sentences to be served consecutively and Joel Ramos would receive a eighty year sentence. Joel Ramos was released from prison in 2021
A 14-year-old boy, arrested in Oxnard last April for slaying a family of four in Washington state, was sentenced Tuesday as an adult to four consecutive life sentences, the Associated Press reported.
Miguel Gaitan was convicted Monday of four counts of aggravated first-degree murder for his role in the March 24 slaying of Michael and Lynn Skelton and two children in their Outlook, Wash., mobile home.
The Skeltons had moved to Washington from Fresno two years earlier to escape the rise in violence in California.
Yakima County Superior Court Judge Heather Van Nuys took pains to make Gaitan’s sentence as stiff as possible, ruling that the life terms had to be served one after another, and adding $200,000 in fines.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled people under the age of 16 are not eligible for the death penalty.
Gaitan was one of two juveniles convicted of the slayings.
Accomplice Joel Ramos, also 14, pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in August and was sentenced to 80 years in prison.
Prosecutors said no motive was established but suspect that Gaitan and Ramos committed the murders to impress members of a street gang.
The youths were arrested after bragging about the killings to friends.
Gaitan was found in Oxnard where he had gone to stay with an aunt.
The pair burst through the front and back doors of the Skelton’s mobile home, bludgeoning and stabbing to death all four.
They clubbed and stabbed Michael Skelton, 34, who was disabled. The youths then beat and stabbed Jason Ryan Skelton, 12, and killed Lynn Skelton, 34, as she stepped from the shower.
Bryan, 6, died as he hid under his bed covers when his skull was crushed and he was stabbed through the heart.
Miguel Gaitan is currently incarcerated at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Washington State
Miguel Gaitan Release Date
Miguel Gaitan is serving 4 life sentences
Joel Ramos Now
Joel Ramos was released from prison
Miguel Gaitan More News
A judge called Miguel Gaitan a coward yesterday as she sentenced the 14-year-old to four consecutive life terms in prison for the slaughter of a family of four.
Gaitan, convicted as an adult on four counts of aggravated first-degree murder, declined to make a statement before he was sentenced by Yakima County Superior Court Judge Heather Van Nuys.
“Your conduct was evil, vile, brutal and cowardly,” Van Nuys said. “The community will ask why you were not sentenced to death.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled people under the age of 16 are not eligible for the death penalty. The only other sentencing option in the case was life in prison with no chance at parole.
Van Nuys took pains to make the sentence as stiff as possible, ruling that the life terms had to be served consecutively, and adding $200,000 in fines and costs that Gaitan must pay from meager earnings in prison jobs.
“I assure you that is where you will die,” Van Nuys said to the youth.
Accomplice Joel Ramos, also 14, in August pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 80 years in prison.
No motive was established for the killings. Earlier, prosecutors said they may have occurred to impress members of a street gang. The youths were arrested after bragging about the killings to friends.
During yesterday’s hearing Gaitan joked with his lawyers and stared at the judge.
Gaitan’s lawyers, Nicholas Marchi and Antonio Salazar of Seattle, have filed a notice of appeal. They declined comment.
Yakima County prosecutor Jeff Sullivan said the appeal will likely center on the judge’s refusal to move the highly publicized case to another county.
Murdered in their trailer home the night of March 24 were Michael and Lynn Skelton, both 34; Jason Skelton, 12, and Bryan Skelton, 6.
Jason Skelton was a classmate of Gaitan and Ramos at a Granger school. The family lived in Outlook, about 30 miles south of Yakima.
According to court testimony, Gaitan and Ramos burst through the front and back doors of the trailer home the evening of March 24.
They clubbed and stabbed Michael Skelton, who was crippled. They beat and stabbed Jason. Lynn Skelton was killed as she stepped out of a shower. Bryan was hiding under his bed covers when he was beaten and stabbed.
A 12-member jury took less than five hours to render the guilty verdict on Monday, after a week-long trial.
Photographs and videotapes of the crime scene were so gruesome that mental-health professionals counseled jury members after the verdict.
“A lot of jurors were showing signs of stress,” said juror Phil Jongeward after the sentencing.
Sullivan characterized Gaitan as a remorseless sociopath who has yet to show that he comprehends the enormity of his crime.
“He doesn’t seem to care,” Sullivan said. “I’d have liked to have had the death-penalty option.”
The Skeltons had moved to the Yakima Valley about two years ago, seeking to escape violence in Fresno, Calif. They were not well known in the community and no one other than prosecutors spoke on their behalf during the sentencing hearing.
Sullivan asked Van Nuys to make the sentence as punitive as possible to warn any future judges or a governor who may be petitioned to release Gaitan from prison.
He noted that a naked and defenseless Lynn Skelton suffered about 50 stab wounds.
“The defendant told a friend that he enjoyed it,” Sullivan said.
Bryan Skelton was incapable of defending himself because of his age, Sullivan added.
Van Nuys said exceptional circumstances were present and ensured that details highlighting the cruelty of the crimes would be part of Gaitan’s files.
She wondered how anyone could kill a classmate, a 6-year-old child, a crippled man and someone taking a shower.
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