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Paul Goodwin Missouri Execution

Paul Goodwin was executed by the State of Missouri for the murder of a woman. According to court documents Paul Goodwin would beat to death the victim, Joan Crotts, after the woman was sexually assaulted. Paul Goodwin would be convicted and sentenced to death. Paul Goodwin would be executed by lethal injection on December 10 2014

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A Missouri inmate was put to death early Wednesday for fatally beating a 63-year-old woman with a hammer in 1998, the state’s record 10th lethal injection of 2014 to match Texas for the most executions in the country this year.

Paul Goodwin, 48, sexually assaulted Joan Crotts in St. Louis County, pushed her down a flight of stairs and beat her in the head with a hammer. Goodwin was a former neighbor who felt Crotts played a role in getting him kicked out of a boarding house.

Goodwin’s execution began at 1:17 a.m., more than an hour after it was scheduled, and he was pronounced dead at 1:25 a.m.

Efforts to spare Goodwin’s life centered on his low IQ and claims that executing him would violate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the death penalty for the mentally disabled. Attorney Jennifer Herndon said Goodwin had an IQ of 73, and some tests suggested it was even lower.

But Goodwin’s fate was sealed when Gov. Jay Nixon denied a clemency request and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down two appeals.

Texas, Missouri and Florida have combined for 28 of the 34 executions in the U.S. this year.

Crotts’ daughter, Debbie Decker, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Goodwin deserved no mercy.

“I’ve been sitting back waiting for this to happen,” Decker said of the execution.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lethal-injection/missouri-sets-state-execution-record-after-putting-paul-goodwin-death-n265271

Robert Holsey Georgia Execution

Robert Holsey was executed by the State of Georgia for the murder of a Sheriff Deputy. According to court documents Robert Holsey was escaping from an armed robbery when he would shoot and kill Baldwin County Sheriff’s Deputy Will Robinson. Robert Holsey was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Robert Holsey would be executed by lethal injection on December 9, 2014

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A death-row inmate in Georgia was killed by lethal injection Tuesday night after a last minute plea to the the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay was rejected.

Lower courts had already rejected Robert Wayne Holsey’s legal team’s arguments that an intellectual disability and the fact that his trial lawyer was an alcoholic meant he should get a reprieve. And Georgia’s high court had denied Holsey’s request for a stay on Tuesday afternoon as the clock ticked down to his execution for the 1995 murder of sheriff’s deputy Will Robinson.

“Robert Wayne Holsey is an intellectually disabled African-American man who was represented at trial by a chronic alcoholic who was more concerned about avoiding his own criminal prosecution than defending his client against the death penalty,” his current lawyer, Brian Kammer, had said before the execution, which was carried out at 10:51 p.m. ET — an hour after the court rejected the plea.

Kammer had argued that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May that found Florida’s standard for proving intellectual disability was too strict also applied to Georgia’s rules. “We will keep challenging the burden of proof that Georgia requires. It is too heavy,” Kammer said late Tuesday night. “It’s the heaviest burden of proof in the law and guarantees that the mentally ill will be executed.” Holsey’s appeals had also argued that he did not have effective legal counsel because his lawyer admittedly was drinking up to a quart of vodka a day

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lethal-injection/georgia-executes-robert-holsey-after-supreme-court-denies-iq-appeal-n264921

Leon Taylor Missouri Execution

Leon Taylor was executed by the State of Missouri for a robbery murder. According to court documents Leon Taylor would rob a convenience store and in the process shoot and kill the clerk. Leon Taylor would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Leon Taylor would be executed by lethal injection on November 19, 2014

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Missouri has carried out the execution of 56-year-old Leon Taylor, who was sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder in April 1994 of Robert Newton, the attendant at an Independence convenience store he had just robbed of $400.

He received a lethal dose of pentobarbital at 12:14 and appeared to stop breathing less than two minutes later, at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. His official time of death was 12:22.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied appeals for a stay of execution. Governor Jay Nixon then denied an appeal for clemency for Taylor.

Taylor is the ninth man Missouri has executed this year and the 11th since November, 2013. Only in 1999 has Missouri carried out that many executions in a year.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Taylor for several of what Missouri terms, “aggravating circumstances,” including that the murder was connected to a robbery, and because Taylor committed the murder while Newton was holding the hand of his then 8-year-old stepdaughter, Sarah Yates.

After fatally shooting Newton, Taylor pointed the gun at Yates and pulled the trigger but it jammed. He then locked her in the back room of the convenience store with the body of her stepfather. Taylor later told his half-brother and half-sister, who had been involved in the robbery with him, that he, “should have choked the bitch.”

Taylor was convicted of murder by one jury who was unable to agree on his punishment, so the judge imposed the death sentence. That sentence was reversed on appeal, but at the subsequent trial the jury found Taylor guilty and sentenced him to death. Yates testified against Taylor both times.

Taylor’s attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution based on a 2002 federal court ruling that said judges could not impose a death sentence when jurors fail to agree on one. That ruling applied retroactively, and Taylor’s attorneys argued that his was the only case of someone for whom a judge had imposed a death sentence that was not later commuted to life, making his circumstance unusual.

His attorney also argued that the execution should not be carried out because the jury that sentenced him to death was all white. Six blacks were said to have been dismissed from serving as jurors by the prosecutor in the 1999 case, while the jury that was unable to agree on a death sentence had been racially mixed.

Taylor was scheduled to be executed in September but the Supreme Court lifted that execution warrant when his attorneys said they would be unable to work on his case at that time. Instead, Earl Ringo, Junior, was executed September 10 for 1998 the murders of a Columbia restaurant manager and a delivery driver.

https://www.missourinet.com/2014/11/19/missouri-executes-leon-taylor-for-1994-murder-in-independence/

Chadwick Banks Florida Execution

Chadwick Banks was executed by the State of Florida for a double murder. According to court documents Chadwick Banks would shoot and kill his wife before sexually assaulting and murdering his 10 year old stepdaughter. Chadwick Banks was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Chadwick Banks would be executed by lethal injection on November 12, 2014

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Chadwick Banks, convicted in the 1992 murder of his wife and stepdaughter, said he was sorry to a room of 19 witnesses before he was executed Thursday night at Florida State Prison.

“I would like to apologize to the following families who I hurt and disappointed by my actions 22 years ago,” Banks said during a brief statement, listing five families including his and the victims’. Banks prayed as he was given a series of lethal injection drugs.

“I am very sorry for the hurt and pain I have caused you all, all of these years. Year after year I have tried to come up with a reasonable answer to my actions, but how could such acts be reasonable?” he said.

Banks, a Gadsden County man whose family has deep connections to the rural community, shot his wife Cassandra Banks and 10-year-old Melody Cooper in the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 1992.

anks, who was 21 at the time, confessed to shooting the two with a .32-caliber revolver the next day after their bodies were found by a family member. Cassandra Banks, 30, was found in her bed; Melody was kneeling on the floor facing her own bed.

During his statement he said that his mind was no longer befogged, “and I am a different person.”

The execution began at 7:10 p.m., after which Banks closed his eyes and began to breath deeply. A team warden conducted a consciousness check by touching his eyelash and shaking his shoulders. Banks did not appear to make any movements following the check. He was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m.

Florida uses a three-drug mixture to execute prisoners: midazolam hydrochloride, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which are administered intravenously. The series is intended to first render the prisoner unconsciousness, then paralyzed and finally induce cardiac arrest

Banks, 43, had 14 visitors Thursday including his parents, his siblings, a friend and his spiritual adviser. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jessica Cary said none of his family attended the execution.

He was convicted in 1994 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of sexual battery on a child under 12 after pleading no contest and was sentenced to death for the 10-year-old’s murder.

Banks’ two efforts to appeal his sentence were denied. Gov. Rick Scott signed his death warrant Sept. 22, almost 22 years to the day of the crimes.

Chadwick Banks is the 20th person executed since Scott took office in 2011 and the eight this year. He is the 89th prisoner executed since 1979, following the reinstatement of the death penalty in Florida.

Annette Black, Cassandra Banks’ mother and Melody’s grandmother, said the 22-year wait for justice has made the deaths of two generations of her family a tough subject to talk about. She was joined by several other family members including her 89-year-old husband Rutherford, son Rutherford Black Jr. and daughter Gail Black.

“Today was the culmination of the act that occurred over 22 years ago and it’s been very devastating to both our families,” Black said following the execution. “It’s a pain that cannot be erased.”

She added that Banks’ statement resonated with her.

Cary said Chadwick Banks ate his final meal of fried fish, homemade French fries, hush puppies, old-fashioned dinner rolls, homemade banana pudding, red velvet cake, butter pecan ice cream and a glass of ice water. He was served the meal about 10 a.m. Thursday.

“His demeanor was calm, and he ate most of his meal,” she said.

The execution was also attended by Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young, reserve deputy Tommy Mills and GCSO Maj. James Morgan.

“The families of Cassandra Banks and Melody Cooper have had to carry this burden for 22 years. Our hearts and prayer certainly go out to them as they have had to relive the reality of losing love ones,” Young said in a statement. “Although Chad Banks confessed, apologized and has faced his penalty his family is also grieving tonight. We certainly want to also pray for their strength as they deal with their loss. We will forever remember the victims in this case and continue to pray for healing for the families and our community.”

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2014/11/12/familys-wait-justice-may-end-tonight/18926403/

Miguel Paredes Texas Execution

Miguel Paredes was executed by the State of Texas for a triple murder that took place in 2000. According to court documents Miguel Paredes and two accomplices would go over to a home to collect drug money and in the end would shoot and kill three residents in the home. The deceased were brought to a remote field and set on fire. Miguel Paredes would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Miguel Paredes would be executed by lethal injection on October 28 2014

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A former gang member was put to death Tuesday evening for the fatal shootings of three rivals 14 years ago in San Antonio.

Miguel Paredes, 32, was convicted along with two other men in the September 2000 slayings of three people with ties to the Mexican Mafia. The victims’ bodies were rolled up in a carpet, driven about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest, dumped and set on fire. A farmer investigating a grass fire found the remains.

Paredes was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m. CDT, 22 minutes after being injected with a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital. The execution was delayed slightly to ensure the IV lines were functioning properly, said Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. The procedure calls for two working lines.

Normally needles are placed in the crease of an inmate’s arms near the elbows, but in Paredes’ case, prison officials inserted IV lines into his hands.

As witnesses entered the death chamber in Huntsville, Paredes smiled and mouthed several kisses to four friends watching through a window and repeatedly told them he loved them. He told everyone gathered that he hoped his victims’ family members would “let go of all of the hate because of all my actions.”

“I came in as a lion and I come as peaceful as a lamb,” Paredes said. “I’m at peace. I hope society sees who else they are hurting with this.”

He showed no signs of discomfort. As the drugs began taking effect, he took several deep breaths while praying at the same time. He started to snore and eventually stopped.

The execution was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a last-day appeal from attorneys who contended Paredes was mentally impaired and his previous lawyers were deficient for not investigating his mental history.

His was the 10th lethal injection this year in Texas, the nation’s most active death-penalty state. One other Texas inmate is set to die in December and at least nine are scheduled for execution in early 2015, including four in January.

Prosecutors said Paredes was the most aggressive shooter when Nelly Bravo and Shawn Michael Cain, both 23, and Adrian Torres, 27, showed up to collect drug money at the home of John Anthony Saenz, a leader in Paredes’ gang.

Defense attorneys argued that Paredes, who turned 18 six weeks before the slayings, grew up in a neighborhood where the only way to survive was to join a gang.

No friends or relatives of the three victims attended Paredes’ execution. Cain’s family said in a statement afterward that Cain was “no longer with us for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Our family has waited 14 years for justice to finally be served,” the statement said.

Paperwork carrying Saenz’s name was found in the debris with the victims’ bodies, which helped police solve the case. Saenz, 32, claimed self-defense at his trial and avoided the death penalty when jurors sentenced him to life. The third man convicted in the killings, Greg Alvarado, 35, pleaded guilty and also is serving life in prison.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/28/texas-execution-gang-member/18092381/