September 2021 | Page 4 of 17

Eddie Davis Florida Execution

Eddie Davis was executed by the State of Florida for the sexual assault and murder of an eleven year old girl. According to court documents Eddie Davis would go over to a woman’s home he briefly dated and would sexually assault and murder the woman’s eleven year old daughter. Eddie Davis would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Eddie Davis would be executed by lethal injection on July 10 2014

Eddie Davis More News

Twenty years, four months and six days after Eddie Wayne Davis kidnapped, raped and suffocated 11-year-old Kimberly Ann Waters in Lakeland, he died in the state’s execution chamber Thursday at Florida State Prison.
It took the state 11 minutes to take his life.
He murmured prayers as the state’s execution team prepared to execute him, his eyes darting around the chamber. Leather straps secured him to the table, with his left arm outstretched for the lethal injection.
Eddie Davis, 45, had no last words.
As the lethal drugs flowed into his vein, Crystal Waters joined friends in a vigil for her younger sister at her Lakeland gravesite.
“I’m relieved it’s over,” she said later Thursday evening. “I just hope now we can remember Kimberly and her life, not her death.“
Prison officials were notified at 5:45 p.m. Thursday that the U.S. Supreme Court had denied Davis’ last appeal.
Despite the last-minute efforts by his lawyers to halt the execution for fear a possible blood disorder combined with the injected drugs would cause Davis extreme pain, he showed no signs of discomfort. Two minutes after beginning the lethal injection, the unidentified execution leader leaned into Davis, appearing to check for consciousness. A minute later, Davis’ mouth fell open slightly and he began breathing heavily.
Four minutes after the process began, Davis’ breathing grew shallow and he became very still.
At 6:43 p.m., 11 minutes after the lethal injection began and after a physician’s examination, the execution leader announced that the sentence against Davis had been carried out.
Behind a glass window, Polk Sheriff Grady Judd and Assistant State Attorney John Aguero, who prosecuted Davis in 1995, sat among the 23 witnesses who watched as the state took Davis’ life.
“When I saw his breathing starting to get labored,” Aguero said, “all I could think about was Kimberly.
“That poor child had to be terrified,” he said, recalling how she was suffocated, “and here he was, unconscious, and didn’t know he was dying.“
Eddie Davis, who had dated Kimberly’s mother, kidnapped the girl from her Lakeland home March 4, 1994, while her mother, a nurse, was working the night shift and her old sister, Crystal, slept in a nearby room. He brutally raped her at a vacant mobile home and forced her to walk to the nearby Moose Lodge in Lakeland. She fought him when he suffocated her with a piece of plastic bag. He threw her body in a trash bin and Polk sheriff’s deputies found her the next night. Davis confessed three times, and detectives found her blood on his boot, according to court records.
Twelve jurors deliberated 32 minutes before finding him guilty, and they unanimously recommended he should die for his crimes. Circuit Judge Daniel True Andrews upheld that recommendation. His family has declined to comment on his case.
Thomas Brimer, Kimberly’s uncle, was among her four relatives who watched her killer die Thursday. Her mother, Beverly, died 10 years ago in a motorcycle accident.
“It’s finally over,” Brimer said. “We finally have justice.“
Kimberly’s grandmother, Mary Hobbs, traveled to Starke from her Brooksville home but didn’t attend the execution.
“I don’t need to see it done, I just need to know it’s done,” she said. “For the first time in 20 years, I’m OK.“
Earlier in the day, Eddie Davis spent time with his mother and a Catholic spiritual adviser before eating his last meal of chopped steak with onion gravy, home fries, corn, Brussels sprouts, cherry ice cream and a Dr Pepper.
“His demeanor is calm,” Jessica Cary, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, said at that time. “He’s not agitated.“
When the execution was over, Judd said it was anything but a joyous occasion, but it was something that had to happen.
“He earned it, he deserved it and today, justice was done,” he said.
At Davis’ trial, his lawyers argued that his troubled upbringing, including physical and sexual abuse and alcoholism, led to the killing.
In a prepared statement, Public Defender Rex Dimmig, representing Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties, said the state’s lack of assistance for troubled youth was as much to blame for Kimberly’s death as Eddie Davis was.
“Florida’s simplistic practice of ignoring, incapacitating and ultimately exterminating the troubled youth of our state has failed to protect our most vulnerable citizens,” he said. “Without more, the cycle of neglect, abuse and violence will continue. There will be more Eddie Wayne Davises and regrettably, more Kimberly Waterses.“
Waters, Kimberly’s sister, said she recognized that a life was taken today, but it’s been difficult for her to summon sympathy for Davis.
“He sealed his own fate when he took my sister’s life,” she said.

https://www.theledger.com/article/LK/20140710/News/608085899/LL

John Henry Florida Execution

John Henry was executed by the State of Florida for a double murder in 1985. According to court documents John Henry was fueding with his ex wife and it would end with him killing her and kidnapping her son. Later John Henry would stab the five year old boy to death. John Henry would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. John Henry would be executed by lethal injection on June 18, 2014

John Henry More News

John Ruthell Henry, who was convicted in the December 1985 murders of his estranged wife in Pasco County and her 5-year-old son in Hillsborough County, was executed by lethal injection Wednesday at Florida State Prison near Starke despite questions about Henry’s mental capacities.

Henry is the 18th inmate executed on Gov. Rick Scott’s watch. No other first-term governor has signed the execution warrants of so many inmates since Florida re-instituted the death penalty in 1976. Since then, the state has executed 87 inmates. One in five of those has been executed on Scott’s watch, in less than four years.

The Henry execution came after a last-minute appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. Henry, 63, was convicted of killing Suzanne Henry, who was stabbed repeatedly in the throat with a kitchen knife after the two argued in her home over presents for her son Eugene Christian. Henry then took the boy to Hillsborough County. Nine hours later, Henry used the same knife to kill the boy. Juries in both counties sentenced Henry to death, though the death warrant for the execution referred only to the murder of Suzanne Henry.

The murders occurred three years after Henry was released on parole for the 1975 murder of his first wife. The execution came a day after a divided 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments that the execution should be halted because of questions about whether Henry was intellectually disabled. The arguments centered on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found Florida had improperly used a “rigid” IQ score of 70 in determining whether Death Row inmates are intellectually disabled, a term that has replaced mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled earlier that it is unconstitutional to execute people who are intellectually disabled.

Henry’s attorney pointed to a test that showed Henry’s IQ as 78 and suggested that the IQ could be as low as 73. But in a 2-1 decision, the federal appeals court said Henry did not provide adequate evidence that he might be intellectually disabled, with mental-health experts never expressing such an opinion. Also, the majority said the U.S. Supreme Court did not make its recent ruling, known as Hall v. Florida, retroactive to cases on what is known as “collateral” review.

Death Row inmate Eddie Wayne Davis, 45, is scheduled to be executed July 10. Davis was convicted in a Polk County case of kidnapping 11-year-old Kimberly Waters in March 1994, sexually assaulting and strangling her and leaving her body in a dumpster. Davis was a former boyfriend of Waters’ mother.

There are currently 397 people on Florida’s death row, including five women. Of the total, 233 are white, 149 are black. Twenty-three people have been freed from death row because of errors, wrong convictions and new evidence coming to light.

https://flaglerlive.com/67784/john-ruthell-henry/

John Winfield Missouri Execution

John Winfield was executed by the State of Missouri for a double murder in 1996. According to court documents John Winfield went to his ex girlfriiends apartment and would shoot and kill Shawnee Murphy and Arthea Sanders. John Winfield would also shoot his ex girlfriend leaving her blind. John Winfield would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. John Winfield would be executed by lethal injection on June 18 2014

John Winfield More News

The state of Missouri carried out its fifth execution of the year overnight. John Winfield was put to death for murdering two St. Louis County women in 1996. The rampage left another woman blind. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals inside lifted a stay of execution in Winfield`s case Tuesday. The U.S. Supreme Court then refused to stop it and Governor Nixon denied clemency.

Winfield was put to death by lethal injection at the prison in Bonne Terre at 12:01a.m. this morning. The 46-year-old University City man appeared to take four or five deep breaths as the drug was injected, then puffed his cheeks. He was pronounced dead at 12:10a.m.

Winfield was arrested back in September of 1996, the day after he shot and killed Shawnee Murphy and Arthea Sanders at their Vinita Park apartment building. He also shot his ex-girlfriend, Carmelita Donald, leaving her blind. The three women were all friends that lived in the apartments.

Winfield was angry because Donald, who is also the mother of his two children- was dating somebody else. Winfield went to the apartments and confronted Carmelita. Winfield shot and killed Arthea first, then shot Carmelita and finally Shawnee. There were several witnesses to the execution including Carmelita Donald, her father and two sisters. Five of Shawnee Murphy`s family members were there as well as Winfield`s mother, daughter and two friends. There were no representatives for Arthea Sanders.

Winfield made no final statement and refused a final meal.

The families did not speak publicly either. Winfield was executed just after another convicted killer, Marcus Wellons, was put to death in Georgia. Wellons was the first person to be executed in the nation since the botched execution in Oklahoma back on April 29th.

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri-state-officials-on-winfield-execution/

Marcus Wellons Georgia Execution

Marcus Wellons was executed by the State of Georgia for the sexual assault and murder of a teenager. According to court documents after a breakup with his girlfriend Marcus Wellons would ransack his girlfriends home and when the victim, fifteen year old India Roberts walked by he would drag her into the apartment where the fifteen year old was sexually assaulted and murdered. Marcus Wellons would bring the body to a wooded area where she was dumped. Marcus Wellons would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Marcus Wellons would be executed by lethal injection on June 17, 2014.

Marcus Wellons More News

A death row inmate was executed in Georgia on Tuesday night in the first lethal injection since a botched execution in Oklahoma nearly two months ago, and two more prisoners in other states were scheduled to die within 24 hours.

All the states planning executions — Florida, Georgia and Missouri — refuse to say where they get their drugs, or if they are tested. Lawyers for two of the condemned inmates have challenged the secretive process used by some states to obtain lethal injection drugs from unidentified, loosely regulated compounding pharmacies.

Nine executions nationwide have been stayed or postponed since late April, when Oklahoma prison officials halted the execution of Clayton Lockett after noting that the lethal injection drugs weren’t being administered into his vein properly. Lockett’s punishment was halted and he died of a heart attack several minutes later.

“I think after Clayton Lockett’s execution everyone is going to be watching very closely,” Fordham University School of Law professor Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert, said of this week’s executions. “The scrutiny is going to be even closer.”

In Georgia, 59-year-old Marcus Wellons was executed by lethal injection late Tuesday after last-minute appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court were denied. A corrections official said he was pronounced dead at 11:56 p.m. The execution seemed to go smoothly with no noticeable complications.

In Missouri, John Winfield was executed at the state prison in Bonne Terre by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. and was pronounced dead at 12:10 a.m., a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety said.

John Ruthell Henry’s execution is scheduled Wednesday night in Florida.

Georgia and Missouri both use the single drug pentobarbital, a sedative. Florida uses a three-drug combination of midazolam hydrochloride, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

Despite concerns about the drugs and how they are obtained, death penalty supporters say all three convicted killers are getting what they deserve.

Wellons was convicted in the 1989 rape and murder of India Roberts, his 15-year-old neighbor in suburban Atlanta. Soon after the girl left for school, another neighbor heard muffled screams from the apartment where Wellons was living. Later that day, a man told police he saw a man carrying what appeared to be a body in a sheet. Police found the girl’s body in a wooded area. She had been strangled and raped.

In Missouri, Winfield had been dating Carmelita Donald on and off for several years and fathered two of her children. Donald began dating another man. One night in 1996, in a jealous rage, Winfield showed up outside Donald’s apartment in St. Louis County and confronted her, along with two friends of hers.

Winfield shot all three women in the head. Arthea Sanders and Shawnee Murphy died. Donald survived but was blinded.

In Florida, the state is moving ahead with the execution despite claims that Henry is mentally ill and intellectually disabled. The state claims anyone with an IQ of at least 70 is not mentally disabled; testing has shown Henry’s IQ at 78, though his lawyers say it should be re-evaluated.

Henry stabbed his estranged wife, Suzanne Henry, to death a few days before Christmas in 1985. Hours later, he killed her 5-year-old son from a previous relationship. Henry had previously pleaded no contest to second-degree murder for fatally stabbing his common-law wife, Patricia Roddy, in 1976, and was on parole when Suzanne Henry and the boy were killed.

Asked Tuesday if he had discussed with the Department of Corrections what happened in Oklahoma and if any changes were needed in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott said, “I focus on making sure that we do things the right way here.”

Florida and Missouri trail only Texas as the most active death penalty states. Texas has carried out seven executions. Florida has executed five men in 2014 and Missouri has executed four. Combined, the three states have performed 16 of the 20 executions this year.

Wellons was the first Georgia inmate executed since February 2013 and just the second since 2011.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/marcus-wellons-1st-u-s-inmate-executed-since-botched-injection-1.2679197

Clayton Lockett Oklahoma Execution

Clayton Lockett was executed by the State of Oklahoma for kidnapping and murder. According to court documents Clayton Lockett would kidnap nineteen year old Stephanie Neiman along with two accomplices. Stephanie Neiman would be brought to a remote location where she would be shot twice with a shotgun and then buried alive. Clayton Lockett would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Clayton Lockett execution did not go well as the drugs used during the execution failed to work properly Clayton would ultimately die from a heart attack.

Clayton Lockett Botched Execution

Oklahoma prison officials put a catheter into a death row inmate’s groin after struggling for 51 minutes to find a vein elsewhere, it has emerged.

Writhing and mumbling, Clayton Lockett died of an apparent heart attack 10 minutes after prisons officials halted his botched execution when the vein in his groin collapsed.

It was also revealed on Thursday that guards used a stun gun on the prisoner earlier in the day after he refused to be shackled to leave his cell.

He was then taken to a prison hospital where he cut his own arm.

More details of Lockett’s death were revealed on Thursday in a report by the state’s prisons chief, Robert Patton, as he urged more oversight of executions.Advertisement

The intravenous line into Lockett’s groin fell out and was not noticed until 21 minutes after the execution began and all the lethal drugs had been administered.

Patton wrote: “The drugs had either absorbed into tissue, leaked out or both.”

Prison officials drew the blinds on the chamber as Lockett’s execution went awry.

The 38-year-old was convicted in 2000 for the kidnap and murder of Stephanie Neiman, 19, during a home invasion a year earlier. She was shot and buried alive. Lockett also raped one of her friends.

The Neiman family said in a statement of Lockett’s death: “We are thankful this day has finally arrived and justice will finally be served.”

In his report, the prisons director proposed a moratorium on executions in the state until procedures for judicial killings can be reviewed.

Mr Patton also recommended that the execution of Charles Warner, who was originally scheduled to face lethal injection two hours after Lockett, be put off indefinitely.

Warner, 46, was convicted in 1997 of raping and killing an 11-month-old baby girl, whose mother he lived with.

Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Mary Fallin said on Thursday she was prepared to issue a 60-day stay on Warner’s death.

The White House has criticised Lockett’s botched execution, saying it fell short of humane standards.

https://news.sky.com/story/oklahoma-inmate-had-drugs-pumped-into-groin-10407243

Clayton Lockett More News

At around 10:30 p.m. Bobby Bornt was asleep on the couch at his house in Perry, Oklahoma, when his front door was kicked in. Clayton Lockett, Shawn Mathis and Alfonzo Lockett entered his house and immediately started beating and kicking him. Lockett was carrying a shotgun which he used to hit Bornt. After the beating, duct tape was used to secure his hands behind his back and they gagged him and left him on the couch while they ransacked the house looking for drugs. As Bornt lay restrained, his friend, Summer Hair, approached the open door. She was pulled inside, hit in the face and thrown against a wall. One of the men put a gun to her head and ordered her to call to her friend, Stephanie Neiman, who was outside sitting in her pickup. When Neiman came inside, they hit her several times to get the keys to her pickup. They were bound with duct tape and put in the bedroom where Bornt’s nine-month old son, Sam, had been sleeping. Hair was forcibly raped and sodomized by all three men. They were then loaded into the pickup trucks of Bornt and Nieman and driven to a remote rural location. Hair was again raped in a ditch by Clayton Lockett and Mathis, who told her “In order for you to live, this is what you have got to do.”

Clayton Lockett instructed Mathis to dig a grave and said :”Someone has got to go.” Neiman was taken to the hole dug by Mathis. When she refused to promise that she would not go to the police, Clayton Lockett shot her. The gun jammed, but he fixed it, returned and shot her again. While Mathis buried Neiman, Bornt and Hair were warned that if they told anyone they would be killed too. They then drove both pickups and dropped off Bornt, his son and Hair at Bornt’s house and they left in Bornt’s pickup. The following day, Bornt and Hair told the Perry police what had happened. Neiman’s pickup and her body were recovered and all three men were subsequently arrested. Clayton Lockett ultimately confessed to police

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/lockett1379.htm