November 2022 | Page 9 of 16 | My Crime Library

Kenneth Smith Execution Scheduled For Tonight

Kenneth Smith is scheduled to be executed tonight by the State of Alabama for a murder for hire. According to court document Kenneth Smith was hired by Charles Sennett Sr, a pastor at a local church to murder his wife Elizabeth Sennett. Elizabeth Sennet would be murdered in her home. When police realised it was not a robbery gone wrong they began to take a closer look at Charles Sennett Sr who would kill himself before he could be arrested. Kenneth Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. The one legal standout to this case is the jury recommended life in prison however the judge would sentence him to death.

Kenneth Smith More News

Alabama is preparing to execute a man convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife, even though a jury recommended he receive life imprisonment instead of a death sentence.

Kenneth Smith, 57, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison on Thursday evening. Prosecutors said Smith was one of two men who were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance.

Elizabeth Sennett was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the couple’s home on Coon Dog Cemetery Road in Alabama’s Colbert County. The coroner testified that the 45-year-old woman had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr, who was the pastor of the Westside Church of Christ in Sheffield, killed himself one week after his wife’s death when the murder investigation started to focus on him as a suspect, according to court documents.

Smith’s final appeals focused on the state’s difficulties with intravenous lines at the last two scheduled lethal injections. One execution was carried out after a delay, and the other was called off as the state faced a midnight deadline to get the execution underway. Smith’s attorneys also raised the issue that judges are no longer allowed to sentence an inmate to death if a jury recommends a life sentence.

John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the slaying, was executed in 2010. “I’m sorry. I don’t ever expect you to forgive me. I really am sorry,” Parker said to the victim’s sons before he was put to death.

According to appellate court documents, Kenneth Smith told police in a statement that it was, “agreed for John and I to do the murder” but that he just took items from the house to make it look like a burglary. Smith’s defense at trial said he agreed to beat up Elizabeth Sennett but that he did not intend to kill her, according to court documents.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Smith’s request to review the constitutionality of his death sentence.

Kenneth Smith was initially convicted in 1989, and a jury voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed. His conviction was overturned on appeal in 1992. He was retried and convicted again in 1996. This time, the jury recommended a life sentence by a vote of 11-1, but a judge overrode the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Smith to death.

In 2017, Alabama became the last state to abolish the practice of letting judges override a jury’s sentencing recommendation in death penalty cases, but the change was not retroactive and therefore did not affect death row prisoners like Smith.

The Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama-based nonprofit that advocates for inmates, said that Smith stands to become the first state prisoner sentenced by judicial override to be executed since the practice was abolished.

Smith filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to block his upcoming execution because of reported problems at recent lethal injections. Smith’s attorneys pointed to a July execution of Joe Nathan James Jr., which an anti-death penalty group claimed was botched. The state disputed those claims. A federal judge dismissed Smith’s l awsuit last month, but also cautioned prison officials to strictly follow established protocol when carrying out Thursday’s execution plan

In September, the state called off the scheduled execution of inmate Alan Miller because of difficulty accessing his veins. Miller said in a court filing that prison staff poked him with needles for over an hour and at one point, they left him hanging vertically on a gurney before announcing they were stopping for the night. Prison officials said they stopped because they were facing a midnight deadline to get the execution underway

https://apnews.com/article/alabama-executions-fd4937918b0529c07c005ace7a357b84

Richard Fairchild Execution

Richard Fairchild was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of a three year old boy. According to court documents Richard Fairchild would murder his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son, Adam Broomhall. Adam Broomhall had severe burns on his back from being pushed against a heater. Apparently the three year old boy had wet his bed and Richard Fairchild attacked the child. Richard Fairchild would be put to death by lethal injection after spending nearly thirty years on death row

Richard Fairchild Execution More News

Oklahoma executed a man Thursday for the torture slaying of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son in 1993.

Richard Stephen Fairchild, who turned 63 on Thursday, began receiving the first of a lethal three-drug combination at 10:10 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was declared dead at 10:24 a.m.

Fairchild, an ex-Marine, was convicted of killing Adam Broomhall after the child wet the bed. Prosecutors say Fairchild held both sides of Adam’s body against a scorching furnace, then threw him into a table. The child never regained consciousness and died later that day.

Strapped to a gurney inside the death chamber, Fairchild thanked his attorneys and prison staff and apologized to Broomhall’s family.

“Today’s a day for Adam, justice for Adam,” Fairchild said.

“I’m at peace with God. Don’t grieve for me because I’m going home to meet my heavenly father.”

Michael Hurst, the slain child’s uncle, said the boy would have been 34.

“Our long journey for justice has finally arrived,” Hurst said, adding that he was surprised to hear Fairchild express remorse for killing his nephew. “He hadn’t said that in 30 years.”

Prosecutors from the Oklahoma attorney general’s office had described the boy’s killing as torture when they wrote to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board, which voted 4-1 last month against recommending clemency for Fairchild.

Fairchild’s execution was the seventh since Oklahoma resumed carrying out the death penalty in October 2021 and one of four scheduled nationwide over a two-day stretch. It was the 16th execution in the U.S. this year, including one in Texas and one in Arizona on Wednesday, up from last year’s three-decade low of 11. An execution was also scheduled for later Thursday in Alabama. Oklahoma’s attorney general this summer asked the state’s top criminal appeals court to set more than two dozen execution dates.

Attorneys for Richard Fairchild argued that he was abused as a child, was mentally ill and was remorseful for his actions.

“As Richard Fairchild’s brain has deteriorated, he has descended into psychosis, a fact well-documented in his prison records,” Emma Rolls, one of Fairchild’s attorneys, said in a statement to the Pardon and Parole Board. “Yet despite having lost touch with reality, Richard remains remorseful for his crime and continues to have an unblemished prison record. There is no principled reason for Oklahoma to execute him.”

Fairchild’s attorneys filed last-minute appeals Wednesday with Oklahoma’s Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, but both courts denied his requests Thursday morning.

Earlier Thursday, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied a request from death row inmate Richard Glossip for a hearing to determine whether a co-defendant sought to recant his testimony that Glossip hired him to kill motel owner Barry Van Treese.

Glossip’s attorneys allege evidence was withheld by prosecutors, including interviews with witnesses. The court rejected a similar request by Glossip earlier this month and on Thursday ruled that the matters are not eligible for review because they either were settled previously by courts, could have been presented in earlier appeals or were not raised within 60 days of their discovery.

Glossip is scheduled for execution in February.

The U.S. has seen waning support in recent years for the death penalty across all political parties. About 6 in 10 Americans favor the death penalty, according to the General Social Survey, a major trends survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. While a majority continue to express support for the death penalty, the share has declined steadily since the 1990s, when nearly three-quarters were in favor.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oklahoma-prepares-execute-man-year-olds-killing-93458441

Murray Hooper Execution Scheduled For Today

Murray Hooper is scheduled to be executed by the State of Arizona for the murders of two people during a robbery. According to court documents Murray Hooper and two other men forced their way into a home and would shoot and kill William “Pat” Redmond and his mother-in-law, Helen Phelps as well as shooting a third person. Murray Hooper would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Murray Hooper lawyers are attempting to get his execution stayed claiming that the surviving witness failed to identify him in a photo lineup. The two other men convicted with Murray Hooper, William Bracy and Edward McCall, would die on death row before their executions could be carried out.

Murray Hooper More News

An Arizona prisoner scheduled to be executed Wednesday in the 1980 killings of two people asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his claim that authorities had until recently withheld that a survivor had failed to identify him in a photo lineup.

Lawyers for Murray Hooper, who was convicted of killing William “Pat” Redmond and his mother-in-law, Helen Phelps, say the existence of the photo lineup wasn’t disclosed until this month.

A prosecutor told the state’s clemency board that Redmond’s wife, Marilyn, who survived being shot in the head, had been unable to identify Hooper as the attacker when she was shown a photo lineup. However, authorities now insist no such lineup was shown to Marilyn Redmond and that the claim is based on a mistake a prosecutor made in a letter to the board.

Marilyn Redmond eventually identified Hooper in an in-person lineup.

Hooper’s arguments have already been rejected twice this week by state courts, with the Arizona Supreme Court concluding Monday that the claim focusing on a photo lineup “has no evidentiary support and no basis in fact.”

Hooper’s attorneys keep pressing the matter. “The prosecutor’s belated admission flatly contradicts the state’s pretrial and trial assertions that no such (photo) lineup had ever been admninistered,” Hooper’s lawyers told the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hooper asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to postpone his execution as he appeals a ruling that rejected his bid to allow fingerprint and DNA testing on evidence from the killings. On Tuesday evening, the appeals court concluded a lower-court judge lacked jurisdiction over Hooper’s lawsuit seeking testing and ordered that the case be dismissed.

His lawyers said Hooper is innocent, that no physical evidence ties him to the killings and that testing could lead to identifying those responsible. They say Hooper was convicted before computerized fingerprint systems and DNA testing were available in criminal cases.

Authorities say Hooper and two other men forced their way into the Redmond home on Dec. 31, 1980. The three victims were bound, gagged, robbed and shot in the head. Marilyn Redmond testified against Hooper at his trial.

Two other men, William Bracy and Edward McCall, were convicted in the killings but died before their death sentences could be carried out.

Authorities say Robert Cruz, who was alleged to have had ties to organized crime, hired Hooper, Bracy and McCall to kill Pat Redmond, who co-owned a printing business. They said Cruz wanted to take over the business and was unhappy that Redmond had rejected his offers to enter several printing contracts with Las Vegas hotels, according to court records. In 1995, Cruz was acquitted of murder charges in both deaths.

Hooper’s lawyers say Marilyn Redmond’s description of the assailants changed several times before she identified their client, who said he was not in Arizona at the time. They also raised questions about the benefits received by witnesses who testified against Hooper, including favorable treatment in other criminal cases.

Hooper would be the state’s third prisoner put to death this year after Arizona resumed carrying out executions in May, following a nearly eight-year hiatus attributed to both the difficulty of obtaining lethal injection drugs and criticism that a 2014 execution was botched.

Arizona has 111 people on death row, 22 of whom have exhausted their appeals, according to the state attorney general’s office.

https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-arizona-executions-7950302aecde9d17770a1bc4ccc18e89

Murray Hooper Execution

An Arizona man convicted of murdering two people in 1980 was put to death Wednesday in the state’s third execution since officials started carrying out the death penalty in May after a nearly eight-year hiatus.

Murray Hooper, 76, died by lethal injection at the state prison in Florence for his murder convictions in the killings of William “Pat” Redmond and his mother-in-law, Helen Phelps, at Redmond’s home in Phoenix. Redmond’s wife, Marilyn, also was shot in the head during the attack but survived and testified against Hooper at his trial.

Authorities say the killings were carried out at the behest of a man who wanted to take over Redmond’s printing business.

Hooper’s death was announced by Frank Strada, a deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.

Hooper chuckled several times when interacting with the execution team. After the execution warrant was read aloud, Hooper said, “It’s all been said. Let it be done.”

It took about 20 minutes from the time the execution team members walked into the room until they inserted IV lines in his right leg and right forearm to administer a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital. There had been one earlier unsuccessful attempt to insert a line in his right arm. The IV in his leg was inserted through his femoral artery.

Once injected, his fingers quivered, and he yawned. After that, he made no movement. About 15 minutes passed between when a warden said let the execution begin and when Hooper was pronounced dead.

At one point while trying to insert the IV lines, a medical professional in the room couldn’t find a syringe with the anesthetic used to numb the area, so one was brought in and ultimately used on Hooper.

“It will hurt less,” the medical professional said. Hooper said, “OK, all right.” He later said, “I can’t believe this” and shook his head.

Arizona did not carry out the death penalty for nearly eight years after criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and because it encountered difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs. No other executions are currently scheduled in the state.

rizona now has 110 people on death row.

Hooper was executed within a couple hours of the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting a last-minute appeal from him over his claim that authorities had until recently withheld that Marilyn Redmond had failed to identify him in a photo lineup. The high court made no comment in rejecting his appeal.

Authorities said that claim was based on a mistake a prosecutor made in a letter to the state’s clemency board and now insist that no such lineup was shown to Marilyn Redmond. She later identified Hooper in an in-person lineup.

Courts also rebuffed attempts by Hooper’s lawyers to order fingerprint and DNA testing on evidence from the killings.

Authorities say Hooper and two other men forced their way into the Redmond home on Dec. 31, 1980. The three victims were bound, gagged, robbed and shot in the head.

Two other men, William Bracy and Edward McCall, were convicted in the killings but died before their death sentences could be carried out.

Authorities say Robert Cruz, who was alleged to have had ties to organized crime, hired Hooper, Bracy and McCall to kill Pat Redmond, who co-owned a printing business. They said Cruz wanted to take over the business and was unhappy that Redmond had rejected his offers to enter several printing contracts with Las Vegas hotels, according to court records. Cruz was acquitted of murder charges in both deaths in 1995.

Hooper’s execution came the same day that Stephen Barbee was set to receive a lethal injection in Texas for the February 2005 deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son Jayden. That would be the 15th execution in the U.S. this year, up from last year’s three-decade low of 11.

The executions come despite waning support in recent years for the death penalty across all political parties. About 6 in 10 Americans favor the death penalty, according to the General Social Survey, a major trends survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. While a majority continue to express support for the death penalty, the share has declined steadily since the 1990s, when nearly three-quarters were in favor.

Stephen Barbee Execution Scheduled For Today

The State of Texas is preparing to execute Stephen Barbee today for the murders of a mother and her son. According to court documents Stephen Barbee would murder of his ex girlfriend Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son Jayden who were murdered at their home and then their bodies would be buried in a shallow grave. Right now Stephen Barbee attorneys are fighting to get his execution stayed for religious purposes which seems to be the common ploy this year. Stephen Barbee would initially confess to the double murder but soon after recanted.

Stephen Barbee Execution

A Texas inmate seeking to stop his execution over claims of religious freedom violations and indifference to his medical needs is scheduled to die Wednesday evening for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old son more than 17 years ago.

Stephen Barbee, 55, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the February 2005 deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son Jayden. Both were suffocated at their home in Fort Worth. They were later found buried in a shallow grave in nearby Denton County.

Barbee’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution, arguing his religious rights are being violated because the state prison system, in the wake of a ruling by the high court on what spiritual advisers can do while in the execution chamber, did not create a written policy on the issue

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court said states must accommodate the wishes of death row inmates who want to have their faith leaders pray and touch them during their executions. Texas prison officials didn’t formally update their policy but said they would review inmates’ petitions on a case-by-case basis and would grant most reasonable requests.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt in Houston issued a preliminary injunction, saying the state could only execute Barbee after it had published a clear policy on spiritual advisers that protects an inmate’s religious rights. Last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Hoyt’s injunction, saying it was overbroad.

On Tuesday, Hoyt issued a new injunction focused specifically on protecting Barbee’s rights. The Texas Attorney General’s Office immediately appealed to the 5th Circuit, which would have to make a ruling before the Supreme Court could take up the issue.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office said in a previous court filing that Barbee’s claims are moot as state prison officials are allowing his spiritual adviser to touch him and pray aloud during his execution.

Also Tuesday, Hoyt denied a separate request by Barbee’s attorneys for an execution stay over claims the inmate’s right to avoid cruel and unusual punishment would be violated. His lawyers say Barbee has physical constraints that limit the movement of his shoulders and arms and he would experience “intolerable pain and suffering” if he is executed in the normal manner with his arms outstretched on the gurney so that IV lines can be placed to deliver the lethal injection.

In a court filing from earlier this month, lawyers with the Texas Attorney General’s Office assured Hoyt that prison officials would make accommodations for Barbee and allow his arms to remain bent and if needed would find another location to place the IV lines.

On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously declined to commute Barbee’s death sentence to a lesser penalty or to grant a four-month reprieve.

Prosecutors said Barbee killed his ex-girlfriend and her son because he didn’t want his wife to know Underwood was seven months pregnant, presumably by him. DNA evidence later revealed Barbee wasn’t the father. Underwood owned a Fort Worth bagel shop, which was named after her son. She and her son were reported missing after failing to show up at a baby shower.

Barbee confessed to police he killed Underwood and her son but later recanted. Barbee said the confession was coerced and has since maintained he is innocent and was framed by his business partner.

His trial, including sentencing, took less than three days to complete in February 2006.

Barbee is set to receive a lethal injection on the same day as Arizona plans to execute Murray Hoope r for killing two people during a home robbery in Phoenix on New Year’s Eve 1980. Hooper is set to be executed at 11 a.m. CST on Wednesday.

If Barbee is executed, he would be the fifth inmate put to death this year in Texas. He is the last inmate scheduled for execution this year in the state

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/story/2022-11-15/texas-to-execute-man-for-killing-ex-girlfriend-and-her-son

Stephen Barbee Execution Update

A Texas inmate who killed his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old son more than 17 years ago was executed on Wednesday, after courts rejected his appeals over claims of religious freedom violations and indifference to his medical needs.

Stephen Barbee, 55, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was pronounced dead at 7:35 p.m., 26 minutes after a fatal dose of pentobarbital began flowing into his body.

Barbee had been condemned for the February 2005 deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son Jayden. Both were suffocated at their home in Fort Worth. They were later found buried in a shallow grave in nearby Denton County.

In his final statement, Barbee talked about his faith in God and hoped this would not be a sad moment for his family and friends. He did not mention Underwood or her son and did not look in the direction of his victims’ family and friends, who watched from a viewing room and locked arms with one another during the execution.

“I’m ready warden. Send me home,” Barbee said, as he cried. “I just want everyone to have peace in their hearts.”

On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously declined to commute Barbee’s death sentence to a lesser penalty or to grant a four-month reprieve

Barbee received a lethal injection on the same day that Arizona executed Murray Hooper for killing two people during a home robbery in Phoenix on New Year’s Eve 1980. Hooper received a lethal injection Wednesday morning.

The executions come despite declining support in recent years for the death penalty across all political parties. About 6 in 10 Americans favor the death penalty, according to the General Social Survey, a major trends survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. While a majority continue to express support for the death penalty, the share has declined steadily since the 1990s, when nearly three-quarters were in favor.

Barbee was the fifth inmate put to death this year in Texas. He was the last inmate scheduled for execution this year in the state.

So far, 15 people, including Barbee, have been executed across the U.S. in 2022, all by lethal injection. This year’s total number of U.S. executions is already higher than last year’s 11, which was the lowest in more than three decades.

Two more executions in the U.S. are scheduled for Thursday — one in Alabama and one in Oklahoma.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined an appeal from Barbee’s lawyers to halt his execution.

Barbee’s attorneys had asked the court to stay his execution, arguing his religious rights were being violated. They said that in the wake of a ruling by the high court on what spiritual advisers can do while in the execution chamber, the state prison system still had not created a written policy on the issue.

https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-texas-executions-houston-huntsville-7249e97fa7f63e690c6b06ecc67cb75d

Jeremiah Glenn Teen Killer Murders Man During Carjacking

Jeremiah Glenn was sixteen years old from Texas when he fatally shot a man during a carjacking. According to court documents Jeremiah Glenn would steal a vehicle and drive around an apartment parking lot where he shot and killed Curtis Lee a retired military veteran. Jeremiah Glenn would then take Curtis Lee vehicle and flee. The next day Jeremiah Glenn would be captured after a foot chase with police officers where he pointed a gun at the chasing officers. This teen killer would be arrested and convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison plus 99 years.

Jeremiah Glenn 2022 Information

Jeremiah Glenn More News

A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison and 99 years on Monday for capital murder and aggravated robbery, according to the Galveston County’s District Attorney’s Office.

Jeremiah Glenn was found guilty of both capital murder and aggravated robbery, just two weeks after his 20th birthday, according to officials.

Investigators said Glenn’s crime spree started on Oct. 2, 2019 when he stole a truck that was left running outside a store in Dickinson. That truck was found abandoned three days later with a .357 revolver missing from the center console. Glenn’s crimes allegedly continued on Oct. 6, 2019, when he went to the Food Rite Market in Texas City, where he used that revolver to steal a minivan from a 15-year-old who was loading groceries in the parking lot. Glenn then allegedly drove that minivan to a local apartment complex where he shot and killed a retired army veteran, Curtis Lee, before leaving the scene in Lee’s car. The next day, Glenn abandoned Lee’s car before leading police on a lengthy foot chase. During the chase, he threatened a Texas City woman with his revolver and pointed his revolver in the direction of police officers.

Usually, 16-year-old defendants are prosecuted as juveniles, but the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office argued to the court to certify Glenn as an adult because of the nature of his crimes, his criminal history before the offenses, and an attempt to escape while awaiting trial. The court certified Glenn to stand trial as an adult.

Assistant District Attorneys Virginia Frank and Clayten Hearrell prosecuted the case. After hearing the evidence, a Galveston County jury found Glenn guilty of capital murder and aggravated robbery on Monday.

During the punishment phase of the trial, Assistant District Attorney Virginia Frank presented additional evidence showing that when Glenn robbed and murdered Lee, he was already on felony probation with the juvenile justice system for stealing a car in 2017. Additional evidence showed that Glenn attempted to escape from the Galveston County Juvenile Justice Center while being held for trial.

Because Glenn was convicted of committing capital murder, Glenn was automatically sentenced to life in prison for that charge. The jury sentenced Glenn to 99 years in prison for aggravated robbery. The sentences will run concurrently and because he was a juvenile when the offenses were committed, Glenn will be eligible for parole in 40 years.

After the trial, Chief ADA Hearrell said, “Galveston County will be safer for at least the next 40 years.”

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/11/16/20-year-old-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-killing-retired-army-veteran-and-stealing-a-minivan/