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David Washington Florida Execution

David Washington was executed by the State of Florida for three murders that were committed during a ten day period. According to court documents David Washington would go on a crime spree over ten days that would leave three people dead and would also include the crimes of torture and kidnapping. David Washington would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. David Washington would executed by way of the electric chair on June 13, 1984

David Washington More News

David Washington, a former choirboy who stabbed three people to death, died in the electric chair today after holding his daughter on his knee and telling her ‘I want you to do better.’

‘I’d like to say to the families of all my victims, I’m sorry for all the grief and heartache I brought to them,’ Washington said after he was strapped into the electric chair. ‘If my death brings them any satisfaction, so be it

Washington, 34, the second black man executed in the South in two days and the 22nd man put to death since the Supreme Court dropped its capital punishment ban in 1976, died at 7:09 a.m. He was the seventh man executed in Florida, more than any other state.

The tall, slender condemned man also had last words for the 220 men he left behind on Florida’s death row.

He stumbled several times over the words and explained ‘I’m kind of nervous, that’s all.’

‘To all the guys on death row, I’d like to say don’t bow down to defeat … without a fight.’

Washington entered the death chamber with a small smile on his face and chuckled at the words of one of the guards who escorted him

The condemned man met with his wife and his 12-year-old daughter Florence late Thursday night. The Rev. Joe Ingle said Washington sat her on his lap, lifted her chin and told her ‘I’m the one who got me here.’ ‘

The tall, slender condemned man also had last words for the 220 men he left behind on Florida’s death row.

He stumbled several times over the words and explained ‘I’m kind of nervous, that’s all.’

‘To all the guys on death row, I’d like to say don’t bow down to defeat … without a fight.’

Washington entered the death chamber with a small smile on his face and chuckled at the words of one of the guards who escorted him.

‘I want you to do better,’ he told the sobbing child. ‘I want you to set some goals for yourself and I want you to hit the books.’

Washington made his daughter repeat what he had said, Ingle reported, and the little girl left in tears. ‘Her heart was broken,’ Ingle said. ‘They were leading her daddy away to kill him

I don’t think there was a day he was here that he didn’t hate himself for what he had done,’ Ingle said.

The parents of Arthur Goode, sex-killer of two small boys who was executed April 5, were among about 40 death penalty protesters standing under a full moon outside the state prison as day began to break.

‘We thought we’d try to do a little good,’ said Mildred Goode. ‘I think if it was enough people it would make a difference.’

Ivon Ray Stanley, 28, died in the Georgia electric chair Thursday for the 1976 slaying of an insurance agent.

Washington was to have been part of the first double execution in the United States in 19 years, but the Supreme Court Thursday upheld a stay for Jimmy Lee Smith, who was scheduled to die a few minutes after Washington.

Smith, described by prison officials as ‘delighted,’ was moved out of the death chamber he had shared with Washington near ‘Old Sparky,’ the grim name given the electric chair by inmates at the Florida State Prison.

The high court rejected Washington’s final appeal late Thursday night, eight hours before he died.

Washington was awakened at 4:30 a.m. EDT and ate heartily of fried shrimp, fried oysters, french fries, hot rolls, vanilla ice cream and lemonade for his last meal.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/07/13/David-Leroy-Washington-a-former-choirboy-who-stabbed-three/3676458539200/

Ernest Dobbert Florida Execution

Ernest Dobbert was executed by the State of Florida for the murders of two of his children. According to court documents Ernest Dobbert would murder his daughter Kelly Ann, 9, on Dec. 31, 1971. Two months later Ernest Dobbert would murder his son seven year old Ryder. Both children endured months of beatings before their deaths. Ernest Dobbert would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Ernest Dobbert would be executed by electric chair on September 7 1984

Ernest Dobbert More News

Ernest John Dobbert Jr., called ‘the most hated man on Florida’s death row’ for the torture deaths of his young daughter and son, went to his death in the electric chair as 20 people outside the prison cheered and applauded.

Dobbert, 46, was pronounced dead at 10:09 a.m. EDT after the Supreme Court denied his last-minute appeal. He accepted his death calmly with a tight-lipped smile and made no final statement

Prison Superintendent Richard Dugger asked, ‘Ernest Dobbert, do you have any last words?’

‘No, No,’ Dobbert said, shaking his head.

Then Dobbert, who said he had become a born-again Christian, winked twice at the Rev. Melvin Biggs of Lynchburg, Va., and his attorney, William P. White, an assistant puiblic defender from Jacksonville, Fla.

He mouthed several words at the two which looked like, ‘I love you.’

As the power was turned on, Dobbert’s fists clenched and then became progressively purple. His head and legs shaved and barefoot, Dobbert wore a new navy blue suit and white shirt.

Outside the sprawling lime-green prison, about 20 pro-death penalty activities cheered and applauded when the execution was announced. About 30 anti-capital punishment protesters gathered nearby and sang hymns

There was a sign in a late-model car following the hearse that carried Dobbert’s boby which said, ‘When murderers die, justice lives.’

Dobbert, a former tire recapper, spent his final hours with his family, including his 17-year-old daughter — the sister of the two children he killed. He refused a final meal.

Dobbert was the sixth man executed in Florida’s oaken electric chair this year and the eighth to die in the state since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. He was the 23rd executed in the United States since the ban was lifted.

Dobbert, a lanky, 200-pound native of Milwaukee, Wis., was convicted of first-degree murder for strangling his daughter, Kelly Ann, 9, Dec. 31, 1971, and sentenced to death. He also was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of his son, Ryder, 7, who died two months after Kelly Ann as the result of constant beatings.

Dobbert, who had claimed to be a victim of child abuse himself, had been scheduled to be part of a double execution Thursday. But he received a stay until today, and Nollie Lee Martin, also a convicted killer, was granted an indefinite delay while his appeal was heard

The Supreme Court, with Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan dissenting, rejected Dobbert’s final appeal at 1:30 a.m. in Washington. Prison spokesman Vernon Bradford said Dobbert ‘was calm and resigned’ when he heard the court’s decision.

‘I think he probably anticipated the decision. I think he felt that way yesterday when the appeals court turned him down,’ Bradford said.

Dobbert, who had been scheduled to die in Florida’s electric chair twice before, was turned down by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta late Thursday and attorneys had rushed his case to the nation’s highest court.

The Atlanta appeals court allowed a temporary stay it had granted Dobbert earlier in the week to expire at 10 a.m. today and state prison officials set his execution for that hour.

Dobbert’s history of venting his violent rages on his children made him ‘the most hated man on Florida’s Death Row,’ officials said. Dobbert admitted beating his children, but denied killing any of them.

Bradford said Dobbert made no request for a special meal and when a breakfast of chipped beef on toast was brought to him, he turned it down.

He was visited late Thursday and early today by several family members including his mother Catherine Dobbert; sister Katherine Sartore; and 17-year-old daughter Honore. She was the little girl who Dobbert abandoned on the steps of a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hospital when she was 5 while he was fleeing police following the murders.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/09/07/Ernest-John-Dobbert-Jr-called-the-most-hated-man/7003641742736/

Timothy Baldwin Louisiana Execution

Timothy Baldwin was executed by the State of Louisiana for the murder of an elderly blind woman during a robbery. According to court documents Timothy Baldwin was attempting to rob his neighbors home when he was beat to death the elderly blind woman with a frying pan. Timothy Baldwin would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Timothy Baldwin would be executed by way of the electric chair on September 10, 1984

Timothy Baldwin More News

Timothy Baldwin, a former Cub Scout leader convicted of beating an 85-year-old blind woman to death with a frying pan, was electrocuted early today at the Louisiana State Prison.

Mr. Baldwin’s last appeal, to the Supreme Court, was rejected late Sunday afternoon. His lawyer, William Quigley, said there was nothing more he could do on his client’s behalf.

Mr. Baldwin was pronounced dead at 12:13 A.M., according to Department of Corrections officials in Baton Rouge.

Before the execution, Mr. Baldwin, 46 years old, ate the bacon and tomato sandwiches he requested and telephoned relatives.

”He’s calm, he’s collected,” the prison warden, Frank Blackburn, said of Mr. Baldwin hours before the condemned man was electrocuted. ”He pretty well feels there’s nothing left in the way of appeals.”

About 50 people marched outside the Governor’s mansion early Sunday evening to protest Mr. Baldwin’s execution, the fourth in Louisiana in the past nine months.

”We think it’s wrong for the state to kill people,” said Nick Trentacosta of Louisiana Citizens Against the Death Penalty. ”It brutalizes our society.”

The Supreme Court voted 7 to 2 late Sunday afternoon to let the execution proceed. Justices William J. Brennan Jr. and Thurgood Marshall dissented from the ruling, but there was no further comment from the court, a spokesman in Washington said.

Mr. Baldwin was convicted of killing Mary James Peters, the godmother of his youngest son and a neighbor in West Monroe, La. She was beaten to death with a skillet, a telephone and a stool.

Securities belonging to the victim were found in Mr. Baldwin’s van, and a traveling companion testified that Mr. Baldwin had told him of the crime.

The dead woman was found by a Meals-on-Wheels worker 12 hours after the April 4, 1978, attack.

The elderly woman, semicomatose with a fractured cheek bone and shattered jawbone, died in a hospital the next day. An autopsy listed brain hemorrhages as the cause of death. Federal Courts Act

Within four hours Friday, two lower Federal courts refused to block Mr. Baldwin’s execution.

The effort was rejected by Judge Nauman Scott of Federal District Court in Alexandria and by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. His lawyer filed an application for a stay late Friday in Washington with Justice White.

Gov. Edwin Edwards, who has expressed opposition to the death penalty, had already refused to intervene. He made his decision after a visit to Mr. Baldwin on Death Row and one to a woman charged as his accomplice, who is in a state prison for women.

Helen Ginger Roberts of Alexandria, a lawyer for Timothy Baldwin, asserted in the request for a stay that a plea-bargaining system used in Ouachita Parish was unfair to Mr. Baldwin.

James Henry Florida Execution

James Henry was executed by the State of Florida for the murder of a man during a robbery. According to court documents James Henry would break in the victim home and in the process of robbing it would murder the homeowner Zellie Riley. James Henry would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. James Henry would be executed on September 20 1984 by way of the electric chair.

James Henry More News

James Dupree Henry, trembling and professing innocence, died in the electric chair today for the murder of an 81- year-old man in a robbery.

Mr. Henry, 34 years old, bade his mother and girlfriend farewell and ate raw oysters for the first time before he was put to death in the oak electric chair moments after a temporary stay of execution expired at 7 A.M. He was pronounced dead nine minutes later.

”My final words are ‘I am innocent,’ ” Mr. Henry said before the death hood was dropped over his face.

Mr. Henry was the 25th man executed in the United States since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on the death penalty in 1976, and the ninth man executed in Florida. Gov. Bob Graham signed death warrants Wednesday for two more Florida inmates

Mr. Henry was to have died Wednesday morning, but the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit granted him a 24-hour reprieve while it considered his case. He had a calm visit with his family, including a half- hour alone with his new-found mother, after the court rejected his appeal. ‘Ready to Go Either Way’

”He said he was ready to go either way the court told him,” said a State Correction Department spokesman, Vernon Bradford.

Mr. Henry’s final words were barely audible to witnesses because the microphone placed in front of him did not work. He winked at his attorney, Richard Jordanby, a public defender.

He was executed for the murder on March 24, 1974, of Z.L. Riley, his next door neighbor and an Orlando civil rights worker. Mr. Riley was found gagged, tied to a chair and beaten with a pistol. His throat was slit with a razor but the police said he strangled on the gag.

Mr. Henry, who repeatedly denied killing Mr. Riley, began a life of crime when he was 15 years old and once served a prison term for shooting a man in the eye. He Ate a Dozen Oysters

Mr. Henry ordered a dozen oysters with hot sauce and crackers for his last meal. He had never eaten oysters. He finished the dozen along with half a cantaloupe and a glass of grapefruit juice but refused an offer of more oysters.

Late Wednesday night, Mr. Henry was visited by his mother, Dora Mae Bradwell of Quincy, Fla., four sisters, two brothers, Flora Talley of Paterson, N.J., and his attorney.

James Henry, who was shifted from family to family while growing up, said he did not know who his real mother was until a week ago after she read of his impending execution and contacted him at the prison.

”In my time of need, she was there,” he said in an interview Tuesday.

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/21/us/asserting-innocence-convict-dies-in-florida-electric-chair.html

Linwood And James Briley Executions

Linwood and James Briley were two of three brothers who during a crime spree in Virginia would leave 11 people dead and a Nation worried when they were able to escape from death row. Linwood Briley was just seventeen years old when he would murder a pregnant woman and would spend time in a juvenile detention center.

Linwood and James Briley reign of terror would begin in March of 1979 when they would kill their first victim and before they were done in October of the same year would leave ten more victims dead. Linwood and James Briley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Linwood Briley would be executed on October 12 1984 and his brother James Briley would be executed on April 18 1985

Linwood And James Briley

There were some ominous signs in the childhood of brothers Linwood, James and Anthony Briley. Still, “they grew up in a good family,” with loving parents, according to true crime author Eric Blanding.

The Brileys, of Richmond, Virginia, had a hobby of feeding small animals to pet snakes. They also, however, were known around town for helping neighbors with any yard work that needed doing. But that belied their true nature — they ended up with at least 11 bodies to their names.

“They were just so evil,” Blanding said. “Some of the acts they committed were just unbelievable.”

The three brothers’ criminal acts escalated precipitously, according to authorities interviewed for “Killer Siblings” on Oxygen. The three brothers followed a path from thefts and drug-dealing to a series of cruel, gruesome slayings that landed all three in prison.

Linwood led his younger brothers, as well as teenage acolyte Duncan Meekins, in a gang of sorts, and Linwood claimed his first life in 1971. Then 16, Linwood shot 57-year-old Orline Christian out his back window with a rifle, while she was hanging wet laundry on a clothesline.

She died instantly, and investigators initially thought it might have been heart trouble, according to “Killer Siblings.” However, when she was being prepared for burial at the local funeral home, a keen-eyed employee noted a small hole in her dress, and dried blood.

Police traced the shot to Linwood’s window, and the 16-year-old first claimed the killing was done accidentally while he was shooting at squirrels, according to “Killer Siblings.” He would later admit that he had shot Christian deliberately, adding, “I heard she had heart problems; she would have died soon, anyway,” according to Thoughtco.

n 1979, the Brileys plotted and executed a series of robberies and burglaries — and unleashed their true, vicious natures on the people of Richmond.

On March 12 of that year, the brothers — along with Meekins — forced their way into the home of elderly couple William and Virginia Butcher. They looted the home, then tried to burn the couple alive, according to “Killer Siblings.” Luckily, Meekins tied their bonds too loosely and they were able to escape after the gang left the home in flames.

The Butchers are the only two victims of the Brileys to survive, according to Thoughtco. Their next targets wouldn’t be so lucky.

A little more than a week later, they robbed and murdered a machine serviceman in his own home, according to the Washington Post. The following month, they raped, robbed and shot to death 76-year-old Mary Gowen.

In July, Christopher Phillips, 17, merely made the mistake of hanging around the brothers’ vehicle, according to Thoughtco. The brothers dragged him to a field and beat him before Linwood performed the coup de grace with a cinderblock to the head.

In September 1979, well-liked local country-western DJ Johnny Galleher disappeared after he stepped out of a gig for a smoke, according to “Killer Siblings.” Authorities had few leads other than Gallaher’s empty vehicle turning up — until two weeks later, when his body was found, shot in the back of the head with a rifle. According to authorities interviewed on “Killer Siblings,” the Briley gang noticed Gallaher’s “shiny belt buckle,” and took his life for it; his murder would later be pinned on Linwood.

In two of the gang’s most gruesome slayings, 79-year-old Blanche Page and her boarder, Charles Garner, 59, were subjected to a home invasion by the baseball bat-wielding Brileys in October the same year. Page had her head beaten in — she was “unrecognizable,” according to authorities on “Killer Siblings.” Garner was beaten as well, and then pinned to the floor with knives, scissors and a fork, according to the Washington Post.

The gang’s final, atrocious home invasion would come on Oct. 19 1979. Pregnant Judy Barton, her partner, Harvey Wilkerson, and her 5-year-old son, Harvey, were murdered. Members of the small family were only put out of their misery after three members of the gang had each raped Judy within earshot of her partner and young son, according to the Post.

The family’s bodies were not discovered by police for three days, but a task force that was surveilling the area at the time of the murders helped quickly pin them on the Brileys and Meekins. Linwood and Meekins were arrested after a brief car chase, while James and Anthony turned themselves in, according to Thoughtco.

Authorities pushed forward with the charges they knew would stick, primarily trying to make sure the Brileys and Meekins would never walk the streets again, according to “Killer Siblings.” All four were charged in the Wilkerson, Garner and Page murders, with Anthony being sentenced to life and James and Linwood sentenced to death.

The Briley brothers had one last trick up their sleeves, however. In May 1984 — just two months before their execution date — Linwood and James led the state’s only ever successful death-row prison break, escaping the Mecklenburg Correctional Center in Virginia. The Brileys lived comfortably with friends in Philadelphia for about two weeks; during that time, Briley sightings were common, and T-shirts were even sold that jokingly displayed the logo, “I’m not one of the Briley brothers,” according to “Killer Siblings.”

One afternoon, police and FBI agents surrounded a Philadelphia home where the Brileys were barbecuing. They took them in without resistance.

In October 1984, Linwood was executed, with James’ death coming the following April, according to Thoughtco.

https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/linwood-james-anthony-briley-brothers-murder-spree-duncan-meekins