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David Martin Louisiana Execution

David Martin was executed by the State of Louisiana for a quadruple murders. According to court documents David Martin would find out his wife was cheating on him and would go to the man’s home where he would open fire killing Bobby Todd, Terry Hebert, Anne Tierney, and Sandra Brake. David Martin would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. David Martin would be executed by way of the electric chair on January 4 1985

David Martin More News

David Dene Martin, a former youth conselor who said stress and drugs led him to murder his wife’s lover and three other people, was executed early today after the State Pardon Board refused a last-minute plea to spare him from the electric chair.

He was pronounced dead at 12:16 A.M. central standard time, said C. Paul Phelps, secretary of the state Department of Corrections.

Mr. Martin’s execution, the 33rd in the nation since the 1976 Supreme Court decision that allowed states to impose the death penalty, was the second in Louisiana in eight days. All court appeals were long ago exhausted.

Slayings in 1977

Mr. Martin, 32 years old, was executed for the Aug. 14, 1977, slayings of Bobby Todd, a bar owner with whom Mr. Martin’s wife, Gloria, said she was having an affair, and three other people who happened to be at Mr. Todd’s mobile home in Bayou Blue when Mr. Martin walked in and started shooting.

Mr. Martin’s attorney, Richard Shapiro, maintained that Mr. Martin was driven to murder after his wife’s affair and after his daughter was born with birth defects. Mr. Shapiro said Mr. Martin was under the influence of alcohol and the drug phencyclidine, also known as PCP or angel dust, at the time of the slayings.

Spent Evening With Minister

Mr. Martin spent Thursday evening at Louisiana State Penitentiary with the Rev. Ray Winders of Paris, Tex., a Seventh-day Adventist and Mr. Martin’s spiritual adviser.

”They were talking and reading the Bible,” said Frank Blackburn, the prison warden. ”I asked if there was anything special he wanted to report to the news media and he said, ‘No.’ ”

”He had a last meal of Sloppy Joes and french fries,” the warden said. ”He didn’t want anything special. That’s what was on fare for everybody tonight.”

”He seemed to be in very good spirits,” Mr. Blackburn said.

His mother, three sisters and half- brother attended the five-hour hearing of the pardon board, and wept after the board announced its 5-0 decision without comment.

One sister, Luvena Farinala of Wheeling, W.Va., testified tearfully: ”I don’t want to see him die. He has touched the lives of many people spiritually, intellectually and personally.”

Mr. Martin’s mother and another sister also testified.

Calm at Pardon Hearing

Mr. Martin showed little emotion, nodding only to acknowledge that he understood. He then turned to Mr. Shapiro, shook his hand and said, ”You’ve been a good friend.”

A native of Keene, Tex., Mr. Martin married soon after moving to Houma in southeast Louisiana in 1973. In Houma, he led many social programs for the Seventh-day Adventists through the church’s Way-Out Help Clinic.

In those programs, he monitored a hotline for troubled teen-agers, counseled young people and played folk songs on his guitar. He supported himself as a carpenter, maintenance man and door-to-door salesman.

The United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit noted that a divided Louisiana Supreme Court had affirmed David Martin’s death penalty by a 4-3 vote, with the three dissenters saying death was too harsh a penalty in this case.

Evidence in the case showed that Mr. Martin reloaded his revolver twice, pulled the trigger 15 times and confessed the crime to five people. While Mr. Shapiro stressed the influence of drugs and alcohol, the judges of the appeals court said the evidence indicated Mr. Martin had planned the murders in advance.

Johnny Taylor Louisiana Execution

Johnny Taylor was executed by the State of Louisiana for the murder of a man during a robbery. According to court documents Johnny Taylor was responding to a car for sale ad when he would attack and stab the man to death before stuffing his body in the trunk. Johnny Taylor would alter be arrested while driving the victims car. Johnny Taylor would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Johnny Taylor would be executed by way of the electric chair on February 29, 1984

Johnny Taylor More News

Johnny Taylor Jr., convicted of stabbing a man to death in 1980, was executed in Louisiana’s electric chair early today, becoming the second prisoner to be put to death in the state in less than three months.

Mr. Taylor, 30 years old, of Pritchard, Ala., was pronounced dead at 12:16 A.M., central standard time, by Dr. Alfred Gould, said Warden Ross Maggio Jr.

In a lengthy last statement, Mr. Taylor said he ”didn’t feel any remorse” and ended it by saying, ”That’s it. Let’s go.”

His last-minute appeals were turned down Tuesday by Gov. David C. Treen and the United States Supreme Court. The Court voted 6 to 2 to deny his appeal.

The first surge of 2,000 volts of electricity was administered at 12:10 A.M. and lasted for 10 seconds, followed by a 20-second jolt of 500 volts. The process was then repeated.

Taylor was found guilty of murdering David Vogler on Feb. 8, 1980, in Kenner, a New Orleans suburb.

He had been stabbed repeatedly and his body was stuffed in the trunk of his car.

The Louisiana chapter of Amnesty International assembled about 20 people for a 30-minute protest late Tuesday next to the Capitol.

The protesters included Jerry and Karen Williams, the brother and sister- in-law of Robert Wayne Williams, who was executed here on Dec. 14.

Elmo Sonnier Louisiana Execution

Elmo Sonnier was executed by the State of Louisiana for the murder of a couple. According to court documents Elmo Sonnier and his brother Eddie Sonnier would pretend to be law enforcement officers and pulled up to the young couple on a local lovers lane. The young couple would be brought to a remote location where the young woman was sexually assaulted by both men before the couple were murdered. Elmo Sonnier and Eddie Sonnier both would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Elmo Sonnier would be executed by way of the electric chair on May 5 1984. Eddie Sonnier was later resentenced to life and would die in prison in 2013

Elmo Sonnier More News

lmo Patrick Sonnier, convicted of murdering a teenage couple in a sugar cane field in New Iberia, was electrocuted early Thursday after telling the father of one of the victims, “I ask you to have forgiveness.”

Lloyd LeBlanc, who witnessed the execution, nodded and said, “Yes.”

Sonnier, 34, was then strapped into the electric chair, executed, and pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. by the local coroner.

He was convicted of the slayings of Loretta Bourque, 18, and her fiance, David LeBlanc, 16. Each was shot three times in the head on Nov. 5, 1977.

Sonnier was the third person executed in Louisiana in four months. Robert Wayne Williams was electrocuted Dec. 14 for killing a Baton Rouge supermarket guard, becoming the first person executed in Louisiana since 1961. Johnny Taylor Jr. was put to death Feb. 29 for stabbing a Kenner man to death in a shopping center parking lot.

Sonnier was one of two men scheduled for execution Thursday. Arthur Frederick Goode II faced death at 6 a.m. in Florida’s electric chair for raping and strangling 6-year-old Jason Verdow.

Sonnier was the 17th man executed since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on capital punishment in 1976. Goode’s execution would mark the first time two inmates have been executed on the same day since the court lifted the ban.

State prison warden Ross Maggio said Sonnier spent his last day with Sister Helen Prejean, a New Orleans nun who serves as his spiritual adviser, and with a female friend who is a lawyer but is not involved in his case.

The condemned man ate a steak dinner and was kept up to date as five courts turned down his 11th-hour pleas for a stay.

As he was led into the execution chamber, he looked at LeBlanc and said, “Mr. LeBlanc, I can understand the way you feel. I have no hatred in my heart, and as I leave this world, I ask God to forgive what…I have done.”

He then asked LeBlanc’s forgiveness.

Immediately after, Godfrey Bourque, the father of the other victim, who also witnessed the execution, said, “He didn’t ask me.”

Both fathers sat expressionless, with their arms crossed, as the execution was carried out. They declined to talk to reporters afterward.

Sonnier’s last words were addressed to Prejean. “I love you,” he said.

“I love you, too,” she replied.

Sonnier, wearing blue jeans and a blue T-shirt, was then strapped into the death chair. Witnesses said he appeared to be smiling.

At 12:07, his body was jolted with 2,000 volts of electricity for 20 seconds, followed by 500 volts for 10 seconds. The sequence was repeated.

There was no movement after the second jolt.

The way was cleared for the execution Wednesday when the five courts turned down a plea to stop it. The U.S. Supreme Court, the last of the five, turned Sonnier down only five minutes after his attorneys filed their petition.

Gov. Edwin W. Edwards then decided not to intervene, telephoning the condemned man to convey his decision personally.

In his appeal, Sonnier’s attorney William Quigley said a former Angola inmate has told him he heard Sonnier’s brother confess to the crime.

Quigley said he received a call “out of the blue” Wednesday morning from Richard Silvestri, who was in Angola from 1978 to 1981 and was at one time assigned to a cell next to the one occupied by Eddie Sonnier, who is serving a life sentence for the slayings of the teen-age couple.

Silvestri said he could testify that Eddie Sonnier admitted to him that he, and not his brother, was the trigger man in the slayings. Eddie Sonnier had written a letter to Edwards admitting he fired the shots and asking that Edwards spare Elmo Sonnier’s life.

The information on Silvestri was filed with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court after three other courts had rejected earlier appeals to delay the execution.

State District Judge Thomas Bienvenue, the state Supreme Court and U.S. District Judge John Shaw all refused to stop the execution. But Quigley said that when those courts ruled they did not have the new information.

The 5th Circuit, which was given the new information, denied the stay request Wednesday evening.

The Supreme Court also rejected the bid without comment on a 6-2 vote. Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan dissented as they always do in death penalty cases and Justice William Rehnquist did not participate.

The appeals all centered on the question of who pulled the trigger when Bourque and LeBlanc were killed. There was no question of whether the Sonnier brothers were involved in the crime, only which one acted as the trigger man.

Elmo and Eddie, 27, were both sentenced to die for the deaths, but the state Supreme Court changed Eddie’s sentence to life in prison because trial testimony indicated he only held the flashlight while his brother shot the youths to death.

Prosecutors said the two pretended to be law enforcement officers, abducted the couple from a lonely lovers lane near New Iberia and drove them more than 20 miles to a remote sugar cane field, where both raped the girl while the boy was handcuffed to a tree.

Both teen-agers were murdered, shot three times each in the back of the head with a .22-caliber rifle.

Although Eddie initially was given the death penalty, he managed to “give it back,” as he put it, by claiming he did not pull the trigger. It was after his sentence was reduced to life in prison that he first said he was the trigger man.

A state district court, however, did not believe him when he testified in Elmo’s trial. Elmo was sentenced to die for the crime.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/angel/articles/timespicayune45.html

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

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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.

Ernest Knighton Louisiana Execution

Ernest Knighton was executed by the State of Louisiana for a murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents Ernest Knighton would cause the death of a gas station manager during a robbery. Ernest Knighton would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Ernest Knighton would be executed by way of the electric chair on October 30, 1984

Ernest Knighton More News

Convicted killers were executed within seven minutes of each other in Texas and Louisiana early today, one reciting the 23rd Psalm on his way to the electric chair for killing a gas station owner and the other saying goodbye to his death row friends.

‘I’m going home,’ Earnest Knighton, 38, said moments before he was electrocuted at 12:17 a.m. CST in ‘Gruesome Gertie,’ the inmates’ name for the electric chair at the state prison in Angola, La.

Seven minutes later and 235 miles away in Huntsville, Texas, Thomas Andy Barefoot, 39, an oilfield roughneck who said God had promised to spare him, was pronounced dead from a lethal injection.

‘I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to anybody,’ Barefoot said.

After being injected Barefoot turned to a reporter who witnessed the execution and asked her to say farewell to his friends on death row.

‘… tell all my friends hello,’ he said. ‘You know who they are. Charlie Bass, David Powell …’

At that point Barefoot broke off with a choke and a gasp and he let out three short, sharp, soft cries and died.

Knighton and Barefoot became the 27th and 28th people executed since the Supreme Court lifted the ban on the death penalty eight years ago. Attorneys for a woman on North Carolina’s death row filed appeals Monday to prevent her from becoming the first woman executed in 22 years on Friday.

The Supreme Court and other courts rejected last-minute appeals Monday from both Barefoot and Knighton and the governors of Louisiana and Texas refused to intervene.

Knighton’s lawyers claimed he was drug-crazed when he killed Ralph Shell of Bossier City, La., during a March 17, 1981, robbery that netted $300.

Barefoot, convicted in the 1978 shooting death of Carl LeVin, a Harker Heights, Texas, police officer, had received four stays of execution. His attorneys argued psychiatric testimony used in the punishment phase was obtained illegally and important information was suppressed.

As he was led down the long corridor to the death chamber, Knighton recited the 23rd Psalm, raising his voice as he crossed the threshold, saying, ‘Surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’

In a written statement, he apologized for his crime but spoke out against his punishment, saying, ‘You don’t teach respect for life by killing. I urge you not to kill anyone else.’

Barefoot asked for forgiveness and said he held no grudges.

‘I’ve been praying all day for Carl LeVin’s wife to drive the bitterness from her heart because that bitterness in her heart will send her to hell,’ Barefoot said as he was strapped to a table prior to injection

‘I want everybody to know I hold nothing against them. I forgive them all. I hope everybody I’ve done anything wrong to will forgive me.’

Small groups of protesters gathered outside both prisons.

A crowd of mostly students from nearby Sam Houston State University cheered and waved placards ridiculing Barefoot outside the prison in Huntsville. One woman carried a 4-foot-long mock syringe.

About 30 people protesting the death penalty met outside Angola State Penitentiary. The were met by a handful of demonstrators in favor of the death penalty. Both stood quietly facing each other across the road into the prison.

In North Carolina, attorneys for Margie Velma Barfield filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court to stop her Friday execution.

The 52-year-old grandmother admitted poisoning her mother and three others, but has said she was addicted to drugs and did not know what she was doing.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/30/Killers-executed-in-Louisiana-and-Texas/5829467960400/