US Executions | My Crime Library

John Rook North Carolina Execution

John Rook was executed by the State of North Carolina for the sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents John Rook would kidnap the victim who was later sexually assaulted before being run over by a car. John Rock would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. John Rook would be executed by lethal injection on September 19 1986

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Wearing his favorite cowboy boots and proclaiming ‘Freedom, freedom — at last, man!’ John Rook was executed by injection today for the rape and murder of a 25-year-old nurse.

Rook, 27, lost his bid for a stay on 5-4 Supreme Court vote shortly before midnight EDT and was wheeled into the Central Prison execution chamber about 2 a.m. wearing a Harley-Davidson T-shirt, blue jeans and his Dingo boots.

Freedom, freedom — at last, man! It’s been a good one,’ said Rook, a feisty inmate who stood 5-foot-4 with braided, waist-length blond hair and a beard that hung midway down his chest.

John Rook, whose execution had been postponed five times, received a lethal injection of the muscle relaxant procuronium bromide and was pronounced dead at 2:11 a.m., corrections spokeswoman Renee McCoy said.

‘He seemed to be very peaceful,’ said witness Lisa Shell. ‘He took several deep breaths (and) sighs and then there was a sunken impression on his chest.’

John Rook was convicted of killing Ann Marie Roche, 25, a Raleigh nurse he abducted and raped during a 1980 drinking spree. The woman was beaten with a tire iron, slashed with a knife, run over with a car and left to die in an isolated field, police said. Her body was still warm when found the next day — evidence her death had been long and painful, experts said

John Rook ordered a final meal of 12 hot dogs ‘all the way’ Thursday but only ate three, McCoy said. He made a point of telling officials that he planned to wear his Harley-Davidson T-Shirt and Dingo boots to the execution chamber.

John Rook was the 66th person nationwide and the third in North Carolina to be executed since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. Velma Barfield, a 54-year-old grandmother put to death in 1984, was the state’s last execution.

Texas leads the nation in the number of post-1976 executions with 18.

John Rook had asked the Supreme Court to grant the stay on grounds the death penalty discriminates against males, poor people and those whose victims are white. Rook and Roche were white.

Rook’s attorneys said in asking Gov. Jim Martin to grant clemency that the state is partly to blame for failing to intervene in Rook’s family situation. Rook’s brother said their father once stripped young Rook naked and beat him with a belt until he bled, and often gave Rook liquor and beer as early as age 4 to watch him get ‘stone drunk.’

Martin’s decision not to grant clemency came about 12 hours before the scheduled execution.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/09/19/Rook-executed-for-killing-nurse/5028527486400/

Chester Wicker Texas Execution

Chester Wicker was executed by the State of Texas for the kidnapping and murder of a college student. According to court documents Chester Wicker would kidnap the 22 year old college student, Suzanne Knuth who he later tried to sexually assault before she was strangled and buried alive. Chester Wicker would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Chester Wicker would be executed by lethal injection on August 26, 1986

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Chester Lee Wicker flew into a rage hours before his execution, then quietly went to his death by injection Tuesday for choking and burying a college student alive on an isolated beach in 1980.

The lethal dose of drugs was administered at 12:10 a.m., and Wicker was pronounced dead 10 minutes later.

His only words while strapped to a gurney for the execution were, ”I love you,” spoken to Judith Lamblion, his only personal witness whom prison officials described as a spiritual adviser.

He was the third person put to death in a week in Texas and the 18th since the state resumed executions in 1982. Texas leads the nation in executions since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on the death penalty in 1976. His was the 65th execution in the nation since capital punishment was resumed.

Wicker, who would have turned 38 Thursday, was convicted of kidnaping and murdering Suzanne C. Knuth, 22, a part-time librarian and student at Lamar University in Beaumont. Wicker choked Knuth and buried her alive April 4, 1980, on an isolated peninsula east of Galveston.

Grains of sand were found in Knuth`s lungs.

Wicker`s quiet demeanor on the gurney contrasted to his behavior Monday afternoon.

Prison officials reported that Wicker flew into a rage in his Death Row cell after spending five hours with his mother, grandfather and Lamblion.

When Wicker was returned to his cell from the visit, he threw his electric fan on the floor and stomped on his bag of belongings. Officials said they were unsure what triggered the outburst.

He then calmed down, and Monday evening said, ”OK, I am ready,” after hearing the Supreme Court had rejected his request for an appeal.

He ate a last meal of lettuce, tomatoes and two cartons of milk.

In their unsuccessful appeal for a Supreme Court stay, Wicker`s lawyers argued the state`s death penalty law should be struck down because people convicted of murdering whites are executed more often than those found guilty of killing blacks. Wicker and Knuth were white.

Wicker was arrested 17 days after the murder and led police to the shallow grave where Knuth was buried.

Before murdering Knuth, Wicker was convicted of rape and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1971, but was paroled after serving less than two years. Eight days after his parole, he was arrested in Galveston and charged with aggravated assault and attempted rape. He was sent back to the state prison in 1973 on a seven-year sentence.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-08-27-8603040053-story.html

Larry Smith Texas Execution

Larry Smith was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a store clerk during a robbery. According to court documents Larry Smith and Gloster Smith would rob a 7-11 and in the process Larry would shoot and kill the store clerk. Larry Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Gloster Smith received a life sentence. Larry Smith would be executed by lethal injection on August 22, 1986

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With the execution of two men this week, Texas has put to death 17 people — more than any other state — since 1977 and plans at least one execution per month for the rest of this year, the attorney general said Friday.

Larry Smith, 30, was put to death by injection early Friday for murdering a convenience store manager during a $25 robbery. His execution was the second in Texas in 48 hours. Another death row inmate is scheduled to die Tuesday.

After Larry Smith was pronounced dead, Attorney General Jim Mattox said he expects at least one execution a month in Texas during the remainder of 1986. Two inmates scheduled to die on consecutive days in September are not expected to win stays.

‘I think it will gradually grow more and more, and I think the inmates on death row are sensing, and their lawyers are sensing, that factor, and are gradually realizing there are few issues that affect all cases that remain to be litigated,’ Mattox said.

Although the Supreme Court lifted the nationwide ban on capital punishment in 1976 and the first execution came the next year, Texas didn’t reinstate the practice until 1982.

In just four years, however, Texas is leading the nation in executions, with seven of the 17 executions this year.

As Larry Smith awaited death, he said from the gurney, ‘All I want to do is tell my mother that I love her and to continue on without me and tell her may God bless her. I also want to tell the other guys on death row to continue their struggle to get off death row. That’s about it.’

As the lethal dose of drugs took effect, Smith’s eyelids fluttered several times. He coughed loudly three times before making a choking noise twice and taking a final gulp of air. He was pronounced dead at 12:24 a.m. CDT.

A series of federal courts, including the Supreme Court, rejected requests to block Smith’s execution in the hours before his death.

Another death row inmate, Chester Lee Wicker, is to be executed Tuesday for the 1980 murder of Suzanne C. Knuth. She was abducted from a Beaumont shopping center, choked and buried alive on a Bolivar Peninsula beach

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/08/22/With-the-execution-of-two-men-this-week-Texas/7520072256505/

Randy Woolls Texas Execution

Randy Woolls was executed by the State of Texas for a brutal murder. According to court documents Randy Woolls would rob a ticket seller at a drive in movie theater. Randy Woolls would attack the woman who was stabbed repeatedly before being set on fire. Randy Woolls would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Randy Woolls would be execute by lethal injection on August 20 1986

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An addict helped technicians find veins in his drug-scarred arms as he was executed today for beating, slashing and burning to death a mother of four at a drive-in movie theater where she worked.

″I’d like to say goodbye to my family,″ Randy Lynn Woolls, 36, said in a final statement. ″I love all of them.

″I’d like to tell the people fighting against the death penalty to continue their work. I’d like to say I’m sorry for the victim and family, and I wish there was something I could do to make it all right.″

Woolls was pronounced dead at 12:23 a.m., said Attorney General Jim Mattox.

″He was helpful in flexing his fist in attempting to make his veins come out,″ Mattox said. ″He said because he was a heavy drug user, people would have a difficult time finding his veins.″

The injections were made near a tattoo of a buzzard grasping a syringe on his right arm and pictures of the Grim Reaper and a swastika on his left arm.

The U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Mark White on Tuesday rejected appeals.

Woolls is the 16th Texas inmate put to death since the state resumed executions in 1982 and the fifth this year. He was the 63rd person executed in the United States since the death penalty was restored in 1976.

Woolls said he was introduced to drugs about age 13 and that drug use was responsible for each of his three prison sentences.

″My whole complaint is that I’m being executed for a crime I can’t remember committing,″ he said. ″I was flipped out on drugs.

″I don’t know what’s supposed to be done with me. I don’t know whether I deserve a life sentence. I feel death is a little severe for something that was a mistake.″

The condemned killer said he was high on Valium injections and malt liquor on June 16, 1979, when Betty Stotts, 44, of Kerrville, was killed.

″They said I beat this woman down with a tire tool, cut her throat, then I piled everything in the booth on top of her and set it on fire,″ Woolls said recently. ″Then while this booth is on fire, I’m sitting there selling tickets to people coming into the show. Then I get in her car and drive inside the show and am sitting inside the show in her car when the cops got there. It’s obvious I was out of my mind.″

Kerr County District Attorney Ron Sutton, who prosecuted Woolls’ case, said an autopsy showed Mrs. Stotts was still alive when Woolls set her on fire.

″We had him in the theater in her car. Her blood was on money in the car,″ Sutton said. ″There was no question about guilt or innocence. The punishment was well deserved for the crime he did.″

Mrs. Stotts’ daughter, Deborah, said her mother was a deeply religious person who had a such a premonition of death that she left her husband and four children letters written just a few days before her slaying.

In the letters, found after her death, Mrs. Stotts told her family she would not always be with them in body, but would in spirit.

https://apnews.com/article/332199ef1aabad366a5ee4d90483427e

Michael Smith Virginia Execution

Michael Smith was executed by the State of Virginia for the sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Michael Smith who was just released from prison after serving time for sexual assault would attack, sexually assault and murder a woman. Michael Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Michael Smith would be executed by way of the electric chair on August 31, 1986

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A man who said the devil made him rape and murder a woman has been executed in Virginia’s electric chair after spending 8 1/2 years on death row.

″Father, I am here,″ Michael Marnell Smith said just before the first of two 55-second jolts of current ran through his body Thursday night, a half hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

Smith, 40, who spent more time on death row than anyone else now facing execution in Virginia, died at the State Penitentiary at 11:42 p.m., said Corrections Department spokesman Wayne Farrar.

In a 5-3 decision, the nation’s highest court rejected Smith’s appeal at 11:10 p.m. Earlier in the day, federal district and appeals court judges refused to block the execution, the state’s fifth since it resumed executions in 1982 and first in more than a year. The execution was the nation’s 12th this year.

Smith was condemned for the May 23, 1977, murder of Audrey Jean Weiler, a mother of two who was attacked as she strolled by the James River on her 36th birthday. He had been out of prison for less than five months after serving three years for rape.

In an affidavit, Smith said he met Mrs. Weiler on a beach and helped her pull some thorns from her feet. He then took her to the woods, forced her to disrobe, raped her, choked her, dragged her to the beach, held her head under water, stabbed her three times and left her corpse in the river.

He blamed his crimes on the devil.

Smith appeared dazed when led into the execution chamber, then peered into the witness room, which was occupied by reporters for the first time since the resumption of executions in Virginia. He prayed from the moment he was brought in until the first surge of electricity hit him.

″I come to thee, O Lord,″ he said. ″Father, your holy spirit, accept me, O Lord, I pray.″

″Father,″ he said, ″I am here.″

The prison chaplain responded, ″God bless you,″ as the current jolted Smith’s body.

Outside the prison, about 100 people protested for and against the death penalty.

Smith’s lawyers had requested a stay of execution from the lower courts until the Supreme Court could rule on whether death sentences are applied unfairly against blacks when whites are the victims.

Michael Smith was black and his victim white.

The Supreme Court, without comment, refused to review the appeal, with Justices Harry A. Blackmun, William Brennan Jr. and Thurgood Marshall dissenting, and John Paul Stevens not participating.

Smith had been ″pleasant, cooperative and very much in contact with reality″ as he awaited his execution, said Dwight Perry, operations officer at the penitentiary. Smith, a father of three, was visited by at least three clergymen and a brother during his final hours.

https://apnews.com/article/9eba39e2e8a5e04245421c96ab3e3778