US Executions | My Crime Library

Jeffrey Barney Texas Execution

Jeffrey Barney was executed by the State of Texas for the sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Jeffrey Barney would get into an argument with the victim who he would then sexually assault and then strangle with a phone cord. Jeffrey Barney would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Jeffrey Barney would be executed by lethal injection on April 16, 1986

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Jeffrey Barney, who said he deserved to die for the rape and murder of a minister’s wife, was executed by injection early Wednesday.

Barney, 28, who dismissed his attorney and rejected appeals of his conviction, was pronounced dead at 1:22 a.m. EST, authorities said.

‘I’m sorry for what I done, and I deserve it, and I hope Jesus forgives me,’ Barney said as he lay on the gurney just before he was executed.

One tear rolled down his cheek, but he smiled and said to the Rev. Freddie Wier, his only witness, ‘May God bless you, Freddie.’

‘May God bless you, son,’ the Harris County Jail chaplain responded.

‘I’m tingling all over,’ Barney said after the deadly solution had begun to seep into his veins. He jerked, let out what sounded like a snore, then lay still.

‘He was very calm, cheerful, nearly joking with the chaplain and other people as he was prepared,’ said Attorney General Jim Mattox, who witnessed the execution. ‘He seemed resolved to what was taking place and even very glad it was taking place.’

He was the 12th inmate in Texas and the 55th in the nation to be executed since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. A Florida inmate, Daniel Morris Thomas, was executed at 12:19 p.m. EST Tuesday

Barney, described as ‘calm and in a good mood,’ had awaited his execution in a cell near the execution chamber, eating a final meal of frosted flakes, visiting with Wier and playing dominoes with a prison officer. Wier was Barney’s only witness.

Barney, a native of Dayton, Ohio, requested sausage pizza and milk for lunch and asked for two boxes of breakfast cereal and a pint of milk for his final meal.

Barney, who admitted the brutality of his crime, fired his lawyer and refused to authorize any appeals. His conviction and death sentence were upheld during a state appeal guaranteed by law.

He was convicted of killing Ruby Mae Longsworth, 54, in her Pasadena, Texas, home Nov. 24, 1981, while her husband was attending a ministers’ convention.

‘I don’t want to live the rest of my life in prison,’ Barney told reporters earlier this year, adding he deserved to die and was willing to administer the lethal injection himself.

‘If someone had done that to my mother, (execution) wouldn’t have been enough punishment,’ Barney said. ‘It’s been too easy for me. I just sit there in my cell every day. I’m a loner. That’s the way I prefer it.’

Houston lawyer Mary Moore offered to appeal on Barney’s behalf, but he refused her efforts and a Houston judge granted Barney’s request to have her removed from the case.

About 30 students from nearby Sam Houston State University who favor the death penalty gathered, drinking and giggling, at an outdoor death watch party about a block from the death chamber.

‘We’re for it until they come up withsomething better,’ one said of capital punishment.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/04/16/Jeffrey-Allen-Barney-who-said-he-deserved-to-die/6421514011600/

Daniel Thomas Florida Execution

Daniel Thomas was executed by the State of Florida for a sexual assault and murder. According to court documents Daniel Thomas would break into a home where he would shoot the male homeowner before sexually assaulting the man’s wife. Daniel Thomas would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Daniel Thomas would be executed by way of the electric chair on April 15 1986

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Kicking, cursing and fighting with five Death Row guards, ski-mask killer Daniel Thomas was strapped into Florida’s electric chair Tuesday and executed for murdering a man and raping his wife as her husband lay dying.

Veteran observers said the struggle was the first to take place in Florida State Prison’s death room within memory.

Cursing and screaming ″Get off me 3/8 Get off me 3/8″ Thomas, 37, was subdued after a seven-minute struggle during which he kicked one guard in the groin and tried to bite another on the arm.

He was pronounced dead at 12:19 p.m. EST – the 14th man electrocuted in the state since 1979, after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty.

″It was violent. It was the first time this has happened in my experience, … and I’ve never heard of it before,″ said prison spokesman Vernon Bradford.

Daniel Thomas, a member of the ″ski-mask gang″ that rampaged through rural central Florida for 10 months in 1975 and 1976, was convicted of the New Year’s Day 1976 shooting death of Charles Anderson, 48.

The killer forced Anderson’s wife, Betty, to have sex with him as Anderson bled to death in their Polk County home.

During the death-chamber melee, Thomas, about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, slid down into the chair, his legs thrashing wildly at the men trying to restrain him.

Guards, assisted by a doctor and a physician’s assistant, managed to stop Thomas’ outburst and pin him to the three-legged, oak electric chair. A strap was placed around his chin.

Prison Superintendent Richard Dugger then approached the condemned man, leaned over and spoke directly into his face, apparently telling him he would not be able to read his last statement unless he settled down.

Panting wildly for about 20 seconds, Thomas quieted and began reading from a yellow legal sheet in a low voice, much of it incomprehensible to 19 witnesses, stunned by the struggle they had observed through large windows.

″We are human tools, political pawns, political human sacrifices for the politicians,″ Thomas mumbled, referring to Florida’s 241 death row prisoners.

The black-hooded executioner threw the switch sending 2,000 volts through the prisoner’s body at 12:14 p.m. Thomas was pronounced dead five minutes later.

Gov. Bob Graham, in a statement in Tallahassee after Thomas’ sentence was carried out, drew a parallel to the U.S. raid on Libya.

″The taking of human life is the most difficult action of government, whether it occurs on foreign soil or within our state,″ Graham said.

″Society must be prepared to defend itself against those who have little regard for human life by invoking this ultimate penalty,″ Graham said.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal about six minutes before Thomas entered the death chamber. It was Thomas’ second death warrant. He escaped the electric chair in October 1982, receiving a stay from a federal judge just hours before his scheduled date.

It was the first execution in Florida in almost 11 months and came on the ninth anniversary of the imposition of Thomas’ death sentence.

Earlier this week, Mrs. Anderson said Thomas’ execution might help relieve the sleepless nights she had experienced since her husband’s murder.

″Everyone gives more sympathy to the criminals than to the victims,″ Mrs. Anderson said. ″The victims have to live with this. Even after he (Thomas) is dead and gone, they’ll still be living with it.″

https://apnews.com/article/ad166994ad2a60e351bbb6e18177b296

Arthur Jones Alabama Execution

Arthur Jones was executed by the State of Alabama for the murder of a taxi driver. According to court documents Arthur Jones would fatally shoot taxi driver William Hosea Waymon during a robbery. Arthur Jones would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Arthur Jones would be executed by way of the electric chair on March 21 1986

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Inmates shouted and clanged on prison bars today as double murderer Arthur Lee Jones Jr. was led to the electric chair and executed for shooting a 71- year-old cab driver to death during a robbery.

Arthur Jones, 47, who was first arrested 30 years ago and came within 16 hours of execution in 1984, was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m., seven minutes after a 30-second surge of 1,900 volts passed through his stocky, 5-foot-3 frame.

His face was covered with a black veil that hung from the front of a metal skullcap containing electrodes, and his feet didn’t reach the floor as he sat in the electric chair known as ″Yellow Mama″ for its garish color.

Arthur Jones ″seemed to be thinking and getting control of himself″ as he was led into the death chamber to the sound of inmates shouting and clanging on the bars in Holman Prison, said state Prison Commissioner Freddie Smith.

″He was calm and collected,″ Smith said. ″There was, as we predicted, no last remarks whatsoever.″

Jones, a Muslim who argued that those of his faith don’t steal or kill and that police had framed him for the 1981 slaying of cabbie William Hosea Waymon, was the 53rd person executed since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. He also was under a death sentence for the murder of Vaughn Thompson, 21, during another robbery in 1981.

He was the first person executed in Alabama since 1983, when an execution that took 14 minutes raised calls for changing the method of death.

Jones was executed after after the U.S. Supreme Court refused late Thursday on a 5-4 vote to delay it and Gov. George C. Wallace declined to commute the sentence to life in prison.

Wallace ″prayed extensively about it and read his (Jones’) record and decided not to grant a stay,″ said Smith, who was on the telephone with the governor throughout the execution.

Warden Willie Johnson, 43, a 20-year veteran of the prison system, threw the switch that killed Jones. It was Johnson’s first execution.

″When you’re poor and hired out, you do what’s required of you,″ he said.

John Furman of Mobile, Jones’ attorney and one of the witnesses to the execution, said Jones had lost contact with his relatives but events leading up to the execution had brought some of them together.

Jones spent about eight hours Thursday with two sisters and a female cousin. Smith said Jones spoke briefly by telephone with his estranged wife, whom he did not identify, about 1 1/2 hours before the execution.

He ate a last meal of pink salmon, cole slaw, candied yams, chilled peaches and a grape drink, officials said.

″I believe the state of Alabama has fulfilled a solemn responsibility to its citizens tonight by executing Arthur Lee Jones,″ Attorney General Charles Graddick said. ″Jones was a habitual offender who was given chance after chance to reform.″

Death-penalty opponents rallied Thursday at the Capitol in Montgomery.

https://apnews.com/article/1e8c7580536b34df4a853df73793318c

Charlie Bass Texas Execution

Charlie Bass was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a city Marshall. According to court documents Charlie Bass was stopped by Houston City Marshall Charles Baker when a fight ensued and Bass would fatally shoot Baker. Charlie Bass would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Charlie Bass would be executed by lethal injection on March 12 1986

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A man convicted of murdering a city marshal in a Houston shootout was put to death by injection early today after telling his weeping mother, ″Don’t feel bad, Mama. I deserve this.″

″Tell everybody goodbye,″ Charles Bass, 29, told his mother, Rose England, who was among witnesses to the execution.

″God’s going to take care of you,″ she replied. ″I love you, sweetheart.″

Bass took two deep breaths, looked at her, then stared at the ceiling. He was pronounced dead at 12:21 a.m., said Attorney General Jim Mattox.

The execution at the Texas Department of Corrections’ Wall Unit was the second in the United States this year and the 52nd since the Supreme Court allowed states to resume capital punishment in 1976.

Another condemned killer, Roger ″Animal″ DeGarmo, had also been scheduled for execution early today, but won a stay from a federal judge in Houston Tuesday.

Bass appealed to the Supreme Court for a stay, but the court turned the request down in a 7-2 vote late Tuesday, rejecting arguments that he didn’t get a fair trial because his attorney allegedly had a conflict of interest.

He was convicted in 1980 in the August 1979 slaying of Houston City Marshal Charles Henry Baker, who along with another officer investigating a $300 holdup stopped Bass as he was walking down a street. In a scuffle that ensued, Bass and Baker traded gunfire.

Both were wounded, and Bass again shot Baker while fleeing. He was arrested four days later in Kentucky after police were tipped off by his relatives.

Bass had insisted Baker was shot in self-defense.

Bert Graham, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted Bass, said the execution was ″a matter of self-defense for society.″

″You never wish some ill on anyone, but he has demonstrated that if society doesn’t put an end to his life, he is going to put an end to some innocent’s life,″ Graham said.

Bass’ criminal record included lengthy juvenile detention. He also served a prison term for burglary. A counselor testified at his trial that Bass once told of stabbing his mother in the back.

Mattox said he was surprised by the execution because many inmates have obtained stays. ″But as he said, he felt like he was getting something he deserved.″

DeGarmo’s attorneys argued successfully Tuesday that people opposed to the death penalty were excluded from the jury in his trial.

″I am unhappy for myself but am happy for my people,″ said DeGarmo, who had demanded to be put to death, but requested a stay because of his family.

Had Bass and DeGarmo both been put to death, it would have been the first double execution in a state since 1976 and the first in Texas since 1951.

Friends visited both inmates Tuesday. Bass ate a plain cheese sandwich as his final meal late in the evening, and a chaplain gave him Holy Communion.

DeGarmo gained notoriety when he auctioned off three of the five witness seats a convict is allowed in the death chamber, and promised to give a play- by-play account of his last minutes of life. Seven people bid for the seats, and two offered $1,500 apiece. DeGarmo, who refused to identify the bidders, said the money would be divided between his family and the victim’s.

He was sentenced to death for the 1979 slaying of Kimberly Ann Strickler, a 20-year-old Houston hematologist who was shot to death as she lay in the trunk of her car after being kidnapped from a shopping center parking lot.

The first execution this year was that of James Terry Roach, 25, who was electrocuted in South Carolina Jan. 10 for murdering two teen-agers when he was 17 years old

https://apnews.com/article/194067a1e2f12d79087bc35f1d9d0bbf

Morris Mason Virginia Execution

Morris Mason was executed by the State of Virginia for the sexual assault and murder of an elderly woman. According to court documents Morris Mason would sexually assault, murder and then set the house on fire of the elderly victim. Morris Mason who was a serial rapist would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Morris Mason would be executed by way of the electric chair on June 25 1985

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Morris Mason, convicted in a 1978 crime spree, went calmly and silently to his death in the electric chair after efforts to block the execution because of his mental impairment failed.

Mason, a 32-year-old laborer, was led to the basement death chamber at the state penitentiary about four hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final appeal, said prison spokeswoman Kathi King. He made no statement.

He was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m. Tuesay, Ms. King said.

Mason was convicted of raping and murdering Margaret K. Hand, 71, who was beaten to death. Her hand was nailed to a chair and her house was set afire.

He also confessed to raping and murdering another elderly woman, raping a 12-year-old girl and maiming her 13-year-old sister, a two-week string of acts he said were prompted by voices ″telling me to destroy something, tear up something.″

The Supreme Court voted 7-2 Tuesday night against granting a stay, the fourth time justices declined to hear an appeal.

Mason’s lawyer, J. Lloyd Snook, had contended in appeals that Mason’s IQ of 66, or mildly retarded, and paranoid schizophrenia made the death penalty inappropriate. In IQ of 90 to 109 is normal.

He said Mason had the mind of a child and was unaware he was about to die.

″In my opinion, he knew all the time what was going on,″ said Toni Bair, warden of Mecklenburg Correctional Center. ″He was totally calm, very coherent, calm.″

Snook said Mason appeared ″quiet, nervous. He didn’t have a whole lot to say. He was determined to be strong.″

″The last thing he said to me was ‘Warden, I gave you my word that I would go out strong, and I’m going out strong.’ He told me that twice,″ Bair said.

Almost 200 death penalty advocates gathered outside the prison. They cheered loudly at word the execution had been carried out.

About 100 anti-death penalty protestors staged a quiet candlelight vigil.

Gov. Charles S. Robb, Mason’s last hope for a reprieve, declined to intervene, despite a telephoned appeal from an aide to U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice.

Conyers aide Julian Epstein spoke with Robb on the congressman’s behalf.

″We have been very disturbed over the whole pattern of racial discrimination ,″ he said in a telephone interview from Conyers’ Washington, D.C., office. Mason was black.

″We don’t get involved in every case, but this one seems to stand out,″ Epstein said.

He said Conyers agreed with Snook that Mason should have had an independent mental evaluation before being sentenced.

Mason’s was the third execution in the last eight months in Virginia and the fourth since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the death penalty in 1976.

https://apnews.com/article/7810c2a047380d56ef609f851dd2a788