PENA DI MORTE: TEXAS, SI DICE INNOCENTE ANCHE DURANTE ESECUZIONE

Huntsville (Stati Uniti), 8 mar. - Sesta esecuzione dell'anno in Texas, lo Stato che ha negli Usa il dubbio primato in questo campo: 262 in vent'anni, da quando cioe' la pena capitale vi fu ripristinata. La notte scorsa nel penitenziario di Huntsville e' stato giustiziato mediante iniezione letale Gerald Tigner, 29 anni, condannato a morte per l'omicidio nel '93 di Michael Watkins e James Williams, due spacciatori di cocaina presumibilmente uccisi a scopo di rapina; l'assassino, dopo averli crivellati di proiettili, ando' a prendere un'altra rivoltella cosi' da poter proseguire nello scempio. Il processo a carico di Tigner fu alquanto tormentato, ed egli stesso ha continuato a protestarsi innocente mentre gia' le guardie lo avevano legato alla brandina e si apprestavano a somministrargli in vena il veleno. In primo grado, nel '94, l'uomo era stato condannato a morte; ma in sede di appello la sentenza fu annullata per un vizio procedurale e si dovette ripetere il giudizio al termine del quale, tre anni piu' tardi, il verdetto di colpevolezza fu confermato. Come ultima cena il detenuto aveva chiesto pollo fritto con patatine, due hamburger al formaggio, crostata di mele, torta, limonata e gassosa. (AGI)

Texas Executes Man Who Claimed Innocence to the End

Mar 7,

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A convicted double murderer who protested his innocence even while strapped to a gurney awaiting a lethal injection was executed on Thursday at a Texas state prison.

Gerald Tigner, 29, was declared dead at 6:21 p.m. (7:21 p.m. EST) at the state prison in Huntsville, located 75 miles north of Houston, after being injected with a lethal dose of chemicals. He was convicted of shooting to death two men in Waco in 1993 argument while he was out on bail on another murder charge.

Tigner became the sixth prisoner put to death this year by Texas, which leads the United States in executions.

"I got convicted on a false confession because I never admitted to it, but my lawyer did not put this out to the jury. I did not kill those drug dealers," Tigner said while strapped to a gurney in the prison's death chamber, according to a transcript provided by state officials.

Tigner initially was convicted in 1994 in the slayings of Michael Watkins and James Williams. But an appeals court overturned the conviction because prosecutors had failed to provide the defense with a copy of his taped confession within 20 days of the trial as required.

Tigner was convicted and condemned to death again on retrial in 1997.

Tigner, who was 20 at the time of the killings, was convicted of killing Watkins and Williams on Aug. 31, 1993. According to court records, Tigner began firing into a car in which the two victims were located, and then went back to his own vehicle to get another gun when he ran out of bullets.

Watkins was shot 10 times and Williams was hit seven times, including four times in the head. Police found cocaine in their car and their pockets had been turned inside out as if they had been robbed.

For his last meal, Tigner requested fried chicken, french fries, two cheeseburgers, potato chips, apple cobbler, white cake with white frosting, a pitcher of lemonade and a pitcher of Sprite.

Texas has executed 262 people since resuming capital punishment in 1982, six years after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a national death penalty ban.