ESEGUITA CONDANNA DONNA SERIAL KILLER FLORIDA

 NEW YORK, 9 OTT - La condanna a morte di Aileen Wuornos, una delle rare donne serial killer americane, e' stata eseguita nel carcere di Starke, in FLORIDA, con un'iniezione

letale. L'esecuzione e' avvenuta alle 9:30 locali, le 15:30 in Italia.

   La Wuornos, 46 anni, era stata condannata per aver ucciso sei uomini tra il 1989 e il 1991, dopo averli adescati come prostituta sulle autostrade della FLORIDA. Nei mesi scorsi aveva interrotto la catena degli appelli giudiziari, per poter essere giustiziata.

MISTICO ADDIO DI UNA SERIAL KILLER/ANSA

'TORNO CON LA NAVE-MADRE', POI CITA' GESU' E FILM FANTASCIENZA

   (di Marco Bardazzi) - NEW YORK, 9 OTT - Una morte serena, accompagnata da un confuso delirio mistico, dopo una vita disperata sfociata in una catena di delitti. L'America, impaurita in questi giorni dal serial killer del Maryland, ha detto addio a un incubo analogo di una decina di anni fa: Aileen Wuornos, la 'damigella della morte' che terrorizzo' la FLORIDA, e' stata giustiziata con un'iniezione letale dopo aver scelto volontariamente di anticipare l'appuntamento con il boia.

   Fedele alla sua controversa immagine, che ne aveva fatto anche la protagonista di film, libri e un'opera musicale, la serial killer lesbica si e' lasciata alle spalle un ultimo, criptico messaggio. ''Sto salpando con la Roccia'', ha detto mentre era distesa sul lettino nella camera della morte del carcere di Starke. ''Tornero' come in 'Independence Day' con Gesu', con la nave-madre e tutto il resto. Tornero',  tornero'...''.

   La Roccia dovrebbe essere un'immagine biblica di Gesu', mentre il riferimento cinematografico e' al film di fantascienza del 1996 che descriveva l'attacco alla Terra da parte di una gigantesca nave aliena.

   La Wuornos, 46 anni, era stata condannata a morte per l' uccisione di sei uomini tra il 1989 e il 1991, tutti adescati in giorni di pioggia sulle autostrade della FLORIDA, che la donna batteva come prostituta. Aileen ha confessato anche un settimo delitto, del quale pero' non e' mai stato trovato il cadavere della vittima.

   I delitti erano motivati dal bisogno di denaro, che serviva alla serial killer anche per mantenere la sua amante. Ma erano profondamente collegati anche all'odio per gli uomini che la donna aveva sviluppato nel corso di un'esistenza travagliata.

   Abbandonata alla nascita dai genitori, la Wuornos era diventata una vagabonda a 11 anni, fu violentata a 13 e divenne madre a 14, prima di perdersi in un vortice di alcool, droga e prostituzione.    ''Odio profondamente la vita umana e se non mi giustiziate uccidero' di nuovo'', aveva detto nei mesi scorsi ai vari giudici ai quali si era rivolta per ottenere di accelerare l'iter dell'esecuzione. L'assassina aveva licenziato gli avvocati e rinunciato agli appelli giudiziari, per poter essere mandata nella camera della morte. E' stata la seconda donna a venir giustiziata in FLORIDA da quando lo stato ha reintrodotto la pena capitale 26 anni fa.

   Aileen si e' distesa sul lettino nel carcere di Starke alle 9:30 del mattino ora locale (le 15:30 in Italia) ed e' stata dichiarata morta 17 minuti dopo. Ad assistere all'esecuzione c'erano i parenti di molte delle sue vittime.

   La sera prima di morire, la donna ha pregato con un'amica, Dawn Botkins: ''Era estremamente felice - ha raccontato la Botkins - pronta per andarsene. Aveva trovato la sua pace''.

Secondo l'amica, la killer ha rifiutato l'ultima cena, ha pregato per le famiglie delle vittime e ha chiesto il loro perdono, ma non sembra averlo ottenuto: ''E' stata una morte troppo veloce - ha detto Terry Griffiths, parente di un uomo ucciso dalla Wuornos - avrebbe dovuto soffrire di piu'. Ma sono contenta che se ne sia andata''.  

Miami Herald

Execution brings death penalty to the forefront of governor's race

BY PETER WALLSTEN AND LESLEY CLARK

[email protected]

Bill McBride, visiting Miami on Tuesday in his campaign for governor, told the Miami Herald that he probably would not have signed the death warrants for Aileen Wournos and another convicted killer, Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco. Here he stops in for an on-air session at the Miami Beach studios of WMBM Radio.

 As the nation's first female serial killer prepared to die today on a gurney at Florida State Prison, the state's troubled death penalty system emerged as a point of contention between the two leading candidates for governor.

 Democrat Bill McBride said Tuesday that he ''probably'' would not have signed death warrants for Aileen Wuornos and another convicted killer executed earlier this month, Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco, because the state Supreme Court has yet to rule on a case that could affect the use of the death penalty in Florida.

 Death penalty critics have assailed Republican Gov. Jeb Bush in recent weeks for signing the two death warrants even though Florida's system is in legal limbo after a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding the role of judges in sentencing inmates to death.

 Bush's critics accuse him of signing the warrants just weeks before the Nov. 5 election purely for political gain -- a charge Bush denies.

 McBride, who supports the death penalty, took pains not to appear critical of Bush, saying he did not want to politicize the issue.

 But he told The Herald Editorial Board in a Tuesday interview, ``I probably wouldn't have [signed the warrants] at this stage.''

 ''I would be in no hurry while this confusion is going on,'' McBride added. ``I would want to put more finality into the system to feel a little more comfortable with it.''

 His comments are consistent with his call in 2000 for a moratorium on the death penalty amid questions of innocent people being sentenced to death. But his position stands out in a state where embracing the death penalty is all but a requirement for candidates seeking statewide office.

 McBride called for the moratorium when he was managing partner of the Holland & Knight law firm, renowned for its practice of representing Death Row inmates for free.

 The Bush campaign was quick late Tuesday to seize on McBride's stance as evidence that the candidate is light on specifics of how he would reduce crime. McBride has focused his campaign on education issues and has not released detailed plans for fighting crime.

 ''It's telling that the only words Bill McBride has uttered on the issue of crime and punishment are words on behalf of those convicted as opposed to the rights of the victims,'' Bush spokesman Todd Harris said.

 McBride deputy campaign manager Mo Elleithee fired back, saying that McBride ``has been very careful about not politicizing an issue this important, which is a lesson I think the governor's campaign can learn from.''

 ''Bill McBride has been very clear throughout this entire campaign about his support for the death penalty,'' Elleithee said. ``But I think his position of ensuring that only the guilty are executed is one a majority of Floridians agree with.''

 `A DUTY'

 Bush has defended signing the warrants, saying that the state Supreme Court had numerous opportunities to halt the two executions if it was worried about the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

 Both Wuornos and Sanchez-Velasco volunteered to die and dropped appeals.

 ''I have a duty to do this,'' Bush said. ``It's not one I look forward to. And I don't think delaying is responsible.''

 Bush said last week he was frustrated with continued delays in the system -- delays he and GOP lawmakers tried to quell with a new law passed in a special session in 2000, later ruled unconstitutional by the state high court.

 ''It's very frustrating, the appeals and how it's been twisted to the point where it is very difficult,'' the governor said.

 ``But I'm not to the point where I just throw my hands up in the air yet.''

 The issue could be critical in the moderate and conservative hamlets of Central and Northern Florida, where the death penalty is popular.

 Both McBride and Bush will strive to appear tough on crime over the next four weeks, but the GOP is likely to try to use McBride's support for a moratorium as a tool to paint him as soft on crime.

 The state's leading police union, the Police Benevolent Association, which backs Bush, asked in a news release Tuesday where McBride where he stands on the issue.

 Polls show Floridians generally favor capital punishment, but many are concerned about the prospect of innocent people being sentenced to death.

 Florida accounts for 22 of the 102 Death Row inmates nationwide who were released amid questions of innocence.

 ''I believe in the death penalty, but I don't think right now, with questions about inconsistencies between the federal and state law, I would think you have to take a step back and look at it,'' McBride said. ``We have more people released from Death Row than any other state. The system isn't working well.''

 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this year in an Arizona case that juries, not judges, should make the final determination on whether a defendant is sentenced to death.

 The Florida Supreme Court is still reviewing whether the ruling affects the state's capital punishment system. In Florida, it takes only a simple majority of a jury to recommend death, but a judge has the final say. In Arizona, juries play no role in sentencing.

 CAREFUL WORDS

 McBride was careful Tuesday not to directly criticize Bush for his decisions on the executions this month.

 ''I'm not faulting the governor at all for what he did,'' he said. ``I'm not suggesting at all he did the right or wrong thing. He may have determined the inconsistencies didn't matter when he made his decision, I just don't know.''

Miami Herald

 Aileen Wuornos, who killed 7 men, put to death at Florida State Prison

By PHIL LONG

STARKE - Aileen Carol Wuornos, called the "Damsel of Death," was executed voluntarily and peacefully by lethal injection Wednesday morning, dying much more gently than any of the seven men she shot to death a dozen years ago.

 "She was extremely happy, ready to go. She has made her peace," said Dawn Botkins, a long-time friend who spent three hours with Wuornos at Florida State Prison late Tuesday night and will take her ashes back to Michigan for burial.

 The two women prayed together Tuesday night, Botkins said. She said Wuornos, on her knees, prayed for the families of her seven victims and asked forgiveness for the pain that she caused them.

 She was pronounced dead at 9:47 a.m. said Jill Bratina, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush.

 Wuornos, 46, hitchhiked the highways and interstates of North Central Florida, where she robbed and murdered her middle-age victims over 13 months in 1989-90.

 She was executed for the shooting death of Richard Mallory, 51, an appliance store owner from Clearwater whose body was found near Daytona Beach in 1991. Wuornos confessed to killing six other men, including one whose body has never been found.

 Wuornos, one of the nation's rare female serial killers, was only the second woman to be executed in Florida and the second inmate to be put to death in a week.

 Wuornos voluntarily ended all appeals, saying she wanted to end a tragic life of violence. She was abandoned at birth by her parents, raped before she was a teen and gave birth to a son before she had a driver's license.

 Late Tuesday the Florida Supreme Court rejected last-minute appeals by anti-death penalty activists who renewed claims that she was mentally ill and should not be executed.

 Last week, Wuornos passed the last of several competency tests - a review by three psychiatrists who said that she met the standard of understanding the meaning of the death penalty and knowing why it was being given to her.

 Wuornos didn't order a last meal and skipped the regular fare of barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, apple crisp and tea, Sterling Ivey, a Department of Corrections spokesman, said.

 Instead, Botkins said Wuornos ate a hamburger and other snack food from the prison's canteen during their three-hour meeting. After the visit with Botkins, she drank a cup of coffee and slept soundly from 1 a.m. to 5:30 a.m., then she awoke to a prison surrounded in fog and drizzle.

 She was in a good mood Wednesday morning, Ivey said.

 Across the street from Florida State Prison, more than a dozen TV satellite trucks and scores of news people gathered alongside protesters with messages both for and against the death penalty.

 Inside the fog-shrouded prison, after no last-minute reprieve and at the warden's nod, an anonymous executioner pushed the plungers on three needles sending a deadly concoction of muscle relaxants and heart-stopping chemicals into Wuornos's veins until she stopped breathing.

 Botkins and Wuornos became friends during their high school days in Michigan. They renewed their friendship after Wuornos was arrested in 1990, exchanging frequent letters. Wuornos wrote often to Botkins' two children, warning them to live a more righteous life than she had. Botkins also visited Wuornos in prison, sometimes twice a year.

 Wuornos claimed to be an exit-to-exit hooker who worked the freeways and back roads of North Central Florida.

 Law enforcement investigators are not certain that all seven of the men she killed picked her up for sex. In some cases, she may have posed as a traveler in distress or as someone merely needing directions.

 Wuornos was an alcohol and drug abuser who robbed to make ends meet and to get gifts for her lesbian lover, police said.

 She died without saying what made her start killing men.

 She was also one of a growing number of Death Row "volunteers," condemned people who want their sentences carried out.

 Gov. Jeb Bush signed Wuornos's death warrant even though the state's death penalty law is under review by the Florida Supreme Court. Two other inmates have been issued stays of execution.

 Wuornos was one of 52 women on Death Rows throughout the U.S. and one of three in Florida. The other two are Anna Cardona, from Miami-Dade County and Virginia Lazelere, from Volusia County.

 In the past 100 years, 48 women have been executed in the United States, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The only woman to be executed in Florida was Judy Buenoano on March 30, 1998.

9 October, 2002, 

'Damsel of Death' executed

Wuornos said she "seriously hates human life"

 A woman serial killer convicted of the murder of six men has been executed in Florida's state prison.

Aileen Wuornos, 46, died at 0947 local time (1347GMT) in the prison at Starke, after being injected with a lethal cocktail of drugs, according to a spokeswoman for Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

 Governor Jeb Bush ordered the execution

 Wuornos, nicknamed the Damsel of Death, spent 10 years on death row in Florida, after being convicted of killing six men when she worked as a prostitute on Florida's highways in 1989 and 1990.

 Her killings began with Richard Mallory on 13 December 1989, and ended in January 1991 when she was arrested in Daytona Beach, Florida.

 She is thought to have killed eight men in total.

 Wuornos originally claimed she had killed in self-defence, after being raped.

 Click here to see the map of the killings

 Several years later, she admitted planning the murders with robbery as her motive.

 At her 1992 trial, State Attorney John Tanner described her as "a homicidal predator".

 "She was like a spider on the side of the road, waiting for her prey - men," he said.

 Rejecting appeals

 In April this year Wuornos refused to go along with another appeal.

 "I would prefer to cut to the chase and get on with an execution," she wrote.

 "Taxpayers' money has been squandered, and the families have suffered enough."

 Wuornos became a celebrity, and books, a film and an opera were written about her case.

 Last week, Governor Bush lifted a stay on her execution when a team of psychiatrists ruled that she was sane.

 'Election ploy'

 Wuornos was abandoned by her mother as an infant, and her father was a convicted child molester who committed suicide in jail.

 She became pregnant at 14, but had to give up the child.

 In April, she wrote to the authorities: "I have hate crawling through my system.

 "I'm one who seriously hates human life and would kill again."

 She is only the second woman to be executed in Florida after the re-introduction of the death penalty in 1976.

 Opponents of the death penalty say her execution, and that of Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco last week, are being used by Governor Bush to help his re-election prospects in next month's poll for the post of governor.