WASHINGTON, 5 FEB - Un cittadino britannico, che era stato condannato a morte per avere stuprato e ucciso, insieme a un gruppo di amici, una ragazza di 18 anni, ha subito  l'iniezione letale nel carcere di Huntsville, nel Texas.

Il delitto risaliva al 1986. La condanna e' stata eseguita in serata, nonostante un interessamento del governo britannico per impedirla e un'ultima battaglia legale per innescare una nuova serie di test del Dna.

John 'Jackie' Elliott non ha fatto alcuna dichiarazione, prima di ricevere l'iniezione poco dopo le 19.00 locali, le 2 del mattino in Italia. Come ultimo pasto, aveva chiesto alcune specialita' inglesi impossibili da trovare in Texas.

Elliot, 42 anni, e' il sesto condannato messo a morte quest'anno nello Stato e il 296/o da quando le esecuzioni sonoriprese, nel 1982. 

05-FEB-03  

TEXAS - U.S.-British citizen executed for 1986 murder

 A twice-convicted killer whose dual U.S.-British citizenship earned him support and much publicity in Great Britain was executed tonight for fatally beating an Austin woman after raping her almost 17 years ago.

 Asked by the warden if he had anything to say, John Elliott mouthed "No sir" and nodded his head. He then closed his eyes. As the drugs began to take effect, he had a slight snort, cough and gasp before slipping into unconsciousness.

 As the lethal drugs continued to flow into his arms, witnesses, including his son and a sister, prayed aloud.

 He was pronounced dead at 7:09 p.m. CST, 7 minutes after the drugs started flowing.

 Elliott, 42, was on probation after murder and burglary convictions when he was arrested for taking part in a gang rape and then whipping Joyce Munguia, 18, 2 dozens times in the head and face with a chrome-plated motorcycle chain he used as a belt.

 Defense lawyers sought to delay the lethal injection, the seventh this year in Texas, with court appeals that sought additional DNA tests. The U.S. Supreme Court denied 2 late requests for stays. Elliott contended he did not kill the woman in the June 13, 1986, attack.

 Elliott was born in 1960 in England, where his father was stationed at a U.S. air base, giving him dual citizenship.

 British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw asked Gov. Rick Perry to grant clemency for Elliott and more than 100 ministers of Parliament signed a House of Commons motion demanding clemency.

 "It's given my family hope," he told BBC Radio. "It's given us something to hold on for. That's no guarantee it's going to work. There's no guarantee they're not going to execute me."

 Elliott, who said his family returned to the United States when he was 6 months old, declined to speak with American-based media but granted interviews with numerous British reporters.

 The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, in a vote completed Tuesday afternoon, rejected requests it recommend the governor issue a commutation, reprieve or conditional pardon to Elliott. In turning down each request, the panel's vote was 18-0.

 Evidence at his trial showed Munguia was waiting at a bus stop, engaged in conversation with a group of men, including Elliott, at a nearby house and then went off with them. Over the next few hours they shared beer, liquor and cocaine, and she subsequently had sex with one of them.

 According to a witness, she later began crying, was disoriented and asked for help to walk home. Elliott followed her, then carried her under a railroad bridge where he and 2 other men raped her, according to testimony. When she announced she was going to the police, Elliott beat her with his belt made from a chain, one of the men there testified.

 His shoe prints were at the murder scene. The two other men, who insisted they did not take part in the slaying, pleaded guilty to rape charges. One received a 10-year prison term, the other 15 years. Elliott got death.

 Elliott told the BBC he was the victim of zealous prosecutors.

 "Sometimes they'll take certain facts and stretch them," he said.

 But he acknowledged his criminal past "made it easy for them to do that. I should have led a different life but it's hard for me to go back."

 In 1982, he went to prison for killing a man in a bar brawl. He was convicted again in 1984 of attempted burglary. But in an era when Texas prisons were overcrowded because of a space shortage, he was released under mandatory supervision after only 4 1/2 months of his 8-year sentence for murder, then received probation for the burglary.

 "It's terribly frustrating to me," said Juan Gonzalez, an Austin police commander who as a homicide sergeant investigated the 1986 killing. "The poor girl probably would still be alive if he had been in (prison) where he should have been...

 "If you think execution is not a deterrent, this is a classic case."

 At least 2 other British citizens condemned for murder have been executed in the United States, in 1995 and last year, both in Georgia.

 Elliott becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 296th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982.

 Elliott becomes the 57th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became Governor in 2001.

 Elliott becomes the 8th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 828th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. 

5 February, 2003

Briton's execution condemned - Jackie Elliott denied rape and murder

British-born Jackie Elliott has been executed by lethal injection in Texas, for the rape and murder of an 18-year-old woman in 1986.

Despite a UK-based campaign to gain a reprieve, Elliott's legal team failed in last-ditch appeals to both the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the US Supreme Court.

Lethal injection given at 0102 GMT at Walls prison unit in Huntsville

With no stay of execution from Texas governor Rick Perry, Elliott was taken to the death chamber a few minutes before 0100 GMT (1900 local time) on Wednesday morning.

 Speaking after the execution Conservative MP John Gummer - in whose Suffolk constituency Elliott was born - said it was a "sad day for American justice".

 "No rational individual can be happy to see a person killed where so many questions remain unanswered," he added.

 Elliott's lead lawyer, Clive Stafford-Smith, praised the British people for the "outstanding support" they had shown to Elliott and his family.

 He said it had "lent some dignity to his death, by demonstrating such injustices will not go unnoticed, wherever they occur".

 Family members

 Reporters at the scene said that when asked by the prison warden if he had a final statement, the 42-year-old father-of-two shook his head and whispered: "No, sir." 

Victim Joyce Munguia was a teenage mother

 The lethal drugs started flowing at 0102 GMT and he was pronounced dead seven minutes later.

 Family members, including a sister, were present for the execution and prayed aloud as he died.

 Prison officials said Elliott's last meal had been a cup of tea and six chocolate chip cookies.

 They also described how he had spent the last few days sleeping and listening to music but denying most food offered to him.

 Murder victim

 Outside the prison, a small band of protesters held a vigil but the BBC's David Willis said the mood was "sad and pathetic", with "no big fanfare" for Elliott.

 The murder victim, Joyce Munguia, was gang-raped and beaten to death with a motorcycle chain.

 Elliott was arrested while on probation for separate murder and burglary convictions.

 He was found guilty of raping Ms Munguia after some of his co-defendants gave evidence against him. Defence lawyers were convinced they had lied.

 'More likely suspects'

 Elliott's legal team had argued new DNA tests could have proved that while Elliott was at the scene, he did not commit the crime - but these tests were not allowed.

They also maintained that new evidence from police reports pointed to other, more likely, suspects for the 1986 murder.

 Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had also made attempts to avert the execution, including writing to Governor Perry asking for Elliott's sentence to be commuted to life.

 And 134 MPs signed a Commons motion urging Prime Minister Tony Blair to speak directly to US President George Bush on Elliott's behalf.

 But the matter was not raised when the two men met last week, Downing Street saying it was a matter for the governor of Texas, not the US President.

 The son of a US serviceman, Elliott left England when he was six months old.

 Texas State authorities have never responded to a foreign plea for clemency, and the state had already executed six people this year.