DECEMBER 5, 2003:

NORTH CAROLINA - Lyons executed for 1993 Forsyth County murder

A death row prisoner convicted for the fatal shooting of a Winston-Salem storekeeper was executed early Friday, hours after Gov. Mike Easley declined to commute his sentence.

Robbie James Lyons, 31, was pronounced dead at 2:17 a.m. after an injection at Central Prison in Raleigh, said Pam Walker, a Correction Department spokeswoman.

Lawyers for Lyons said they were relying on a clemency petition filed with Easley and wouldn't file last-minute court appeals. Easley said Thursday night he found no reason to reduce the sentence of Robbie James Lyons to life in prison.

"Having carefully reviewed the facts and circumstances of this crime and conviction, I find no convincing reason to grant clemency and overturn the unanimous jury verdict affirmed by the state and federal courts," Easley said in a news release.

Lyons was convicted in 1994 and sentenced to death for the pistol slaying of Stephen Wilson Stafford. The victim was shot to death after he attempted to grab a pistol held by Lyons during an attempted robbery of Stafford's store on Sept. 25, 1993.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson had sent Easley a letter urging clemency for Lyons.

"I have the deepest sympathy for the victims of violent crime and their families and loved ones left behind - but the death penalty is not the best way to acknowledge their grief," the letter read.

Jackson said Lyons suffered frequent beatings as a youngster and at an early age was forced to drink alcohol, smoke marijuana and use crack cocaine.

Easley met with lawyers for Lyons as well as prosecutors and Stafford's family on Wednesday to hear arguments for and against clemency.

Witnesses to the execution included Stafford's widow, Ramona, his two grown children and 2 other relatives. Lyons met with his relatives Thursday.

Ramona Stafford said Lyons showed no remorse over shooting her husband with a .22-caliber pistol.

Lyons' 2 state-appointed lawyers, Kirk Osborn and Ernest Conner, had argued that Lyons didn't have good legal representation when he was charged and tried and that he has a mental defect.

But Assistant District Attorney David Hall said Lyons had an IQ of 110 and was a violent individual, a fact he said was proven by the 50 disciplinary infractions Lyons had since coming to death row.

Lyons was put in solitary confinement after hitting a guard in the eye, Conner said, but that happened when Lyons was upset after being informed of his execution date and then a guard pushed him.

Lyons becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in North Carolina, the most since 1949 when 10 people were put to death, and the 30th overall in the state since capital punishment was resumed there in 1984.

Lyons becomes the 65th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 885th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. There are 5 more executions scheduled in America between December 9 and December 18, with 3 scheduled in Texas and 1 each set for Georgia and Virginia.