APRIL 9, 2003:

Virginia executes man for family's slaying

In Jarratt, a man who murdered a family of 4 was put the death in Virginia's electric chair Wednesday, maintaining his innocence to the end. Earl C. Bramblett, 61, was executed at 9:09 p.m. EDT after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeals and Gov. Mark R. Warner denied his request for clemency.

Bramblett was only the third Virginia inmate to die in the electric chair since condemned prisoners were given the option of electrocution or lethal injection in 1995.

Bramblett was led into the execution chamber at 8:54 p.m. and strapped into the oak electric chair built by inmates.

"I didn't murder the Hodges family," Bramblett said firmly in his final statement. "I've never murdered anybody. I'm going to my death with a clear conscience.

"I am going to my death having had a great life because of my 2 great sons," who visited Bramblett earlier in the day along with his ex-wife.

A Department of Corrections official then turned a key switch in the wall behind the electric chair, activating the system.

An executioner sitting behind a one-way glass immediately pressed a button labeled "execute" and 1,800 volts surged through Bramblett's body, causing him to go rigid and throwing him against the back of the chair.

Lawyers for Bramblett unsuccessfully challenged the Virginia law that gives condemned inmates the choice between the electric chair and lethal injection.

"We believe it is barbaric," said attorney Jennifer Givens.

Blaine Hodges, 41, and his daughters Winter, 11, and Anah, 3, were each shot once in the head and Teresa Hodges, 37, was strangled. They were found in their burning Vinton home on Aug. 29, 1994.

Authorities immediately suspected Bramblett, a family friend who had been living with the Hodges, after questioning him and discovering he knew things about the crime scene that had previously not been reported, Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach said.

Prosecutors also tied Bramblett to the scene using .22-caliber bullet casings they said matched cartridges found in his truck and pubic hair belonging to Bramblett that was found in the girls' bed.

Prosecutors theorized that Bramblett murdered the family because he was sexually obsessed with Winter, and that Blaine Hodges was using the girl to entrap him in a sex crime. Tapes played at Bramblett's trial depicted his sexual attraction toward the eldest daughter.

But Bramblett said all the circumstantial evidence used against him had either been planted or fabricated. He said his pubic hair sample was taken before authorities located the hair on the girls' bed, and that his tape recordings had been altered to give the impression he was attracted to Winter.

Bramblett told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he chose the electric chair over lethal injection to protest what he considers his wrongful conviction.

"I'm not going to lay down on a gurney and have them stick a needle in my arm and make it look like an antiseptic execution taking place as a result of a fair trial," Bramblett said in a telephone interview from the Greensville prison.

Bramblett's attorneys said in their clemency petition that the recanted testimony of a jailhouse snitch who linked Bramblett to the murders also should be enough to warrant a new trial.

Bramblett becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Virginia, and the 88th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Only Texas has executed more condemned inmates (301) since the USA re-legalized the death penalty on July 2, 1976.

Bramblett becomes the 25th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 845th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.