Richmond Times-Dispatch

VIRGINIA - Killer in Augusta case executed

In Jarratt, Bobby Wayne Swisher was executed tonight, after a 3-week delay, for the rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman in Augusta County 6 years ago.

Swisher, 27, died by injection at 9:05 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center, said Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections.

"I hope you all can find the same peace in Jesus Christ as I have," Swisher said in his last statement, according to Traylor.

Swisher, 27, abducted Dawn McNees Snyder on Feb. 5, 1997, as she was working late preparing for Valentine's Day at Enchanted Florist, a Stuarts Draft business she co-owned. Snyder's body was found later that month in a field within 2 miles of the shop.

Gov. Mark R. Warner did not make a statement today in response to Swisher's final petition for clemency last week.

"The July 1 statement had everything the governor was going to say about it," said Ellen Qualls, spokeswoman for Warner.

Swisher and his appeal attorneys, Anthony F. King and Steven D. Rosenfield, had hoped that Warner would intervene and grant a new sentencing hearing.

The governor delayed the execution, which had been set for July 1, until today to give Swisher a chance to ask the Virginia Supreme Court for a new sentencing. In his July 1 statement, Warner said the matter was best handled by the courts and that he would not intervene if the court rejected Swisher's request.

"Bobby Wayne Swisher committed a vile and reprehensible act - an act which I believe justifies the death penalty," the governor said.

Swisher's lawyers contended that the trial jury recommended the death penalty using a verdict form that the state Supreme Court, in a later case, found to be defective. The form did not clearly specify that a jury could impose a life sentence even if it found a crime vile enough or the defendant dangerous enough to warrant the death penalty.

Swisher's attorneys said the court "refused on procedural grounds to correct this admitted injustice." With the court refusing to act, the defense lawyers again turned to the governor, renewing their clemency request to him Friday.

Traylor said Swisher had no special requests for his last meal. Swisher visited yesterday with his mother and brother, attorneys and spiritual advisers.

At 8:30 p.m., 3 people stood outside the prison to protest Swisher's execution.

Charles Schrader of Charlottesville said it was the first time he had participated in such a protest. He said he wanted to be "a voice against what is happening."

Roy Lettieri of Franklin said he came to honor the work of Swisher's spiritual advisers, whom he knows. "Bobby is ready to go. He is going with a joyful heart," Lettieri said.

Francis Carlhian, who is from Belgium but lives in Charlottesville, said he was surprised there were so few protesters at the prison, noting that opposition to the death penalty is widespread in Europe.

"I was thinking a lot of people would come," said Carlhian, a housemate of Schrader. "A man is dying. It's crazy."

Swisher was convicted of capital murder in October 1997 and the jury recommended he be sentenced to death, a verdict that was imposed in February 1998 by Augusta Circuit Judge Thomas H. Wood.

During the trial, Swisher's lawyers did not dispute that he committed the crime, but they argued that Swisher should be spared because he was too high on drugs and alcohol to know what he was doing.

Swisher confessed to friends and investigators that he kidnapped and raped Snyder before cutting her throat. Swisher admitted that he pushed Snyder into the South River, but he panicked and ran when she started climbing out. Snyder's body was found 180 yards from the river.

In a telephone interview with The Times-Dispatch this month, Swisher said he was ready to die, if it came to that, because of a religious conversion about a year ago. He said he deeply regretted killing Snyder.

"I was just a wild child. I was out there having fun and partying. That was it," he said. "I was a stupid, narrow-minded kid and made bad choices with devastating results."

Snyder's mother, Sandi McNees of Stuarts Draft, said last month that she had come to peace with the killer of her only child, but that she believed, in accordance with the law, that Swisher should be executed. She said she intended to witness his execution.

"I vowed that I would see this thing through to the end, and this is the end of that part of Dawn's life," she said then. "And I feel that after the execution, Dawn - the victim - that part of her life will have ceased and I will have gained Dawn - the daughter - back."

Snyder, who was separated from her husband when she was killed, had a daughter who is now 9, McNees said. She was also an emergency-medical technician with the rescue squad and had helped to save lives, her mother said.

Swisher becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Virginia and the 89th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.

Swisher becomes the 46th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 866th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Oklahoma puts 12th inmate to death this year

Bryan Anthony Toles was executed Tuesday for the 1993 shooting deaths of a 39-year-old man and his 15-year-old son.

Toles, 31, was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. after receiving an injection of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Toles was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to death for the July 16, 1993, murders of Juan Franceschi and his son, Lonnie Franceschi.

The execution went forward when the U.S. Supreme Court denied Toles' request to stop it and take a new look at his death sentence.

As he lay strapped to a gurney, Toles offered his condolences to the Franceschi family.

"I'd like to apologize to the victims' family and ask them for their forgiveness," Toles said.

Toles primarily talked to members of his own family and his spiritual adviser, who were witnesses at his execution.

"I love all y'all. Thanks for coming. Take care of my mother," he said. "I'll see y'all later. We're all right."

Toles' eyelids began to flutter as the injections took effect.

"I fixing to pass out, I think," Toles said.

Members of his family wept as his eyes twitched. Toles struggled for breath and then his left arm and upper body began to twitch. His feet moved slowly before his body fell limp and he was pronounced dead.

About 15 minutes before his execution, other prisoners on death row began banging their cell doors to acknowledge the condemned inmate. The noise could be heard in the death chamber and drowned out some of what Toles said.

Juan and Lonnie Franceschi were shot shortly after midnight when Toles forced his way into their home in Lawton in an attempt to get the keys to the family car, according to Attorney General Drew Edmondson's office.

Juan Franceschi, a soldier in the Army four months short of retirement, was shot in the chest as he struggled with Toles. His son was shot in the back of the head as he lay face-down on the floor with his hands behind his back, authorities said.

Toles confessed to the murders following his arrest, according to Comanche County District Attorney Robert Shulte, who prosecuted Toles. A co-defendant, David Flowers, was also convicted on murder charges and sentenced to life in prison, Shulte said.

Norma Franceschi, Juan Franceschi's widow and Lonnie Franceschi's mother, attended Tuesday's execution hoping to find closure.

"I found closure," she said. "I have forgiven Toles. I came here to put closure in my life."

Franceschi, who says she still copes with the deaths and has suffered numerous breakdowns requiring medical attention, appreciated Toles' deathbed apology.

"I'm nobody to judge nobody. I'm just grateful he said 'I'm sorry.'"

Franceschi said she takes medication for anxiety and occasionally experiences flashbacks of the crime, which cause "uncontrollable trembling and screaming."

2 other executions are scheduled in July: Jackie Lee Willingham on Thursday and Harold Loyd McElmurry III on July 29.

Toles becomes the 12 condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 67th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Oklahoma trails only Texas (307) and Virginia (89) in the number of executions carried out since the death penalty was re-legalized in America on July 2, 1976.

Toles becomes the 45th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 865th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.