|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Execution falls on anniversary of death penalty In 1979, Florida became the first state to hold an execution since
the death penalty's reinstatement. A quarter-century later, the
anniversary of that first execution will be marked by another.
It was an unsure time in the late 1970s when Florida prepared to carry out the first involuntary execution of a convicted felon since a U.S. Supreme Court ban on capital punishment was overturned. Florida did not have an executioner. It had not used the electric chair in 15 years. It had no written procedures on how to conduct an execution. Despite those problems, on May 25, 1979, Spenkelink was put to death for the 1973 slaying of Joseph Szymankiewicz in a Tallahassee motel room. Szymankiewicz had been shot twice and beaten in the head after Spenkelink said the man forced him at gunpoint to commit a homosexual act. Since then, 909 people have been executed in the United States, including 58 in Florida, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. In Florida, serial killers Ted Bundy and Gerald Stano, ''black widow'' killer Judy Buenoano and Death Row sage Willie Darden were among the 44 inmates strapped in the same three-legged oaken electric chair known as ''Old Sparky.'' Another 14, including Aileen Wuornos, one of the few female serial killers, have died by injection. In that same quarter century, Florida also leads the nation in the number of inmates freed from Death Row with 25. On the 25th anniversary of Spenkelink's death, the state is preparing to execute John Blackwelder, 49, a convicted child molester who originally was sentenced to life in prison. That the execution is set to fall on the death penalty anniversary is a coincidence, state prison officials say. WANTED TO DIE Blackwelder, formerly of Fort Pierce, told the Florida Supreme Court that he strangled convicted killer Raymond Wigley in May 2000 at Union Correctional Institution so he would get the death penalty. ''I made it clear, I want off this world. I can't kill myself. I'm not suicidal. But I sure can make it hard for everybody else,'' said Blackwelder, who has dropped all his appeals and is seeking execution. Six of the last 10 inmates executed in Florida have dropped their appeals and asked to die. Abe Bonowitz, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, calls the actions of Blackwelder ``governor-assisted suicide.'' Unless he receives a last-minute stay, Blackwelder is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Unlike Blackwelder, Spenkelink, 30, fought his execution. His appeal made five trips to the U.S. Supreme Court. David Kendall, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who represented Spenkelink, thought his client had a good chance to avoid execution. ''We believed this was an excellent case for a commutation of sentence,'' Kendall said in a telephone interview. ``Everyone expected something to happen so John Spenkelink would not be executed.'' Before trial, Spenkelink rejected an offer to plead guilty to second-degree murder and avoid the death penalty. ''He felt it was not murder, but self-defense,'' Kendall recalled. SET PROCEDURES Michael Mello, a professor at the Vermont Law School who worked on the cases of Bundy and Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, said Spenkelink's case helped establish the procedures used for post-conviction appeals in capital cases. ''For better or worse, it became the template of what came afterwards,'' Mello said. After the Supreme Court blocked executions nationwide in 1972, Florida was the first to draft a new state law. It was declared constitutional in 1976. The following year, Gov. Reubin Askew signed Spenkelink's first death warrant, but courts stayed the execution. Nearly two years later, Gov. Bob Graham -- who is now a U.S. senator -- signed the warrant to end Spenkelink's life. Timeline of significant dates in Florida's death penalty history Significant events in the history of modern executions in Florida: _ 1972: U.S. Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia rules that state death penalty laws, including Florida laws, are unconstitutional. As a result, the sentences of 95 men and one woman on Florida's death row are commuted to life in prison. State quickly passes a new law. _ 1976: Death penalty reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court under Gregg v. Georgia. _ May 25, 1979: John Spenkelink executed May 25, 1979, for the murder of Joe Szymankiewicz in a Tallahassee motel room. It was the first use of Florida's electric chair since 1964. _ Nov. 3, 1983: Four years pass before Florida's second modern execution when Robert Sullivan, 36, was put to death for the shotgun slaying of a Homestead hotel-restaurant manager. _ March 15, 1988: Willie Jasper Darden, known as the dean of death row, was executed for the September 1973 shooting of James Turman in Lakeland. _ Jan. 24, 1989: Serial killer Ted Bundy executed for the rape and murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach of Lake City. Bundy also faced death for the murders of two Chi Omega sorority sisters in Tallahassee. _ May 4, 1990: Jessie Joseph Tafero, 43, was executed for the February 1976 shooting deaths of Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Phillip Black and his friend, Donald Irwin, a visiting Canadian constable. During the execution, a synthetic sponge placed atop Tafero's head burned, causing flames to shoot up three feet. _ March 25, 1997: During execution of Pedro Medina, flames burst from behind the mask over his face. The flames were again blamed on a sponge catching fire. Medina was executed for the 1982 slaying of a neighbor, Dorothy James, in Orlando. Medina was the first Cuban who came to Florida during the Mariel boat lift to be executed in Florida. _ March 30, 1998: Judy Buenoano, known as the "Black Widow," executed for 1971 poisoning death of her husband, Air Force Sgt. James Goodyear. She was also convicted in the drowning death of her son, who fell from a canoe, while wearing leg braces. _ July 8, 1999: Allen Lee "Tiny" Davis bleeds from nose during execution for 1982 slayings of a Jacksonville woman and her two daughters. After pictures of his swollen and bloody face appear on the Internet, Florida changes its method of execution to lethal injection. _ Feb. 23, 2000: Terry Sims, 58, becomes the first inmate to die by injection. Sims was executed for the 1977 slaying of a volunteer deputy sheriff in central Florida. _ Oct. 9, 2002: Female serial killer Aileen Wuornos executed after dropping appeals for deaths of six men along central Florida highways. _ Sept. 30, 2003: Paul Hill, 49, executed for July 29, 1994, shooting deaths of Dr. John Bayard Britton and his bodyguard, retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Herman Barrett, and the wounding of Barrett's wife outside the Ladies Center in Pensacola. _ May 25, 2004: Scheduled execution of James Blackwelder, who has dropped all his appeals and is seeking execution for the May 6, 2000, strangling death of Raymond Wigley, a convicted killer serving a life term at Columbia Correctional Institution. Execution scheduled on 25th anniversary of Spenkelink execution. Fla. Plans to Mark Death Penalty's Return By RON WORD, STARKE, Fla. - As Florida plans to execute a man on the 25th anniversary of capital punishment's reinstatement, the state is again facing scrutiny � a twist that state prison officials call a coincidence. John Blackwelder, a 49-year-old convicted child molester, said he killed a man in prison just so he would be sentenced to die. Unless he receives a last-minute stay, Blackwelder is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. EDT Tuesday. "I made it clear, I want off this world. I can't kill myself. I'm not suicidal. But I sure can make it hard for everybody else," Blackwelder told the Florida Supreme Court in 2000. He has dropped all his appeals and is seeking execution. Abe Bonowitz, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called Blackwelder's actions "governor-assisted suicide." When the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, Florida had no executioner, no written procedure on how to conduct an execution and had not used the electric chair in 15 years. Despite those problems, on May 25, 1979, John Spenkelink, a drifter convicted of killing a traveling companion, became the first man put to death in Florida since the court's ruling. Since executions resumed in the United States, 910 people have been executed, including 58 in Florida, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Florida leads the nation in the number of inmates freed from death row in the same period � 25. Among the 44 inmates strapped into Florida's electric chair, known as "Old Sparky," were serial killer Ted Bundy, "black widow" killer Judy Buenoano and death row sage Willie Darden. Another 14 inmates, including serial killer Aileen Wuornos, died by injection. The chair has twice malfunctioned, with flames leaping from the heads of two inmates. After pictures of one electrocuted inmate's bloody face surfaced on the internet, the state did away with the chair. Six of the last 10 inmates executed in Florida have dropped their appeals and asked to die. Unlike Blackwelder, the 30-year-old Spenkelink fought his execution. His appeal made five trips to the U.S. Supreme Court. David Kendall, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who represented Spenkelink, thought his client had a good chance to avoid execution. "We believed this was an excellent case for a commutation of sentence," Kendall said in a telephone interview. "Everyone expected something to happen so John Spenkelink would not be executed." Prior to trial, Spenkelink rejected an offer to plead guilty to second-degree murder and avoid the death penalty. "He felt it was not murder, but self-defense," Kendall recalled. Then-Gov. Bob Graham, who is now a U.S. senator, signed the warrant that would end Spenkelink's life. Demonstrators beat a drum outside the governor's mansion, then filled the lobby of Graham's office the next day. "What a nightmare that was," said Jim Smith, who was Florida attorney general at the time. "We were doing what we had to do to make sure that the execution occurred. ... This was the law of the state and it was my job to see that it was carried out." David Brierton, who was Florida State Prison superintendent at the time, declined to be interviewed. Brierton was criticized for his plans to keep the blinds drawn in the execution chamber until Spenkelink was strapped in. Brierton hoped to prevent a circus-like atmosphere at the prison like that when Gary Gilmore asked to be executed before Utah's firing squad in 1977. Instead, the closed blinds led to accusations that Spenkelink had been mistreated. An investigation found no such evidence. Brierton said earlier he had two fears � the chair wouldn't work or the governor would call five minutes after it was over and say there was a stay. But there would be no stay. After taking two shots of Jack Daniels, Spenkelink was put to death. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
the Community of Sant'Egidio
Abolitions, 
