Oklahoma Executes Second Man for Jeweler Murder

Jan 31

MCALESTER, Oklahoma - A man convicted of murdering an Oklahoma jeweler for his rings and buckets of quarters was executed on Thursday, two days after his convicted accomplice was put to death, prison officials said.

 David Wayne Woodruff, 42, was pronounced dead at 9:12 p.m. (10:12 p.m. EST), two minutes after receiving an injection of fatal chemicals at a state prison in McAlester, Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said.

 "We're not here for a social event, we're here for a killing. Name's David Wayne Woodruff. Let's get this show on the road," he said in his last words from the death chamber gurney.

 Woodruff was convicted of strangling and stabbing Oklahoma City jeweler Roger Joel Sarfaty, 52, in Sarfaty's apartment in 1985 and stealing his rings and buckets of quarters that Sarfaty kept for poker games.

 Woodruff's accomplice, John Joseph Romano, was executed in the same chamber on Tuesday.

 The two men were also sentenced to death for fatally stabbing 61-year-old Lloyd Thompson, 61, in 1986.

 Woodruff's last requested meal was two cheeseburgers, fried potatoes and a lemon-lime slushy, according to prison officials.

 It was the state's second execution this year and the 50th execution since Oklahoma reinstated the death penalty in 1977 and resumed executions in 1990.

 Saturday February 02 09:05 AM EST

Candidate wants veto for death penalty

By Shamus Toomey Daily Herald Staff Writer

To help restore public trust in the death penalty in Illinois, a Republican candidate for attorney general is proposing the state's top lawyer have veto power on all death penalty recommendations.

 State's attorneys in Illinois' 102 counties would have to bring capital punishment decisions before the attorney general for approval under the campaign proposal pitched by trial lawyer Bob Coleman, who is running against DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett in the March 19 primary.

 "We have to work towards rebuilding public trust and confidence in the system," said Coleman of River Forest, a former assistant attorney general seeking his first elected office.

 "That's a very important goal for the attorney general to address," he said. "To have two opinions that this is an appropriate case to proceed as a capital case will help to rebuild that public trust and confidence."

 Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on capital punishment following the repeated exoneration of death row inmates in recent years. There have also been allegations that the death penalty is disproportionately used against minorities.

 Giving the Illinois attorney general veto power over death penalty recommendations would bring a statewide perspective to ensure punishment was meted out fairly, Coleman argued.

 His opponent, Birkett, said he has consulted with state's attorneys around Illinois and believes Coleman's proposal would be unconstitutional.

 Birkett, who just this week made the decision not to seek the death penalty against triple child murderer Marilyn Lemak, said he believes the decision should remain on the local level.

 Allowing the attorney general a veto could undermine the choice of voters who elected the state's attorney, he said.

 "The state's attorney represents the community that is affected by the crime," Birkett said. "He is the person who is closest to the impact on the victim and on the community."