Post by ScotKaren on Jun 21, 2006 5:25:50 GMT -5
Tucker dies by lethal injection
www.cnn.com/US/9802/03/tucker.executed/index.html
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (CNN) -- Karla Faye Tucker, who hacked a man and woman to death and became a born-again Christian in prison, was executed Tuesday night.
Tucker, 38, was declared dead by lethal injection at 6:45 p.m., becoming the first woman executed in Texas since 1863 and the first in the nation since 1984.
"I am going to go face to face with Jesus," Tucker said in her final words to her family. "I love you all."
She then coughed twice, let out a soft groan, and fell silent, prison officials said.
Minutes before she was to die, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a second emergency request to halt her execution.
Bush refuses reprieve
Her fate then rested with Gov. George W. Bush, who refused to delay the execution with a one-time, 30-day reprieve, saying her case had been thoroughly reviewed by appellate courts.
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A L S O :
International appeals to spare Tucker fail
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"Like many touched by this case, I have sought guidance through prayer. I have concluded judgment about the heart and soul of an individual on death row are best left to a higher authority," Bush said.
"May God bless Karla Faye Tucker and God bless her victims and their families," he said.
In her last days, Tucker stirred debate over redemption and retribution on death row. Worldwide publicity over her case focused on her metamorphosis from a drug-crazed teen prostitute to a soft-spoken young woman who said in TV interviews that she wanted a life sentence so she could help others behind bars.
Pleas for mercy for Tucker came from Pope John Paul II and television evangelist Pat Robertson.
Robertson, who normally supports the death penalty, said: "This thing is vengeance. It makes no sense. This is not the same woman who committed those crimes."
'Don't take this as God not answering our prayers'
The 5-foot-3, dark-haired Tucker spoke in her last TV interview on Robertson's "700 Club," aired just hours before her death, saying: "If I go home February 3rd, don't take that as God not answering our prayers. If he brings me home February 3rd, it's because in his wisdom, and his sovereignty, he knew that through that something greater is going to be accomplished."
Tucker Profile:
Facing death with memories of murder
Transcripts:
Larry King interviews Tucker
Larry King debate on Tucker case
Statistics:
Women on Death Row
Poll:
Should gender be an issue?
Message Board:
Debating the death penalty
Excerpts:
Tucker's letter seeking reprieve
Tucker and an accomplice slaughtered two people with a pickax in 1983. She admitted accompanying a partner to the Houston apartment of Jerry Lynn Dean, 27, to see if they could cap three days of almost nonstop drug-taking by stealing Dean's motorcycle.
Once inside, her partner, Daniel Garrett, then 37, started beating Dean with a hammer. When the battered man began to gurgle, Tucker, who was then 23, grabbed a 3-foot-long pickax and repeatedly plunged it into him.
Dean's friend, Deborah Thornton, was cowering under sheets in a corner until the intruders discovered her. Tucker turned the pickax on Thornton to eliminate her as a witness.
In a tape recording played in court, she bragged to friends that she got sexual thrills out of the attack.
Garrett, who also was sentenced to death, died in prison of liver disease in 1993.
Case draws worldwide attention
People on both sides of her case, as well as Tucker herself, said her gender should have no bearing on her punishment. But the novelty of executing a woman prompted hundreds of reporters and photographers to descend on Huntsville, where executions have become almost routine in recent years.
The last execution of a woman in Texas was in 1863, when Chipita Rodriguez was hanged from a mesquite tree for the ax murder of a horse trader during a robbery.
Nationwide, the last woman executed was Velma Barfield, a born-again Christian who was put to death in North Carolina in 1984 for lacing her boyfriend's food with rat poison.
As of January 1, women made up only 49 of 3,365 death row inmates nationwide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
Tucker will die unless Texas governor steps in
Karla Faye Tucker's last hours?
Tucker loses clemency bid; Bush reprieve still possible - February 2, 1998
Woman's Texas execution to proceed - February 2, 1998
Larry King Live Weekend: Replay of Karla Faye Tucker interview - January 14, 1998
Clemency decision due Monday for woman on Texas death row - February 1, 1998
Attorney for woman on death row challenges Texas procedures - January 20, 1998
Texas prepares to execute woman - January 15, 1998
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Prisons
Christian Broadcasting Network: Interviews from Death Row
Death Penalty Links
The Death Penalty Page
ACLU - The Case Against The Death Penalty
Pro Death Penalty Page
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive
www.cnn.com/US/9802/03/tucker.executed/index.html
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (CNN) -- Karla Faye Tucker, who hacked a man and woman to death and became a born-again Christian in prison, was executed Tuesday night.
Tucker, 38, was declared dead by lethal injection at 6:45 p.m., becoming the first woman executed in Texas since 1863 and the first in the nation since 1984.
"I am going to go face to face with Jesus," Tucker said in her final words to her family. "I love you all."
She then coughed twice, let out a soft groan, and fell silent, prison officials said.
Minutes before she was to die, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a second emergency request to halt her execution.
Bush refuses reprieve
Her fate then rested with Gov. George W. Bush, who refused to delay the execution with a one-time, 30-day reprieve, saying her case had been thoroughly reviewed by appellate courts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A L S O :
International appeals to spare Tucker fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Like many touched by this case, I have sought guidance through prayer. I have concluded judgment about the heart and soul of an individual on death row are best left to a higher authority," Bush said.
"May God bless Karla Faye Tucker and God bless her victims and their families," he said.
In her last days, Tucker stirred debate over redemption and retribution on death row. Worldwide publicity over her case focused on her metamorphosis from a drug-crazed teen prostitute to a soft-spoken young woman who said in TV interviews that she wanted a life sentence so she could help others behind bars.
Pleas for mercy for Tucker came from Pope John Paul II and television evangelist Pat Robertson.
Robertson, who normally supports the death penalty, said: "This thing is vengeance. It makes no sense. This is not the same woman who committed those crimes."
'Don't take this as God not answering our prayers'
The 5-foot-3, dark-haired Tucker spoke in her last TV interview on Robertson's "700 Club," aired just hours before her death, saying: "If I go home February 3rd, don't take that as God not answering our prayers. If he brings me home February 3rd, it's because in his wisdom, and his sovereignty, he knew that through that something greater is going to be accomplished."
Tucker Profile:
Facing death with memories of murder
Transcripts:
Larry King interviews Tucker
Larry King debate on Tucker case
Statistics:
Women on Death Row
Poll:
Should gender be an issue?
Message Board:
Debating the death penalty
Excerpts:
Tucker's letter seeking reprieve
Tucker and an accomplice slaughtered two people with a pickax in 1983. She admitted accompanying a partner to the Houston apartment of Jerry Lynn Dean, 27, to see if they could cap three days of almost nonstop drug-taking by stealing Dean's motorcycle.
Once inside, her partner, Daniel Garrett, then 37, started beating Dean with a hammer. When the battered man began to gurgle, Tucker, who was then 23, grabbed a 3-foot-long pickax and repeatedly plunged it into him.
Dean's friend, Deborah Thornton, was cowering under sheets in a corner until the intruders discovered her. Tucker turned the pickax on Thornton to eliminate her as a witness.
In a tape recording played in court, she bragged to friends that she got sexual thrills out of the attack.
Garrett, who also was sentenced to death, died in prison of liver disease in 1993.
Case draws worldwide attention
People on both sides of her case, as well as Tucker herself, said her gender should have no bearing on her punishment. But the novelty of executing a woman prompted hundreds of reporters and photographers to descend on Huntsville, where executions have become almost routine in recent years.
The last execution of a woman in Texas was in 1863, when Chipita Rodriguez was hanged from a mesquite tree for the ax murder of a horse trader during a robbery.
Nationwide, the last woman executed was Velma Barfield, a born-again Christian who was put to death in North Carolina in 1984 for lacing her boyfriend's food with rat poison.
As of January 1, women made up only 49 of 3,365 death row inmates nationwide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
Tucker will die unless Texas governor steps in
Karla Faye Tucker's last hours?
Tucker loses clemency bid; Bush reprieve still possible - February 2, 1998
Woman's Texas execution to proceed - February 2, 1998
Larry King Live Weekend: Replay of Karla Faye Tucker interview - January 14, 1998
Clemency decision due Monday for woman on Texas death row - February 1, 1998
Attorney for woman on death row challenges Texas procedures - January 20, 1998
Texas prepares to execute woman - January 15, 1998
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Prisons
Christian Broadcasting Network: Interviews from Death Row
Death Penalty Links
The Death Penalty Page
ACLU - The Case Against The Death Penalty
Pro Death Penalty Page
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive