Missouri carries out eighth execution this year after rejecting concerns over 'inhumane' sedative
EXCERPT: "Johnny Sutton, the lead prosecutor at Trottie's trial, said .........................'He hunted them down,' Sutton said. 'The self-defense claim is absolutely ridiculous. He kicked in their door. ... They already were worried about him. He was making threats and trying to run her off the road.'This one was so cold and calculated.'
NB COMMENTARY
How any
of this "killing" makes any sense, is beyond me.
Killing
another person who killed another person does not bring that person back, nor
can the latter go and get them and bring them back. It's a total waste of time
and resources.
I also
wonder about the so called "witnesses". Aren't they complicit in this
murder? No they didn't pull the trigger, but weren't they at the scene of the
crime? How many people have been arrested and jailed for just being there?
I wonder
about the mental stability of this entire system that
condones, implements and financially supports this type of murder,
that is blatant and cold, and out in the open with no question of who done
it. Yet others are arrested, tried and convicted, sometimes even wrongfully and
given the death penalty.
What a
backwards psychology!
How does
the person who administers the punishment sleep at night without nightmares and
visits in the dream world from the person they just killed. Yet, this society
wishes that the so-called convict sleep restlessly forever, with no peace in
their lives ever.
And,
quiet as it's kept, the so-called criminal given the death penalty has friends,
family and loved ones too. What makes their pain of the loss of their loved one
less than the loss of the family who feels so right in killing the criminal who
killed their mother, brother, sister, father or friend??
These
and other questions plague my mind as I watch the way the human beings treat
each other. And in this case, they are actually conversing, debating and
fighting over which way to kill someone is more humane. I am not sure
what the DSM-IV would diagnose this condition of the mind as, but it is
certainly a pervasive mental illness.
A Missouri
inmate became the eight was put to death in the early hours of this
morning for the killing of two people during a restaurant robbery in
1998.
Earl
Ringo Jr., 40, was executed at 12:22am by lethal injection after a plea
for a stay of execution - based on irregularities in the use of lethal
injection drugs in the state - was refused.
Ringo's
last words came from the Quran and expressed belief and wishes for
after death. He wiggled his feet as the process began, breathed deeply a
few times, then closed his eyes, all in a matter of seconds.
Earl Ringo Jr., 40, was executed today for the killing of two people during a restaurant robbery in 1998
He had declined to request a last meal, eating instead the Salisbury steak and macaroni and cheese offered to other inmates.
In
the early hours of July 4, 1998, Ringo and an accomplice killed
delivery driver Dennis Poyser and manager trainee JoAnna Baysinger at a
Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Columbia.
Both victims were shot dead at point-blank range.
The
run-up to Ringo's execution was shrouded by controversy, as Missouri
continues to use the sedative, midazolam, despite claims that the
pre-execution drug is inhumane.
In
April, gruesome scenes accompanied the execution of Clayton Lockett, a
murderer and rapist who shot his 19-year-old victim and ordered a
friend to bury her alive.
It
was a full 43 minutes after the drug was administered in the Oklahoma
execution chamber that the convicted killer died. During this time,
Lockett thrashed violently, lurching forward against his restraints,
writhing and attempting to speak.
 |
| Willie Trottie, who turned 45 Monday, shot and killed 24-year-old Barbara Canada, and her brother, Titus |
Witnesses
described his body twisting, and his head reaching up from the gurney,
before the curtains were drawn around the chamber obscuring Lockett's
final minutes from public view.
In
January, convicted murderer and rapist Dennis McGuire appeared to
gurgle, gasp for air and convulse for around 10 minutes after being
sentenced to death using an experimental two-drug concoction including
midazolam.
Chilling
scenes also occurred in the Arizona execution chamber in July, when
Joseph Rudolph Wood took nearly two hours to die from the lethal
injection.
Witnesses
told how the murderer appeared to be struggling to breathe after the
sedation and then gasped desperately for breath at least 600 times
before falling still.
Ringo's
attorneys had argued that the drug could dull his senses and leave him
unable to express any pain or suffering during the process.
They had asked a federal appeals court to postpone the execution until a hearing over Missouri's use of midazolam.
Attorney
Richard Sindel claimed that Missouri's use of midazolam essentially
violates its own protocol, which provides for pentobarbital as the lone
execution drug. But the courts and Gov. Jay Nixon had refused to halt
Ringo's execution over the concerns.
The
Missouri Department of Corrections says it administers midazolam before
executions and not as part of its execution protocol.
'It
should not be lost in the national debate over the death penalty that
Earl Ringo Jr. was responsible for the murders of two innocent
Missourians. For 16 years he avoided payment for this crime. Tonight he
has paid the penalty,' Missouri's Attorney General, Chris Koster, said
in a statement.
A
clemency petition to Nixon had also cited concerns about the fact that
Ringo was convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury.
Ringo was sentenced to death by lethal injection (file picture). His execution is the eighth in Missouri this year
Chilling
scenes accompanied the executions of Joseph Rudolph Wood, left, Dennis
McGuire, centre and Clayton Lockett, right, who were all administered
the pre-execution sedative midazolam
On
July 3, 1998, Ringo told his accomplice Quentin Jones about his plan to
rob the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Columbia, where he once worked.
Jones agreed to join him.
Before
sunrise on July 4, Ringo and Jones hid behind a grease pit in the back
of the restaurant. Poyser and Baysinger arrived and entered the
restaurant. Ringo followed them and shot Poyser, 45, killing him
instantly.
He then ordered Baysinger, 22, to open a safe. She pulled out $1,400 and gave it to him.
Ringo
gave the gun to Jones, who stood with the weapon pointed at Baysinger's
head for a minute and a half before pulling the trigger.
Interviews
with restaurant workers and former workers led police to Ringo.
Detectives found a blue ski mask, gun receipt, bulletproof vest and
other evidence at the home of his mother.
THE CASE OF WILLIAM HAPP
Happ - who raped and killed Angie Crowley, 21, in 1986 - died by lethal injection in 2013
William Happ, 51, was the first death row inmate to be injected with midazolam hydrochloride.
The execution began at 6.02pm at Florida State Prison. Happ's eyes opened and he blinked several times.
He closed and opened them again two minutes later. He then yawned and his jaw dropped open.
At
6.08pm, the official overseeing the execution tugged at Happ's eyelids
and grasped his shoulder to check for a response. There was none.
A minute later, Happ's head began moving back and forth and shortly thereafter his breathing stopped.
He was pronounced dead at 6.16pm.
Ringo admitted to the robbery but claimed the shootings were in self-defense. He was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to death.
Jones,
of Louisville, Kentucky, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was
sentenced to life in prison, but he was spared the death penalty when he
agreed to testify against Ringo.
Jama Brown, who was married for to Poyser for 24 years, asked that people remember the victims.
'I
can only tell you there is not a day that goes by that I don't think of
him or wonder what my life would be like today, not only for myself,
but for my kids,' she said.
In
a statement she added: 'Please do not make this about how executions
shouldn't take place. Put your effort on how we can stop people from
committing these terrible actions.
'Please remember these two wonderful people who just wanted to go to work on the Fourth of July to support their families.'
Ringo's execution is the eighth in the state this year and the tenth since November.
St.
Louis Public Radio reported last week that Missouri administered
midazolam to all nine inmates put to death since November. Corrections
department spokesman David Owen said midazolam 'is used to relieve the
offender's level of anxiety' and is not part of the actual execution
process.
The
execution was one of two scheduled for today in the U.S. This afternoon
Texas plans to execute Willie Trottie for killing his common-law wife
and her brother in 1993.
Trottie's
execution will be Texas' eighth this year. Florida has performed seven
executions in 2014, and all other states have a combined six.
Both Missouri and Texas use pentobarbital as their execution drug but decline to disclose where the drug is obtained.
'They
don't tell you what it is and where it comes from,' Trottie told The
Associated Press. 'What I've learned in 20 years here on death row is
all you can do is say, 'OK.'
'I'm ready whichever way it goes. If God says, 'Yes,' I'm ready.'
Trottie,
who turned 45 Monday, shot and killed 24-year-old Barbara Canada, and
her 28-year-old brother, Titus, at the Canada family home in Houston.
Canada's mother and sister were also wounded.
Lawyers
for Trottie argued in their appeal that the one-time deliveryman and
security guard suffered poor representation in his initial trial.
They
said his counsel failed to present witnesses who would have told jurors
Trottie and Barbara Canada were romantically engaged at the time of the
killings. Late Monday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected
the appeal.
Trottie
said he and Barbara Canada were on 'good terms' despite an on-again,
off-again relationship. Trottie said he was defending himself against
Titus Canada, who shot first. He said the shooting of his wife was
accidental.
'It wasn't like I just walked in there and gunned her down,' he said.
Johnny Sutton, the lead prosecutor at Trottie's trial, said evidence showed that's exactly what happened.
'He
hunted them down,' Sutton said. 'The self-defense claim is absolutely
ridiculous. He kicked in their door. ... They already were worried about
him. He was making threats and trying to run her off the road.
'This one was so cold and calculated.'
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Thanks for your comment. Peace, NB