Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:44:17 GMT -5
FLORIDA----execution
Hill executed for 1982 slaying of police officer
A convicted killer who had argued that Florida's use of lethal injections
amounted to cruel and unusual punishment was put to death by lethal
injection Wednesday night after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly denied him
another stay.
Clarence Hill, 48, was executed for the 1982 murder of a Pensacola police
officer in a savings and loan robbery.
Hill, of Mobile, Ala., was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., never getting a
hearing on the merits of his contention that the chemicals used in
Florida's lethal injection procedure caused extreme pain and were
unconstitutional.
He stared straight at the ceiling and did not reply when asked if he had a
last statement. He was wearing a white skullcap, and his head was strapped
down, unlike some other executions.
After the injection, he blinked his eyes a couple times, his chest heaved
and his mouth drooped. The physicians, wearing blue hoods and dark goggles
to protect their identities, checked his vital signs at 6:11 p.m., and
pronounced him dead a minute later.
Hill, who had shot Officer Stephen Taylor from behind, received visits
Tuesday from defense attorney D. Todd Doss, a death row advocate and the
inmate's wife, Serena Mangano, of Modino, Italy, who married him in June
in a no-contact wedding at Florida State Prison in Starke. Mangano visited
him again Wednesday.
He did not order a special final meal and refused to eat the prison meal
of tacos, beans and a salad Wednesday morning, said Robbie Cunningham, a
Department of Corrections spokesman.
In January, Hill was strapped to a gurney and his arms with hooked up with
IV tubes before the Supreme Court stepped in and stopped his execution. In
June, in a 9-0 vote, the high court ruled that Hill could mount a
challenge to the chemicals under a civil rights motion.
However, a district court in Tallahassee and an appeals court in Atlanta
refused to hear those challenges, ruling that Hill should have filed
earlier and accused him of trying to delay the process. An appeal was
again filed with the Supreme Court, but this time it voted 5-4 to deny
another stay on Wednesday. Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
David Souter and John Paul Stevens voted to grant the stay, the court said
in a 2-sentence order.
Hill had argued that the three chemicals used in Florida executions and by
many other states - sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide and potassium
chloride - can cause excruciating pain. The 1st drug is a painkiller. The
2nd one paralyzes the inmate and the third causes a fatal heart attack.
The state contended Hill waited too long to appeal, saying he should have
raised his objections when the state switched from the electric chair in
2000. Doss claims he could not have raised the issue until Hill's death
warrant was first signed in November.
After the execution, Doss called for an examination of the state's capital
punishment system.
"Not getting to the merits (of Hill's challenge) is obviously disturbing
to me," Doss said. "I don't think anybody is better off, that's for sure."
Suzanne Vickrey, the widow of the slain police officer, witnessed the
execution, along with his brother and a cousin.
"Justice was finally served," Vickrey said. "24 years is extremely too
long for justice to be served."
On Oct. 19, 1982, Hill and a friend, Cliff Jackson, had driven from Mobile
to Pensacola in a stolen car to rob the Freedom Federal Savings Bank.
When an alarm went off, Hill ran out the back door and Jackson fled out
the front door. Taylor and his partner arrested Jackson and were
attempting to handcuff him when Hill approached them from behind and began
shooting. Taylor died in the shootout, and partner Larry Bailly was
wounded. Hill was shot five times and was caught a short time later.
Jackson was given a life sentence.
Hill was convicted of 1st-degree murder and, in May 1983, sentenced to
death. The Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing in
October 1985 and in April 1986, Hill was again sentenced to death.
The U.S. Supreme Court also halted the execution of another Florida
inmate, Arthur Rutherford, who also sought to challenge the lethal
injection procedure. Rutherford, too, had been scheduled to die in
January. He was convicted for the 1985 drowning and asphyxiation of
63-year-old Stella Salamon at her Milton home. His execution has not been
rescheduled.
Hill becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Florida and the 61st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in
1979.
Hill becomes the 43rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the
USA and the 1047th overall since the country resumed executions on January
17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
Hill executed for 1982 slaying of police officer
A convicted killer who had argued that Florida's use of lethal injections
amounted to cruel and unusual punishment was put to death by lethal
injection Wednesday night after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly denied him
another stay.
Clarence Hill, 48, was executed for the 1982 murder of a Pensacola police
officer in a savings and loan robbery.
Hill, of Mobile, Ala., was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., never getting a
hearing on the merits of his contention that the chemicals used in
Florida's lethal injection procedure caused extreme pain and were
unconstitutional.
He stared straight at the ceiling and did not reply when asked if he had a
last statement. He was wearing a white skullcap, and his head was strapped
down, unlike some other executions.
After the injection, he blinked his eyes a couple times, his chest heaved
and his mouth drooped. The physicians, wearing blue hoods and dark goggles
to protect their identities, checked his vital signs at 6:11 p.m., and
pronounced him dead a minute later.
Hill, who had shot Officer Stephen Taylor from behind, received visits
Tuesday from defense attorney D. Todd Doss, a death row advocate and the
inmate's wife, Serena Mangano, of Modino, Italy, who married him in June
in a no-contact wedding at Florida State Prison in Starke. Mangano visited
him again Wednesday.
He did not order a special final meal and refused to eat the prison meal
of tacos, beans and a salad Wednesday morning, said Robbie Cunningham, a
Department of Corrections spokesman.
In January, Hill was strapped to a gurney and his arms with hooked up with
IV tubes before the Supreme Court stepped in and stopped his execution. In
June, in a 9-0 vote, the high court ruled that Hill could mount a
challenge to the chemicals under a civil rights motion.
However, a district court in Tallahassee and an appeals court in Atlanta
refused to hear those challenges, ruling that Hill should have filed
earlier and accused him of trying to delay the process. An appeal was
again filed with the Supreme Court, but this time it voted 5-4 to deny
another stay on Wednesday. Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
David Souter and John Paul Stevens voted to grant the stay, the court said
in a 2-sentence order.
Hill had argued that the three chemicals used in Florida executions and by
many other states - sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide and potassium
chloride - can cause excruciating pain. The 1st drug is a painkiller. The
2nd one paralyzes the inmate and the third causes a fatal heart attack.
The state contended Hill waited too long to appeal, saying he should have
raised his objections when the state switched from the electric chair in
2000. Doss claims he could not have raised the issue until Hill's death
warrant was first signed in November.
After the execution, Doss called for an examination of the state's capital
punishment system.
"Not getting to the merits (of Hill's challenge) is obviously disturbing
to me," Doss said. "I don't think anybody is better off, that's for sure."
Suzanne Vickrey, the widow of the slain police officer, witnessed the
execution, along with his brother and a cousin.
"Justice was finally served," Vickrey said. "24 years is extremely too
long for justice to be served."
On Oct. 19, 1982, Hill and a friend, Cliff Jackson, had driven from Mobile
to Pensacola in a stolen car to rob the Freedom Federal Savings Bank.
When an alarm went off, Hill ran out the back door and Jackson fled out
the front door. Taylor and his partner arrested Jackson and were
attempting to handcuff him when Hill approached them from behind and began
shooting. Taylor died in the shootout, and partner Larry Bailly was
wounded. Hill was shot five times and was caught a short time later.
Jackson was given a life sentence.
Hill was convicted of 1st-degree murder and, in May 1983, sentenced to
death. The Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing in
October 1985 and in April 1986, Hill was again sentenced to death.
The U.S. Supreme Court also halted the execution of another Florida
inmate, Arthur Rutherford, who also sought to challenge the lethal
injection procedure. Rutherford, too, had been scheduled to die in
January. He was convicted for the 1985 drowning and asphyxiation of
63-year-old Stella Salamon at her Milton home. His execution has not been
rescheduled.
Hill becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Florida and the 61st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in
1979.
Hill becomes the 43rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the
USA and the 1047th overall since the country resumed executions on January
17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)