London Lass
05-28-2008, 04:51 AM
VIRGINIA----execution
Va. executes man who killed conveniece store owner
A man whose lawyers claimed he was mentally disabled was executed Tuesday night for killing a convenience store owner in the first execution in Virginia in nearly 2 years. Kevin Green, 31, who was convicted of the August 1998 slaying of Patricia Vaughan, was pronounced dead at 10:05 at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.
Green declined to give a final statement, telling a prison official, "No, I don't got nothing to say."
Green was the third U.S. inmate to die since the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection in April. Georgia became the 1st to execute an inmate May 6, ending a 7-month halt on capital punishment nationwide.
The U.S. Supreme Court, a federal judge and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine each refused Tuesday to halt the execution.
Green's execution was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m., but was delayed for about an hour when his attorneys attempted to get the federal judge to step in, Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said. Once Judge James R. Spencer of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declined, the execution proceeded.
Green shot Vaughan and her husband, Lawrence, while robbing their convenience store in rural Dolphin, more than 50 miles south of Richmond. Patricia Vaughan, 53, died at the scene. Lawrence Vaughan survived.
Police say Green confessed, telling them he and his nephew took a bus to northern Virginia and blew all but $170 of the $9,000 they stole on prostitutes, marijuana and clothes.
His nephew, 16 at the time, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Kevin Green went to trial and was found guilty of robbery and capital murder and sentenced to death in 2000. A year later, the Virginia Supreme Court ordered a new trial because of juror problems. Green was convicted again in 2001 and again sentenced to death.
The Vaughan family had waited 10 years to see the sentence carried out.
"I feel like we're the puppets and they're being the puppeteers," said Marsha Brown, one of the Vaughans' 2 daughters. She watched Green's execution with her father, sister, husband, stepmother and 2 local officials.
"It's just a fine line between being hopeful and helpless. I really regret that another life has to be involved - that an execution has to happen - but I just think it needs to be carried out," she said.
Green, through his attorneys, declined to be interviewed.
Green requested that prison officials not release the contents of his last meal, Traylor said. Traylor said Green did not meet with family or a spiritual adviser Tuesday but did speak to his attorneys.
Green becomes the 99th condemned inmate to be put to death in Virginia since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Virginia ranks 2nd only to to Texas, which has executed 405 people.
Green becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1102nd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1777. The death penalty had been re-legalized in the country on July 2, 1976.
http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html
Va. executes man who killed conveniece store owner
A man whose lawyers claimed he was mentally disabled was executed Tuesday night for killing a convenience store owner in the first execution in Virginia in nearly 2 years. Kevin Green, 31, who was convicted of the August 1998 slaying of Patricia Vaughan, was pronounced dead at 10:05 at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.
Green declined to give a final statement, telling a prison official, "No, I don't got nothing to say."
Green was the third U.S. inmate to die since the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection in April. Georgia became the 1st to execute an inmate May 6, ending a 7-month halt on capital punishment nationwide.
The U.S. Supreme Court, a federal judge and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine each refused Tuesday to halt the execution.
Green's execution was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m., but was delayed for about an hour when his attorneys attempted to get the federal judge to step in, Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said. Once Judge James R. Spencer of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declined, the execution proceeded.
Green shot Vaughan and her husband, Lawrence, while robbing their convenience store in rural Dolphin, more than 50 miles south of Richmond. Patricia Vaughan, 53, died at the scene. Lawrence Vaughan survived.
Police say Green confessed, telling them he and his nephew took a bus to northern Virginia and blew all but $170 of the $9,000 they stole on prostitutes, marijuana and clothes.
His nephew, 16 at the time, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Kevin Green went to trial and was found guilty of robbery and capital murder and sentenced to death in 2000. A year later, the Virginia Supreme Court ordered a new trial because of juror problems. Green was convicted again in 2001 and again sentenced to death.
The Vaughan family had waited 10 years to see the sentence carried out.
"I feel like we're the puppets and they're being the puppeteers," said Marsha Brown, one of the Vaughans' 2 daughters. She watched Green's execution with her father, sister, husband, stepmother and 2 local officials.
"It's just a fine line between being hopeful and helpless. I really regret that another life has to be involved - that an execution has to happen - but I just think it needs to be carried out," she said.
Green, through his attorneys, declined to be interviewed.
Green requested that prison officials not release the contents of his last meal, Traylor said. Traylor said Green did not meet with family or a spiritual adviser Tuesday but did speak to his attorneys.
Green becomes the 99th condemned inmate to be put to death in Virginia since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Virginia ranks 2nd only to to Texas, which has executed 405 people.
Green becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1102nd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1777. The death penalty had been re-legalized in the country on July 2, 1976.
http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html