softheart
11-07-2003, 12:04 PM
Nov. 7
NORTH CAROLINA----execution
N.C. man executed for 1990 slaying in Edgecombe County
A North Carolina man was executed Friday morning for the 1990 slaying of
his father-in-law after failed legal appeals that included a claim he was
mentally retarded.
Joseph Timothy Keel, 39, was executed by lethal injection at Central
Prison in Raleigh. He was pronounced dead at 2:18 a.m., said Department of
Correction spokeswoman Pam Walker.
Keel confessed to luring Johnny Simmons, with whom he lived, to an
isolated area on an Edgecombe County hog farm where Keel worked the night
of July 10, 1990.
Keel shot the man with a .22 caliber rifle, firing through the window of
Simmons' vehicle. He later told police a shot was fired from another car
as it drove past.
Prosecutors said Keel was a vicious killer who also killed his infant son
in 1986 and deserved execution. The defense didn't dispute he killed
Simmons, but contended Keel was mentally retarded. State law bars the
execution of mentally retarded people.
Defense lawyer Jay Ferguson said Keel had the mental ability of a
fifth-grader and suffered mental illness from an early age because his
uncles plied him with alcohol. The defense also said Keel suffered brain
injuries at birth as well as when he was later hit by a steel beam.
Ferguson said an expert pegged his IQ at 70, the level below which the law
defines as retarded.
But prosecutors argued that Keel's IQ was 87 and that he had shown no
mental problems in prison, where he earned a high-school equivalency
certificate and took religion courses.
Keel's final chance to stave off execution evaporated Thursday when Gov.
Mike Easley denied a petition to change the death sentence to life in
prison.
"I find no compelling reasons to invalidate the sentence recommended by
two juries and affirmed by the courts," Easley said in a statement.
The U.S. Supreme Court and 2 state appeals courts had earlier blocked
efforts to stop Keel's execution.
Keel becomes the 5th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
North Carolina and the 28th overall since the state resumed capital
punishment in 1984.
Keel becomes the 60th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the
USA and the 880th overall since America resumed executions on January 17,
1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin
NORTH CAROLINA----execution
N.C. man executed for 1990 slaying in Edgecombe County
A North Carolina man was executed Friday morning for the 1990 slaying of
his father-in-law after failed legal appeals that included a claim he was
mentally retarded.
Joseph Timothy Keel, 39, was executed by lethal injection at Central
Prison in Raleigh. He was pronounced dead at 2:18 a.m., said Department of
Correction spokeswoman Pam Walker.
Keel confessed to luring Johnny Simmons, with whom he lived, to an
isolated area on an Edgecombe County hog farm where Keel worked the night
of July 10, 1990.
Keel shot the man with a .22 caliber rifle, firing through the window of
Simmons' vehicle. He later told police a shot was fired from another car
as it drove past.
Prosecutors said Keel was a vicious killer who also killed his infant son
in 1986 and deserved execution. The defense didn't dispute he killed
Simmons, but contended Keel was mentally retarded. State law bars the
execution of mentally retarded people.
Defense lawyer Jay Ferguson said Keel had the mental ability of a
fifth-grader and suffered mental illness from an early age because his
uncles plied him with alcohol. The defense also said Keel suffered brain
injuries at birth as well as when he was later hit by a steel beam.
Ferguson said an expert pegged his IQ at 70, the level below which the law
defines as retarded.
But prosecutors argued that Keel's IQ was 87 and that he had shown no
mental problems in prison, where he earned a high-school equivalency
certificate and took religion courses.
Keel's final chance to stave off execution evaporated Thursday when Gov.
Mike Easley denied a petition to change the death sentence to life in
prison.
"I find no compelling reasons to invalidate the sentence recommended by
two juries and affirmed by the courts," Easley said in a statement.
The U.S. Supreme Court and 2 state appeals courts had earlier blocked
efforts to stop Keel's execution.
Keel becomes the 5th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
North Carolina and the 28th overall since the state resumed capital
punishment in 1984.
Keel becomes the 60th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the
USA and the 880th overall since America resumed executions on January 17,
1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin