Two Executions Planned In Arkansas Tuesday
Family Hopes Day Will Begin Healing Process

POSTED: 6:19 PM CST January 5, 2004
UPDATED: 6:32 PM CST January 5, 2004

VARNER, Ark. -- Arkansas is preparing for a double execution Tuesday.

Two convicted killers, Charles Singleton and Karl Roberts, have been moved to their quiet cells at the Cummins Unit at Varner.

Singleton was convicted in the 1979 murder of Hamburg grocer Mary Lou York.

Roberts is set to die for the kidnapping, rape and murder of his 12-year-old niece, Andrea Nichole Brewer, in 1999.

Family Says It Is Ready

Ann and Charles Brewer, Brewer's grandparents, said they hope Roberts' execution will mark a beginning of a healing process for them.

The couple said they won't attend the execution but will instead spend the day remembering their granddaughter, who would have been 16 years old.

"The hugs (are what I miss,)" said Charles Brewer. "She would come up and wrap her arms around me. I miss that."

Ann Brewer said she babysat Andrea since she was a baby.

"When you are that close and something bad happens to her, it's bad," she said.

Andrea's life was taken by Roberts, her uncle by marriage.

The Brewers said they want nothing to do with him.

Andrea will be remembered by family and friends at a candlelight vigil at the governor's mansion Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Originally a double execution was scheduled for Tuesday night, but only one Arkansas death row inmate has been given a lethal injection.

Charles Singleton, 44, was pronounced dead at 8:06 p.m. at the Cummins Unit Prison near Varner. Singleton was convicted in 1979 of stabbing a Hamburg grocer, Mary Lou York, to death.

Karl Roberts, 35, was scheduled to die one hour after Singleton, but the United States Supreme Court granted a last minute stay of execution. Roberts' attorney has 90 days to file an appeal.

Roberts was convicted after confessing to raping and killing his 12-year-old niece.

While Singleton's execution time neared, death penalty opponents gathered for a candlelight vigil at the Washington County Courthouse.

Every time the state executes a prisoner the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty comes together.

Those opposing the death penalty lit candles. The candles signified the life taken by the state.

The vigil began with a prayer asking that Tuesday night's execution be the last.

"I am opposed to the death penalty because I don't believe there is any human being in the world who is not redeemable. Everyone has a spark of good in them; the state shouldn't be playing God," said Llorien Chittenden.

Bells rang at 8:00 p.m. to mark the execution of Charles Singleton, then the group bowed their heads for a moment of silence.

The victim's family welcomed Singleton's death.

Singleton prepared a final statement, but chose not to speak. The statement read, "The blind think I'm playing a game. They deny me, refusing my existence, but everybody takes the place of another. I will come forth as you go."

Singleton was a paranoid schizophrenic, and his attorney called the execution unfair. "It will be seen as a shameful mark on the state of Arkansas, because we are talking about the execution of someone who was clearly mentally ill," said Attorney Jeff Rosenzweig.

Those who gathered for the vigil say life in prison without parole should have been Singleton's fate. They hope Karl Roberts' appeal will end with a life sentence.

"I can understand why they wanted him dead, he might deserve to be dead, but that should not be the state's choice," said Ed Tarvin.

For Singleton's last meal, he requested cheese and soy bean patty sandwiches, baked beans, glazed donuts, and two vanilla milk shakes.