softheart
01-09-2004, 10:13 AM
Oh Lord! I can not imagine what his 11 year old daughter felt. Knowing this was the last time she would ever see her Daddy. The system once again has made yet another victim and this time it is an innocent 11 year old child.
My heart goes out to the victim and the family. But nothing was accomplished by this. Except now an 11 year old child, will be a victim for the rest of her life. This is something she will live with for her whole life.
softie
Jan. 9
NORTH CAROLINA----execution
Local man executed for 1992 slaying of store clerk
In Raleigh, a North Carolina man was executed early Friday for the 1992
killing of a store clerk after failed appeals that focused on whether
lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Raymond Dayle Rowsey was pronounced dead at 2:23 a.m. following a lethal
injection at Central Prison in Raleigh, according to Department of
Correction spokeswoman Pam Walker.
Rowsey was sentenced to death for the March 24, 1992, slaying of Alamance
County convenience store clerk Howard R. Sikorski.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday night that Rowsey's execution
could proceed.
The state of North Carolina had asked the high court to overturn rulings
of lower courts. Earlier the same day, a 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals panel
rule 2-1 to uphold a stay issued Wednesday night by a lower court judge.
Rowsey lost his final legal challenge late Thursday when Gov. Mike Easley
denied clemency.
"Given the facts and circumstances of this case, I find no compelling
reason to invalidate the sentence recommended by the jury and affirmed by
the courts," Easley said in a statement.
Defense lawyers had asked Easley to block Rowsey's execution by using
clemency power to change the death sentence to life in prison without
parole. They contend one juror did not intend to vote for the death
sentence and that Rowsey didn't get state help he needed to compensate for
a childhood that centered on alcohol and drugs. During the day Thursday,
Rowsey visited with family and attorneys.
Rowsey's mother, Barbara Thompson, said the family had been hopeful that
courts would spare her 32-year-old son's life.
During the visitation Rowsey was able to hold his 11-year-old daughter for
the 1st time since he entered prison. On previous visits, he had been
separated by prison bars and glass.
"He has never touched her," Thompson said. "This is a major event. He lit
up like a Christmas tree."
The case went to the high court after U.S. District Court Judge Terrence
Boyle of Elizabeth City granted a stay Wednesday. Boyle said attorneys who
argued that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment
should have a hearing.
Lawyers for Rowsey and 3 others on North Carolina death row sought to
delay their clients' executions at least until the U.S. Supreme Court
rules this year in a separate case involving a condemned Alabama prisoner.
In the Alabama case, lethal injection was called unconstitutionally cruel
because an inmate's arm would have to be cut open to reach a vein to
accommodate the needle. Veins near the surface of the inmate's arm were
damaged and unsuitable for injection.
The wait for a high court decision also put on hold a Virginia execution
originally scheduled for last month, in which the condemned inmate also
has damaged blood vessels.
In Rowsey's case, attorneys argued that North Carolina's use of thiopental
sodium, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride would cause him and
other condemned prisoners to "suffer excruciatingly painful and protracted
deaths."
"The way they are administrated may actually disable the defendant from
being able to express the pain" they are feeling, said Jim Exum Jr. of
Greensboro, one of Rowsey's lawyers and a former state Supreme Court chief
justice. The appeal included affidavits from two defense lawyers who had
watched their clients die and said they appeared to suffer during the
procedures.
"I certainly wouldn't characterize it as apparent peacefulness," said Ken
Rose, director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, whose
office also filed for Rowsey and other death row inmates. "In other words,
they're being tortured."
The state told the Supreme Court that the argument against lethal
injection was incorrect. The state also contended the lower court judge
lacked jurisdiction to issue the stay because Rowsey already had a round
of federal appeals and didn't have a new legal issue.
"Arguments regarding possible problems with therapeutic dosages ignore the
massive dosage actually administered in the lethal injection process," the
state said.
North Carolina 1st uses 1,500 mg of thiopental sodium to put the inmate in
a deep sleep. That drug is followed with potassium chloride to stop the
heart and Pavulon to paralyze muscles and another potassium chloride
injection. Those chemicals are followed with another huge dose of
thiopental sodium, the state said.
In an affidavit, Central Prison Warden Marvin Polk said he had observed 18
executions and didn't see any signs that inmates suffered.
Rowsey becomes the 1st condemned prisoner to be put to death this year in
North Carolina, and the 31st overall since the state resumed capital
punishment in 1984. 7 prisoners were executed in the state last year.
Rowsey becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA, and the 888th overall since America resumed executions on January
17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press)
My heart goes out to the victim and the family. But nothing was accomplished by this. Except now an 11 year old child, will be a victim for the rest of her life. This is something she will live with for her whole life.
softie
Jan. 9
NORTH CAROLINA----execution
Local man executed for 1992 slaying of store clerk
In Raleigh, a North Carolina man was executed early Friday for the 1992
killing of a store clerk after failed appeals that focused on whether
lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Raymond Dayle Rowsey was pronounced dead at 2:23 a.m. following a lethal
injection at Central Prison in Raleigh, according to Department of
Correction spokeswoman Pam Walker.
Rowsey was sentenced to death for the March 24, 1992, slaying of Alamance
County convenience store clerk Howard R. Sikorski.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday night that Rowsey's execution
could proceed.
The state of North Carolina had asked the high court to overturn rulings
of lower courts. Earlier the same day, a 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals panel
rule 2-1 to uphold a stay issued Wednesday night by a lower court judge.
Rowsey lost his final legal challenge late Thursday when Gov. Mike Easley
denied clemency.
"Given the facts and circumstances of this case, I find no compelling
reason to invalidate the sentence recommended by the jury and affirmed by
the courts," Easley said in a statement.
Defense lawyers had asked Easley to block Rowsey's execution by using
clemency power to change the death sentence to life in prison without
parole. They contend one juror did not intend to vote for the death
sentence and that Rowsey didn't get state help he needed to compensate for
a childhood that centered on alcohol and drugs. During the day Thursday,
Rowsey visited with family and attorneys.
Rowsey's mother, Barbara Thompson, said the family had been hopeful that
courts would spare her 32-year-old son's life.
During the visitation Rowsey was able to hold his 11-year-old daughter for
the 1st time since he entered prison. On previous visits, he had been
separated by prison bars and glass.
"He has never touched her," Thompson said. "This is a major event. He lit
up like a Christmas tree."
The case went to the high court after U.S. District Court Judge Terrence
Boyle of Elizabeth City granted a stay Wednesday. Boyle said attorneys who
argued that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment
should have a hearing.
Lawyers for Rowsey and 3 others on North Carolina death row sought to
delay their clients' executions at least until the U.S. Supreme Court
rules this year in a separate case involving a condemned Alabama prisoner.
In the Alabama case, lethal injection was called unconstitutionally cruel
because an inmate's arm would have to be cut open to reach a vein to
accommodate the needle. Veins near the surface of the inmate's arm were
damaged and unsuitable for injection.
The wait for a high court decision also put on hold a Virginia execution
originally scheduled for last month, in which the condemned inmate also
has damaged blood vessels.
In Rowsey's case, attorneys argued that North Carolina's use of thiopental
sodium, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride would cause him and
other condemned prisoners to "suffer excruciatingly painful and protracted
deaths."
"The way they are administrated may actually disable the defendant from
being able to express the pain" they are feeling, said Jim Exum Jr. of
Greensboro, one of Rowsey's lawyers and a former state Supreme Court chief
justice. The appeal included affidavits from two defense lawyers who had
watched their clients die and said they appeared to suffer during the
procedures.
"I certainly wouldn't characterize it as apparent peacefulness," said Ken
Rose, director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, whose
office also filed for Rowsey and other death row inmates. "In other words,
they're being tortured."
The state told the Supreme Court that the argument against lethal
injection was incorrect. The state also contended the lower court judge
lacked jurisdiction to issue the stay because Rowsey already had a round
of federal appeals and didn't have a new legal issue.
"Arguments regarding possible problems with therapeutic dosages ignore the
massive dosage actually administered in the lethal injection process," the
state said.
North Carolina 1st uses 1,500 mg of thiopental sodium to put the inmate in
a deep sleep. That drug is followed with potassium chloride to stop the
heart and Pavulon to paralyze muscles and another potassium chloride
injection. Those chemicals are followed with another huge dose of
thiopental sodium, the state said.
In an affidavit, Central Prison Warden Marvin Polk said he had observed 18
executions and didn't see any signs that inmates suffered.
Rowsey becomes the 1st condemned prisoner to be put to death this year in
North Carolina, and the 31st overall since the state resumed capital
punishment in 1984. 7 prisoners were executed in the state last year.
Rowsey becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA, and the 888th overall since America resumed executions on January
17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press)