lulu
05-25-2004, 07:52 AM
STARKE, Fla. (AP) - John Blackwelder, who is scheduled to die Tuesday for a prison killing, apologized Monday for the murder but said it was the only way to manipulate the state to get the death penalty.
"I will be glad tomorrow to lay on the gurney and tomorrow you (Gov. Jeb Bush) will get another kill," Blackwelder, 49, formerly of Fort Pierce, said in a media interview.
Blackwelder pleaded guilty to murdering convicted killer Raymond Wigley, who was strangled on May 6, 2000, at Columbia Correctional Institution. After luring Wigley into his cell with promise of a sex act, he tied Wigley to the bed and strangled him as Wigley begged for mercy.
"I am sorry for killing Wigley, but to get what I wanted I had to," Blackwelder said. Wigley was convicted of the rape, torture and murder of Adella Maria Simmons, 47, in 1983.
Blackwelder noted that he will die on the 25th anniversary of the execution of John Spenkelink, the first Florida inmate and the second in the country to be executed after the Supreme Court made states redo their death penalty laws.
The inmate said Wigley, 39, of Fort Worth, Texas, is the only person he has killed and claimed he was innocent of the sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in St. Lucie County which put him in prison for life without the possibility of parole.
Blackwelder said he was fearful that his execution would be put off until the fall so it could be used politically by Gov. Jeb Bush and President Bush.
"I did not want my execution to become a political statement for any Bush," Blackwelder said.
Bush did not directly comment on Blackwelder's statements.
"People have to remember what actually happened here," Bush said. "This was a man who was on death row because he murdered somebody."
Blackwelder is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. EDT Tuesday at Florida State Prison.
"I am sorry for what I've done, now I have to pay the price," said Blackwelder, who admitted once threatening Vice President Dan Quayle "because I was homeless."
Blackwelder would be the 59th Florida inmate to executed by injection, the second this year. He will be the 59th inmate executed since Florida resumed executions on May 25, 1979, when inmate John Spenkelink was put to death for the slaying of a traveling companion in Tallahassee.
Psychologists claim Blackwelder has been diagnosed as having impulse control disorder, antisocial personality disorder and pedophilia.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Blackwelder's conviction and death sentence in July after an automatic appeal. Blackwelder then filed a motion to waive any more appeals.
Anti-death penalty activist Abe Bonowitz, with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Blackwelder's death wish was "suicide by governor."
Six of the last 10 inmates have opted to drop their appeals to speed up their executions.
Blackwelder said he became a Christian while on death row.
"After I die, I feel I will go to heaven."
Throughout the interview his impending death was on his mind.
"It's time to do away with the death penalty," he said at one point.
But he abruptly ended his interview, saying, "I can't kill myself. I'm not suicidal. I can get the state to do it for me."
SAD
"I will be glad tomorrow to lay on the gurney and tomorrow you (Gov. Jeb Bush) will get another kill," Blackwelder, 49, formerly of Fort Pierce, said in a media interview.
Blackwelder pleaded guilty to murdering convicted killer Raymond Wigley, who was strangled on May 6, 2000, at Columbia Correctional Institution. After luring Wigley into his cell with promise of a sex act, he tied Wigley to the bed and strangled him as Wigley begged for mercy.
"I am sorry for killing Wigley, but to get what I wanted I had to," Blackwelder said. Wigley was convicted of the rape, torture and murder of Adella Maria Simmons, 47, in 1983.
Blackwelder noted that he will die on the 25th anniversary of the execution of John Spenkelink, the first Florida inmate and the second in the country to be executed after the Supreme Court made states redo their death penalty laws.
The inmate said Wigley, 39, of Fort Worth, Texas, is the only person he has killed and claimed he was innocent of the sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in St. Lucie County which put him in prison for life without the possibility of parole.
Blackwelder said he was fearful that his execution would be put off until the fall so it could be used politically by Gov. Jeb Bush and President Bush.
"I did not want my execution to become a political statement for any Bush," Blackwelder said.
Bush did not directly comment on Blackwelder's statements.
"People have to remember what actually happened here," Bush said. "This was a man who was on death row because he murdered somebody."
Blackwelder is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. EDT Tuesday at Florida State Prison.
"I am sorry for what I've done, now I have to pay the price," said Blackwelder, who admitted once threatening Vice President Dan Quayle "because I was homeless."
Blackwelder would be the 59th Florida inmate to executed by injection, the second this year. He will be the 59th inmate executed since Florida resumed executions on May 25, 1979, when inmate John Spenkelink was put to death for the slaying of a traveling companion in Tallahassee.
Psychologists claim Blackwelder has been diagnosed as having impulse control disorder, antisocial personality disorder and pedophilia.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Blackwelder's conviction and death sentence in July after an automatic appeal. Blackwelder then filed a motion to waive any more appeals.
Anti-death penalty activist Abe Bonowitz, with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Blackwelder's death wish was "suicide by governor."
Six of the last 10 inmates have opted to drop their appeals to speed up their executions.
Blackwelder said he became a Christian while on death row.
"After I die, I feel I will go to heaven."
Throughout the interview his impending death was on his mind.
"It's time to do away with the death penalty," he said at one point.
But he abruptly ended his interview, saying, "I can't kill myself. I'm not suicidal. I can get the state to do it for me."
SAD