Arizona executes Richard Lynn Bible

Richard Lynn Bible

23 years after 9-year-old Jennifer Wilson was brutally raped and murdered and left on a hilltop in Flagstaff, the man convicted of killing her finally ran out of appeals.

Richard Lynn Bible died by lethal injection at 11:11 a.m. Thursday in Florence for the 1988 murder.

Bible did not look at any of the approximately 50 people witnessing the execution, who included about 20 of Jennifer's family members. He appeared to be scared, taking several swallows and fidgeting before the execution.

His last words were: "I'd like to thank my family, my lawyers — love 'em all, and everything's OK. That's it." He did not look once at the crowd through the window.

Bible began to breathe heavily, then lay peacefully on the table as the sedative and then the lethal drug were administered beginning at 11:02 a.m. He was declared dead at 11:11 a.m.

Jennifer's parents, her older sister, and her two younger brothers held each other as they watched the execution. Her father, Rich Wilson, stared at Bible intently, and after he was declared dead, nodded his head once as tears formed.

Bible, 49, has always maintained his innocence and in recent months has claimed that a DNA analysis of hairs found on Jennifer's body and clothing would exonerate him.

On Wednesday, his last-ditch appeals were denied by the U.S. Supreme Court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ironically, Bible's trial in 1990 was the 1st Arizona case to use what was then brand-new DNA technology. A newspaper article at the time theorized that someday DNA evidence could become a regular part of courtroom arguments, although Bible's appellant lawyers tried to denounce it as junk science.

It was a case that played out dramatically in the press over 2 years: a convicted sex offender snatched a little girl from her bicycle, beat her to death, then hid her body.

In June 1988, Jennifer Wilson was on vacation from Yuma with her family. They had transported their horses up to Flagstaff to do some riding in the cool mountain air, and rather than ride in the family vehicle, Jennifer asked if she could ride her bike the last few miles to the ranch where they intended to saddle up. She never got there. When her mother drove back down the road looking for her, all she found was Jennifer's bicycle.

Bible, then 26 and a Flagstaff local, was arrested seven hours later, based partially on a description Jennifer's mother had given to police of a truck she had seen drive by about the time Jennifer disappeared. Jennifer's body was not found for 19 days, even though searchers had already combed the area with cadaver dogs, helicopters and legions of law-enforcement officers.

Circumstantial evidence linked Bible to the murder. And blood spatter on Bible's shirt proved to be Jennifer's after the DNA was typed. Bible was convicted in April 1990 of 1st-degree murder, kidnapping and child molestation. Two months later, he was sentenced to death.

Little is known about Bible's early life. At his sentencing, his family testified that he was a hyperactive child but otherwise acted appropriately around women and children. They said they had no concerns leaving him alone to watch kids.

But he had a long history of substance abuse, ranging from sniffing glue as a boy to overusing alcohol, cocaine and amphetamines as an adult. Mental-health professionals quoted in court documents said substance abuse brought out his antisocial tendencies.

In 1981, when he was 19, Bible was drinking on Sheep Hill in Flagstaff with his 17-year-old female cousin and they talked about a trip they planned to Sedona for the next day. All of a sudden, Bible tied her up, cut off her clothes with a knife and sexually assaulted her in the back of his pickup truck. He went to prison for 6 years, and while there, according to court testimony, he told a counselor that he would never again make the mistake of letting a victim testify against him. He may have kept his promise.

Bible was out of prison a year when Jennifer Wilson was murdered.

A day before, he had stolen a truck from a county impound lot near Sheep Hill.

He never confessed the details, but a jailhouse informant told authorities that Bible said that while he was high on methamphetamine, Bible used the truck to run Jennifer off the road and then told her he would take her to get medical help.

Nearly 3 weeks later, hikers found some of her clothing on Sheep Hill and called police. Searchers found her bound and naked body covered with branches and litter, within yards of where searchers had passed in the days when she first disappeared. She had died of blunt-force blows to her head.

Loose rubber bands, a cut cigar and a couple of airline-size vodka bottles matched items found in the truck Bible had stolen. Hairs found at the scene were deemed to be similar to Bible's. Evidence technicians matched fibers. And then there was Jennifer's blood on Bible's shirt.

The jury found Bible guilty.

Richard Lynn Bible becomes the 90th inmate executed by Arizona since 1910, and the 25th to die by injection since the state abandoned the gas chamber 19 years ago.

There are currently 5 executions scheduled in the USA in July, including that of fellow Arizona death row inmate Thomas West on July 19. An additional 6 executions are scheduled nationally in August and 7 more in September.

Source: Arizona Republic, June 30, 2011

Lethal-injection drug subbed at last minute

DEA says thiopental was obtained illegally

The day before killer Donald Beaty was put to death, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informed Arizona officials that thiopental, a sedative used as part of the state's three-drug lethal injection procedure, had been obtained illegally from overseas and could not be used. So, at the last minute, prison officials substituted pentobarbital for the disputed drug, and the Beaty execution went forward.

Richard Lynn Bible [was] executed today using pentobarbital, which has come under scrutiny after a June 23 execution in Georgia in which the condemned man lurched, gasped and grimaced for 4 minutes after being injected with the drug. Authorities have not determined a reason for the reaction.

"Pentobarbital, administered by professionals and witnessed by the media in the Donald Beaty execution, worked as expected without incident," Arizona Director of Corrections Charles Ryan said. "The department will continue to use pentobarbital as part of its approved protocol."

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Danish pharmaceutical firm that produces the drug condemned its use in executions and in a prepared statement said it had "carried out a thorough assessment of ways to prevent distribution for use in capital punishment."

Source: The Arizona Republic, June 30, 2011

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