In 2013, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and our
many allies and supporters in the death penalty abolition movement
celebrated triumphs and learned from our setbacks. This list of
important stories from 2013 emphasizes the successes but provides
critical reminders of the challenges we still need to overcome.
Texas Executes 500th Person -
Kimberly McCarthy,
a former occupational therapist, was executed in June for the murder of
her neighbor, Dorothy Booth, a former professor, and became the 500th
person executed in Texas since 1976. Texas leads the nation in
executions, but in recent years the number of death sentences issued has
fallen. By December, Texas had executed eight additional people
bringing its total executions since 1976 to 508.
Virginia Electrocutes Robert Gleason –In January,
Robert Gleason was executed by electrocution in Virginia for the murder
of Harvey Watson, a 63-year-old fellow prisoner. Gleason was the first
person since 2010 to choose the electric chair over lethal injection.
According to the
Daily Mail’s account
of the execution, “a brine-soaked sea sponge - soaked to better conduct
electricity throughout the body leading to a faster and less painful
death - was strapped to his right calf before a second was to the top of
his head. Without the sponge the electricity administered would
disperse all over the body, causing the body to cook in a far more
agonizing way.” Gleason’s former attorneys said he suffered from mental
illness.
Click here to read the full article
Source: National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, December 12, 2013
