Alabama executes Thomas Warren Whisenhant

ATMORE, Ala. -- Murderer Thomas Warren Whisenhant's long stay on Alabama's death row ended this afternoon.

Whisenhant (left), 63, said nothing before he was injected with the cocktail of drugs that sapped the life from his body. A doctor pronounced him dead at 6:20 p.m.

The Prichard native died three days short of his 32nd anniversary on death row at Holman prison, where he was the longest-serving inmate on death row. He became the 241st prisoner executed in Alabama, and the first since Max Landon Payne was put to death in October.

Whisenhant was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Cheryl Lynn Payton, a Theodore convenience store clerk and mother of two, on Oct. 16, 1976. Payton was days away from her 24th birthday.

Whisenhant returned two days later to the field where he had left Payton to die and mutilated her body, removing a wristwatch that he gave to his wife as a present.

It was not Whisenhant's first act of violence. After his arrest, he confessed to killing two other women -- Venora Hyatt and Patricia Hit -- and attacking three others, including his own wife.

After a Mobile County jury convicted Whisenhant the following year, Payton's mother recalled this week, she believed his trip from the courthouse to the electric chair would be a short one.

"We thought it was going to happen within three to six months," Vivian Gazzier said Wednesday.

Instead, Gazzier waited three decades.

Whisenhant stood trial again in 1981 after an appeals court overturned the original conviction. On appeal after the second trial, the courts determined that improper statements by the prosecutor warranted a new sentencing hearing.

During those years, Gazzier lost her husband and the state switched its primary method of execution from electrocution to lethal injection.

Whisenhant becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 45th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983.

Whisenhant becomes the 24th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA, and the 1212th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

There are 8 more executions scheduled in the USA in June, which, if carried out, would put the USA at the same total of 32 executions as were carried out in the first 6 months of 2009. The USA finished last year with 52 executions overall.

Source: al.com, May 27, 2010

Victim's Family Reacts To Execution

Alabama has executed its longest serving death row inmate.

Witnesses to the execution of Thomas Whisenhant Thursday night said he did not apologize for murdering a 23 year old Mobile woman. Whisenhant was pronounced dead at Holman Correctional Center at 6:20 pm Thursday.

He was executed for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Cheryl Payton in 1976.

After the execution, family members of the victim made emotional statements to the news media.

Douglas Payton, Cheryl Payton's husband, said Whisenhant "had no remorse. None whatsoever."

As for Thomas Whisenhant at the time of execution, Vivian Gazzier, Payton's mother, said, "He didn't say anything. He wouldn't look our way."

Another family member, Susanna Payton, said, "No adequate words exist to appropriately define justice, and there is not enough time left on earth to calculate the immense loss we have experienced."

Cheryl Payton's sister, Susan Payton, said, "On this day, we're uncertain that you could define today as closure. It is like a chapter in a book that you just read the next chapter and you hope that the next chapter might be better."

Edward Gazzier, Cheryl Payton's brother, said of Whisenhant, "We watched him die an easy death: a very, very, easy death."

Also speaking was the son of Vernora Hyatt.

Whisenhant had pleaded guilty to killing her and another woman.

He said, "It comes to a time when everybody says its over. It's never over."

After family members left, Whisenhant's attorney spoke.

Richard Cohen said, "The state has executed a man who is seriously mentally ill. Independent doctors for the federal government diagnosed Mr. Whisenhant as psychotic and a paranoid schizophrenic."

Whisenhant was the longest serving inmate on death row.

He served 32 years, 8 months and 20 days.

Source: WKRG News, May 28, 2010

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