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James Earl Reed - SC

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Post  Jennie Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:53 pm

20th June 2008

James Earl Reed - SC 2hwzd76

Read James Earl Reed's information here....
Jennie
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Post  Jennie Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:09 pm

A South Carolina man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents 14 years ago was executed in the state's electric chair Friday night after a last-ditch effort to halt the sentence was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.

James Earl Reed was pronounced dead at 11:27 p.m. Friday in the state's death chamber in Columbia. He did not issue a final statement.

The execution, first scheduled for 6 p.m., had been put on hold as defense attorneys successfully obtained a stay from a federal judge, only to see it vacated by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Their attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to block the execution was subsequently denied.

Reed, 49, was the 1st person electrocuted in South Carolina in more than 4 years. He had been on death row since 1996, when he was convicted of murdering Joseph and Barbara Lafayette in their Charleston County home 2 years earlier. Prosecutors said he was looking for his ex-girlfriend.

When the curtain to the death chamber was drawn, Reed was seated in a chair in the middle of the room, with leather straps at his wrists, biceps, chest, waist and ankles. A prison official placed a brown hood over Reed's face, on which there was also a cap connected to the ceiling by a thick, black cable.

A series of thumps followed a moment later, as Reed clenched his fists and his body stiffened, lurching back in the chair. Several minutes later, Reed's body relaxed and slumped forward slightly.

A technician then entered the chamber to disconnect the cable from Reed's head, and a physician checked his pulse and pupils before officials announced the time of death.

Several relatives of the Lafayettes witnessed the execution, including 1 of their 3 children.

"They were in the prime of their lives ... when their lives were cut short. They were not here to share the happiest days of our lives," said the Lafayettes' youngest daughter, 37-year-old Marsha Aleem, of Tampa, Fla.

During his trial, Reed fired his attorney and represented himself, denying the killings despite a confession and arguing that no physical evidence placed him at the scene. Jurors found him guilty and decided he should die.

Reed tried to argue in one appeal that the trial judge shouldn't have allowed him to defend himself, but the state Supreme Court said he had been warned.

Reed then tried to waive further appeals and have an execution date set. Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that Reed could not drop those appeals or continue to represent himself.

In the request for the stay that was granted Friday, the defense attorneys cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision made the day before regarding defendants' rights to represent themselves. The high court on Thursday said a defendant can be judged competent to stand trial, yet incapable of acting as his own lawyer.

The last person put to death in South Carolina's electric chair was James Neil Tucker, who was executed in 2004 for killing 2 women. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 8 other states electrocute inmates.

In South Carolina, anyone sentenced to death may choose the electric chair or lethal injection. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 8 other states electrocute inmates.

Reed was the 1st man electrocuted in the U.S. in nearly a year. Daryl Holton, a 45-year-old Tennessee man, died in the electric chair in September 2007 for killing his 3 sons and their half-sister, according to the center.

Reed becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in South Carolina and the 39th overallsince the state resumed capital punishment in 1985.

Reed becomes the 8th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1107th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
Jennie
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Post  Jennie Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:16 pm

JAMES EARL REED

1959 - 2008

RIP
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