Woman's killer chooses the chair

[SoulTrainOz]

His lawyer speculates that the inmate may be afraid of lethal injection

Brandon Wayne Hedrick, set to be executed July 20, may be the 1st person in the country to die in an electric chair in more than 2 years.

The Virginia Department of Corrections said yesterday that Hedrick, 27, chose this month to be electrocuted rather than executed by injection.

Hedrick was convicted of the May 11, 1997, abduction, robbery, rape and capital murder of Lisa Crider, 23. Crider was abducted in Lynchburg and slain on the banks of the James River in Appomattox County. She died from a shotgun blast in the face.

Hedrick, convicted of three previous robberies, and accomplice Trevor Jones fled to Nebraska, where they were caught. Hedrick confessed to the shooting. Jones, 28, is serving a life sentence for the slaying.

Condemned inmates in Virginia have had the option of electrocution or lethal injection since Jan. 1, 1995. Since then, 68 men have been executed by injection and three by electrocution; the last was Earl Bramblett, executed on April 9, 2003.

Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said Hedrick cannot change his mind. State law requires an inmate to choose 15 days before execution. Those who refuse to choose are executed by injection.

"He's made his decision," Traylor said in an e-mail.

Rob Lee, one of Hedrick's lawyers, said he is not sure why Hedrick chose electrocution but believes it may have been because Hedrick fears lethal injection.

Lee, with the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center in
Charlottesville, said lawyers representing death-row inmates have unsuccessfully sought to be notified when inmates are being asked to make the decision, so the inmates can consult with them.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the last execution by electrocution in the U.S. was on May 28, 2004, in South Carolina.

Hedrick's lawyers have filed a clemency petition with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Among other things, they are seeking a hearing to determine if Hedrick, who has given up his appeals and has attempted suicide, is mentally retarded.

In an opinion last March, a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court Appeals said Hedrick had lost his chance to raise a retardation claim and, in any case, there was no evidence his IQ was 70 or below before the age of 18 as required by Virginia law.

However, 1 of the 3 judges on the panel said he did not believe Hedrick's claim of mental retardation was barred from consideration by a federal court.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in another Virginia case, has banned the execution of killers who are mentally retarded.

In the clemency petition to Kaine, they contend Hedrick was given
unconscionably poor representation by his trial lawyers.

Members of the governor's staff will work more hours in the week preceding Hedrick's scheduled execution than Hedrick's court-appointed lawyer did in the year before, they contend in the petition.

Crider, the mother of 2, was black. Hedrick is white.

As of April 1, out of roughly 1,000 men and women put to death since executions were allowed to resume in 1976, only 12 whites have been executed for killing blacks, according to the NAACP. Hedrick would be just the 13th. During the same period, 209 blacks have been executed for killing whites.

Hedrick's lawyers said Hedrick was not available to be interviewed.

In a 2002 telephone interview with The Times-Dispatch, Hedrick said he wanted to be executed and that he had found religion in prison.

"I believe in the holy Bible, and I believe that I'm forgiven for my sins and that if I'm executed by the state of Virginia, that when I die, I'm going to go to heaven and be with the Lord and I won't be suffering no more," Hedrick said at that time.

Concerning Crider's family, he said, "I don't expect them to ever forgive me for what I did."

(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)

[SoulTrainOz]

A man convicted in 1998 of robbing, raping and murdering a Lynchburg woman is scheduled to die by electric chair next week.

Brandon Wayne Hedrick, 27, will be executed next Thursday for the May 11, 1997, murder of 23-year-old Lisa Yvonne Crider.

Crider's body was found in shallow waters of the James River in Appomattox County. Her hands were bound and her eyes and mouth were covered with duct tape. She had been shot in the head.

The discovery of her body at a popular fishing spot and the gruesome details of how Crider, a mother of 2, died on Mothers Day shocked Appomattox County and the surrounding area.

Hedrick - who chose the electric chair over lethal injection - will be the 1st person in the country to die that way since May 2004, unless Gov. Timothy Kaine or the U.S. Supreme Court step in.

Philip Hedrick, Brandon Hedrick's father, said Wednesday the hardest part of coping with Hedrick's upcoming execution is explaining it to his 6- and 7-year-old granddaughters.

"They're kind of really depressed about it, and one of them is scared," said Hedrick, a Campbell County resident. "She thought she was going to have to see it."

Hedrick said his son is a Christian who was caught up with a bad crowd and became out of control prior to Criders murder.

Crider's mother, Dale Alexander, of Altavista, told the Associated Press on Wednesday she believes Hedrick deserves to be punished for murdering her only daughter, whom she called an "inspiration."

"We appreciate justice being done," Alexander said. "I think he should get what he wants least."

During Hedricks trial, an accomplice, Trevor Andrew Jones, testified the killing happened after a night of drugs, prostitutes and an elaborate plot in which Hedrick robbed Crider and pretended to also rob Jones so Criders boyfriend wouldnt come after Jones.

The pair later took Crider to a spot about 40 yards from Virginia 605 near Bent Creek in Appomattox County, where Jones handed Hedrick a shotgun, Jones testified. Hedrick shot Crider in the mouth.

An acquaintance of the pair, Bill Dodson, testified he saw the robbery at Jones' apartment but not the murder. He said he heard 2 days later that a young woman had been killed and knew it was connected. He called police.

Hedrick and Jones were arrested in Lincoln, Neb., on outstanding robbery warrants 8 days after Criders body was found. Authorities linked the two to the murder after interviewing them.

Hedrick was eligible for the death penalty because an Appomattox jury decided he was the triggerman in the killing. In a 2003 interview, Hedrick said he was so drunk and high on crack-cocaine he doesnt remember whether he pulled the trigger.

Jones, now 28, pleaded guilty to his role in the crime and is serving a life sentence.

Appomattox County Sheriff Wilson Staples remembers the case well. It was the first homicide he worked on as sheriff.

"I can say that from our perspective, from law enforcement's perspective, it was certainly a shocking situation," Staples said. "Anytime that you have a murder that occurs in a county, it's a trying time until someone is found to have been a party that is responsible."

Rob Lee, one of Hedrick's attorneys, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch he is not sure why Hedrick chose electrocution but believes Hedrick might fear lethal injection. Hedrick's lawyers said he was not available for an interview.

The last person to die by electric chair was 47-year-old James Neil
Tucker, who was executed in May 2004 in South Carolina, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.

Hedrick's execution, which has been delayed multiple times in recent years as judges have considered whether to grant him a new trial and ordered him to undergo mental evaluations, may be canceled or put off again.

Besides asking for clemency, Hedrick's lawyers seek a hearing to determine whether Hedrick is mentally retarded, according to the Associated Press.

A psychologist testified at Hedrick's sentencing he had an IQ of 76. Virginia law requires a persons IQ to be below 70 to be considered retarded, but Hedrick's attorneys argue a margin of error and a change in IQ scores over time could put him below that mark.

Jack Payden-Travers, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, told the Associated Press that Hedricks choice of electrocution suggests he might be mentally impaired.

"Can a mildly mentally retarded individual voluntarily choose?" said Payden-Travers, who has met with Hedrick several times. "Brandon is very impressionable - he's very easily swayed."

Hedrick told The News & Advance in 2003 that his situation is in God's hands.

"2 things happen to people on death row," he said. "Either they turn to the Lord or turn away and get very angry and mean. Basically I believe that no matter what happens, it's going to be what the Lord wants."

(source: News Advance)

[SoulTrainOz]

Victim's mother has mixed feelings on condemned man who has chosen electric chair

Lisa Crider's mother does not know why Brandon Wayne Hedrick wants to die in the electric chair July 20 instead of by injection.

"He had a choice. I'm going with it whatever he chooses," Dale Alexander of Altavista said yesterday.

Hedrick murdered Crider in 1997 with the aid of an accomplice.

Alexander said the electric chair "will probably go hard with his folks." But, she added, "they didn't ask Lisa what did she prefer. Could she just be put to sleep? I'm not jumping up and down, but at the same time I'm not losing sleep over anything."

Hedrick, 27, could be the 1st person in the U.S. executed in an electric chair in more than 2 years, provided he does not change his mind and request to die by injection, or the governor or the courts intervene.

The Virginia Department of Corrections said Tuesday that Hedrick could not change his decision. Yesterday, however, spokesmen for the department and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said that if Hedrick opts for injection he will be accommodated.

It has been more than 3 years since someone has been executed in Virginia's electric chair -- Earl Bramblett, on April 9, 2003. Then-Gov. Mark R. Warner was ready to permit him to change the method of execution.

Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said in an e-mail yesterday, "We were ready to make the change if the order came down but no change was ordered and the electrocution took place."

James O. Broccoletti of Norfolk, one of Hedrick's lawyers, said Tuesday that he hoped his client changes his decision.

Crider, 23, was abducted from Lynchburg, raped, robbed and murdered on May 11, 1997. She was killed by a shotgun blast to her face on the shore of the James River in Appomattox County.

Hedrick and an accomplice fled but were apprehended in Nebraska. Hedrick admitted firing the shot. His accomplice, Trevor Jones, 28, is serving a life term for his role in the crimes.

"It is the first and only capital murder that has ever been prosecuted in the county of Appomattox," said the Appomattox sheriff, O. Wilson Staples.

Though it was a grisly slaying, Staples said you can't rank homicides. "All of them have a devastating effect on families."

"Appomattox does not have that many homicides. We're very fortunate," he said. "But when something like that does take place, it certainly affects the community."

Staples does not plan to witness the execution, if it takes place.
However, Alexander said that "I and my sons, we may attend, I just can't be certain right now." She said she needs transportation from her home to the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

Hedrick's lawyers have a filed a clemency petition with Kaine's office and an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)

[SoulTrainOz]

Killer has requested form of execution once seen as more humane but now rarely used

BY FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Early on Oct. 13, 1908, Henry Smith, a rapist, was strapped into an oak chair at the Virginia State Penitentiary and put to death.

The first use of an electric chair in the South was deemed a humane success by officials, as reported in The Times-Dispatch the following day.

This Thursday night, Brandon Wayne Hedrick, 27, is scheduled to die in what officials believe is the same chair that dispatched Smith and 263 others over the intervening decades.

Hedrick is set to die for the May 11, 1997, capital murder of Lisa Crider, 23, who was abducted, robbed, raped and then slain by a shotgun blast in Appomattox County.

But the chair will have to be dusted off if Hedrick is to die in it.

It hasn't been used here for more than three years. And it has been more than two years since any other state carried out an execution with an electric chair.

Hedrick could be one of the last killers in the U.S. to die by
electrocution, said Michael L. Radelet, an expert on executions at the University of Colorado.

For a century, the chair symbolized the death penalty in fact, literature, the cinema and television. But it appears to be in its last days.

Since 2001, there have been 348 executions in the U.S., but just three by electrocution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The last person to die in an electric chair was in 2004 in South Carolina.

Radelet, a longtime death-penalty critic, said that all but one of the 10 states with electric chairs give inmates a choice between that and lethal injection, a method also under legal attack. Some states have other means of execution such as hanging, the gas chamber or the firing squad -- but they are also used only if the inmate chooses them instead of injection, he said.

Hedrick's execution comes at an interesting time, Radelet said. "If we look back in history, we've had people burned at the stake or sawed in half. Even now, if an inmate wanted to be sawed in half, I doubt that the courts would allow that to happen."

First used in New York in 1890, the electric chair was seen as more humane than hanging. It has now been largely replaced in the U.S. by lethal injection, believed more humane than electrocution.

Corinna Barrett Lain, a University of Richmond law professor, said that the electric chair was challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court that same year, 1890, on the grounds it violated the Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Use of the chair was permitted by the justices, she said.

"Just because it is novel, doesn't mean it is prohibited by the cruel and unusual punishment clause," Lain said. But, she said, "here we are over a century later, and the question is really arising again."

"Now we have the chair being very rarely used, and it's certainly
foreseeable that someone could raise an objection once again. . . . Only this time the court may well give a different answer," she said.

Today, with widespread use of lethal injection, such a challenge might be viewed differently. Lain said it is possible the high court would find that the use of electrocution "really is relatively cruel and it is certainly unusual in practice."

Hedrick has apparently lost any chance of challenging electrocution. Rob Lee, one of his lawyers, said that when condemned inmates are asked if they want to die by injection or the chair, even if they refuse to make a selection, they must mark a form showing they were asked.

If no selection is made, the default form of execution is injection.

Lee contends, "they're basically extracting a waiver of a constitutional right not to have cruel and unusual punishment imposed on you."

Electrocution has been challenged in recent years in state courts. In 2000, as the Florida Supreme Court was considering the issue, the state legislature made lethal injection an option.

In 2001, the Georgia Supreme Court found electrocution to be
unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, and the Georgia legislature switched to injection. Alabama added injection in 2002. Nebraska is now the sole state where electrocution is the only means of execution.

In 1908, Virginia became the fifth state to use the electric chair,
according to Richard J. Bonnie, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School.

At the same time, the General Assembly decided to have all executions conducted at the State Penitentiary, then in Richmond, instead of hangings across the state, he said.

The Times-Dispatch reported in 1908 that conducting this "most humane manner" of execution at the penitentiary "would free the various communities of the excitement, the morbid curiosity and the maudlin sentiment connected therewith."

Four of the first 10 men to die in Virginia's chair were electrocuted for rape or attempted rape. Since 1976, capital murder is now the only crime for which one can be executed anywhere in the U.S.

The State Penitentiary was torn down in 1991, and the electric chair was refurbished, a modern electrical-control system was installed and it was moved to the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, where executions are now conducted.

Since Jan. 1, 1995, when Virginia gave condemned prisoners a choice between the electric chair and lethal injection, 68 men have opted for injection, and just three have died in the chair.

There have been several allegedly "botched" electrocutions in the state since it resumed using the chair in 1982.

One was conducted on Oct. 17, 1990. According to a Times-Dispatch account, "blood streamed from murderer Wilbert Lee Evans' mask . . . and two witnesses said Evans made a noise after the first of two jolts.

On Aug. 22, 1991, the physician checking for vital signs on Derick Lynn Peterson after the first jolt of electricity found that that he was still alive. After that execution, prison officials said they would check for a heartbeat after two cycles of electricity, said news accounts.

Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said in an e-mail that "the equipment is designed to deliver electricity in two applications, each lasting one and a half minutes, for a total application of three minutes.

"There is a slight pause between the two applications. Five minutes after the conclusion of the second electrical application, the attending physician may certify that death has occurred," he said.

Source : Richmond Times-Dispatch

www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_Ba

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This photo provided by the Virginia Department of Corrections shows death row imnate Brandon Wayne Hedrick who is scheduled to be executed July 20, 2006, at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va. Hedrick has chosen the electric chair as his method of execution rather than lethal injection.

Va. killer executed by electric chair

By KRISTEN GELINEAU
Associated Press Writer
July 20, 2006, 9:00PM

JARRATT, Va. — A man convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman was executed Thursday, becoming the first person in the United States to die in the electric chair in more than two years.

Brandon Hedrick, 27, was pronounced dead at the Greensville Correctional Center at 9:12 p.m. after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeals and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine denied his request for clemency.

"I pray for the people that are unsaved," Hedrick said in his final words. "I'm ready to go and be free."

Hedrick chose the electric chair because he was apparently unnerved by the prospect of lethal injection. Virginia inmates have the option of choosing to die by injection or electrocution. Three other Virginia inmates have opted for the electric chair over injection since the state began giving inmates the choice in 1995.

Last week, several guards showed up at Hedrick's cell late at night to present him with a form on which he was told to choose his execution method, Hedrick's attorney Robert Lee said.

The guards "begin talking about lethal injection _ talking about being strapped down to the table, being made to wait long periods of time, the difficulty sometimes in finding a vein," Lee said. "That information coupled with general frustration produced this result."

Lethal injection was adopted by many states in recent decades after it was portrayed as more humane than other methods of execution. But defense attorneys in recent months have argued around the country that the combination of drugs can in some cases cause excruciating pain. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that death row inmates can challenge lethal injection as a civil rights issue.

Hedrick did not say the officers discussed reports of pain caused by the chemicals, Lee said. However, Hedrick "had some awareness of the concerns that have been raised in other litigation _ the idea that you're anesthetized, but maybe you don't remain unconscious," Lee said.

The defense attorney said he did not believe Hedrick was manipulated into choosing the electric chair, but added: "Clearly, that stuff spooked him."

Virginia Corrections Department spokesman Larry Traylor said he is confident the officers handled their task properly.

Virginia has had a few problems with electrocutions in the nearly 25 years since the state resumed use of the chair, which was built out of oak in 1909. In 1990, blood was seen streaming from a condemned man's mask. The following year, an inmate needed extra jolts to kill him after he survived the first round.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, nine states allow some or all condemned inmates to choose between injection and another method. Ten states have the electric chair; only one of them _ Nebraska _ uses it exclusively.

Hedrick was condemned to die for the 1997 murder of Lisa Crider, who was abducted, robbed, raped and killed with a shotgun blast to the face. Hedrick's attorneys asked the Supreme Court and Kaine to stop the execution, arguing among other things that he might be mentally retarded.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute the retarded. In Virginia, those who score 70 or below on an IQ test before they turn 18 generally are considered retarded.

Hedrick's IQ was measured at 76 during his trial, but his attorneys argued that the margin of error and the passage of time may mean his IQ is actually below 70.

[SoulTrainOz]

Gov. Kaine doesn't intervene in Hedrick's scheduled execution

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has declined to intervene in the scheduled execution of Brandon Hedrick, 27, set to die in the electric chair at 9 p.m. today.

Hedrick was convicted in 1998 of the rape and murder of a Lynchburg woman, Lisa Yvonne Crider.

In a statement issued early this evening, Kaine said, "In May of 1998, Brandon Wayne Hedrick was found guilty of capital murder in the commission of robbery, abduction, forcible sodomy, rape, and use of a firearm in the murder of Lisa Crider, a young mother. In a separate sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended that Hedrick be sentenced to death on the capital murder conviction, and this recommendation was adopted by the
trial judge. The trial, verdict, and sentence have been reviewed in detail by various state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Supreme Court of the United States.

"Having carefully reviewed the Petition for Clemency and judicial opinions regarding this case, I find no reason to doubt Mr. Hedrick's guilt or to set aside the sentence that was recommended by the jury and then imposed and affirmed by the courts.

"Accordingly, I decline to intervene."

Crider's body was found in shallow waters of the James River in Appomattox County. Her hands were bound and her eyes and mouth covered with duct tape. She had been shot in the head. An accomplice, Trevor Andrew Jones, now 28, pleaded guilty to his role in the crime and is serving a life sentence.

(source: Lynchburg News & Advance)

[SoulTrainOz]

Va. Killer Executed by Electric Chair

Like other Virginia inmates, a man convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman was allowed to choose how he would be executed: lethal injection or electric chair.

Apparently fearful of lethal injection, Brandon Hedrick on Thursday became the 1st person in the nation to die in the electric chair in more than 2 years. He was pronounced dead at the Greensville Correctional Center at 9:12 p.m.

''I pray for everybody that believes in Jesus Christ in heaven and I pray for the people that are unsaved,'' the 27-year-old said in his final words. ''I'm ready to go and be free.''

Since 1995, when the state began allowing inmates to choose the method of execution, 3 other Virginia inmates have opted for the electric chair.

Hedrick may have chosen the electric chair because he feared lethal injection, his attorney Robert Lee said.

Last week, several guards showed up at Hedrick's cell late at night to present him with a form on which he was told to choose his execution method, Lee said. They talked about lethal injection, he said.

Lethal injection was adopted by many states in recent decades after it was portrayed as more humane than other methods of execution.

But defense attorneys in recent months have argued around the country that the combination of drugs can in some cases cause excruciating pain. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that death row inmates can challenge lethal injection as a civil rights issue.

Hedrick did not say the officers discussed reports of pain caused by the chemicals, Lee said. However, Hedrick was aware of those who raised concerns that inmates may be anesthetized but don't remain unconscious, Lee said.

The defense attorney said he did not believe Hedrick was manipulated into choosing the electric chair, but added: ''Clearly, that stuff spooked him.''

State Corrections Department spokesman Larry Traylor said he is confident the officers handled their task properly.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 9 states allow some or all condemned inmates to choose between injection and another method. 10 states have the electric chair; only one of them -- Nebraska -- uses it exclusively.

Hedrick was condemned to die for the 1997 murder of Lisa Crider, who was abducted, robbed, raped and killed with a shotgun blast to the face. Her body was found on Mother's Day, 1997. She left behind a 5-year-old son, Tracy, now 14.

''I think about her every day,'' said Crider's mother, Dale Alexander, 55. ''At different times, day and night, because she's never far.''

Also Thursday, a child sex offender in Texas, Robert Anderson, 40, was executed for abducting and killing 5-year-old Audra Reeves, becoming the 16th execution this year in Texas. He apologized to his victim's grandmother, who was among the witnesses.

(source: Associated Press)