On Execution Day, Three Killers in Different States Meet Different Fates
- 6 years ago
On Execution Day, Three Killers in Different States Meet Different Fates
Whitaker’s father insists that he would be victimized again if the state put to death his last remaining immediate family member,” Mr. Abbott said in a statement, noting
that 30 inmates had been executed during his three years as governor.
Jeff Dunn, the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, said
that medical staff members at the prison tried to access a vein on Mr. Hamm after the United States Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay around 8:45 p.m.
“They recommended we not continue simply because we were running out of time,” Mr. Dunn said at a news conference at the Holman Correctional Facility.
Still, more inmates are executed in Texas than in any other state, underscoring the rarity
of the governor’s decision on Thursday night to commute Mr. Whitaker’s death sentence.
“I’m thankful for this decision, not for me but for my dad,” Mr. Whitaker, 38, said in a statement distributed by prison officials on Thursday night.
The last-minute commutation was the first in a decade in a state
that has long led the nation in executions and came after Mr. Whitaker’s father, Kent, who was shot in the attack but survived, led an effort to stop his son’s execution.
Had all three men been put to death, it would have been the first time in more than eight years
that three people had been executed on the same day in the United States.
Whitaker’s father insists that he would be victimized again if the state put to death his last remaining immediate family member,” Mr. Abbott said in a statement, noting
that 30 inmates had been executed during his three years as governor.
Jeff Dunn, the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, said
that medical staff members at the prison tried to access a vein on Mr. Hamm after the United States Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay around 8:45 p.m.
“They recommended we not continue simply because we were running out of time,” Mr. Dunn said at a news conference at the Holman Correctional Facility.
Still, more inmates are executed in Texas than in any other state, underscoring the rarity
of the governor’s decision on Thursday night to commute Mr. Whitaker’s death sentence.
“I’m thankful for this decision, not for me but for my dad,” Mr. Whitaker, 38, said in a statement distributed by prison officials on Thursday night.
The last-minute commutation was the first in a decade in a state
that has long led the nation in executions and came after Mr. Whitaker’s father, Kent, who was shot in the attack but survived, led an effort to stop his son’s execution.
Had all three men been put to death, it would have been the first time in more than eight years
that three people had been executed on the same day in the United States.