Execution Week: Four Death Sentences

Five executions were scheduled this month, each in different states. Those states are South Carolina (last week), Texas, Missouri (Tuesday), Alabama, and Oklahoma (Thursday). There will be one next week. 

A busy two weeks. This will be a heavy entry with four death penalty-eligible crimes. Tough going. 

Travis James Mullis (Texas)

In Galveston County TX, the subject stomped on his 3 month old son's head crushing his skull and then choked the victim resulting in his death.

What drove a twenty-one-year-old father in 2008 to murder his son in this fashion? If that isn't enough, he also reported sexually abusing the child. Perhaps, this is why the child allegedly would not stop crying, leading Travis to kill him. 

The defense, unsurprisingly, cites mental health issues though not enough to mitigate in the minds of the fact-finders and courts. Also not a surprise, that evidence was put in that he was sexually abused as a child. This is tragically a common story -- the abuse is played forward.  

Notably, the last person executed in the specific county -- only a small number of counties have most of the death sentences -- was in 2005.  

He has been on death row for thirteen years, which relatively speaking is not that long (Breyer). Six years ago, he wanted things to be sped along. So is this some sort of euthanasia? 

This is a broken individual that deserved to be in prison for a long time. My label is not meant to make you feel sorry for the guy. I'm sure many think him a monster. But, the only monsters out there are metaphorical ones. He was human.

Monsters are "supposed" to be slain. So Texas did so.

Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams (Missouri)

Williams was convicted of first-degree murder for the slaying of 42-year-old Lisha Gayle, a former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A social worker at the time, the woman was found slain in the suburban St. Louis home she shared with husband.

She was stabbed 43 times with a kitchen knife taken from inside the couple's home, court papers show.

A 1998 trial provides more concern for a long stay on death row in this case (over 25 years). 

There are also concerns that he did not do it. The prosecutor later agreed that faulty DNA evidence warranted removing the death sentence:

Bell's office and Williams' attorneys reached an agreement that Williams would enter a new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in exchange for life in prison sentence without parole. The victim's husband, Dr. Daniel Picus, signed off on the plea.

The state Attorney General, however, blocked it, arguing the defense was creating a false narrative. The Missouri Supreme Court then blocked the agreement. 

The AG is a Republican, the prosecutor a Democrat, and the AG has previously questioned innocence claims. Including someone eventually freed from prison. 

Political labels alone have not settled the issue. This is true even though some critics of the response to the execution spoke of "progressives" as if they were the only ones concerned. 

For instance, one of the people writing about the problems with his sentence is David French. Some might think him a RINO for supporting Kamala Harris. He isn't quite a "progressive."  

Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, granted a stay [in 2017] after testing showed DNA on the weapon matched an unknown person.

A state law also allows prosecutors to challenge a death sentence if enough evidence is available to question the person's guilt. Wesley Bell, who won in a primary against Rep. Cori "Squad Member" Bush, did so. The state supreme court rejected the claims. 

A death sentence should meet a high test of assurance, even more than time in prison. Is that met here? I don't know if he is "almost certainly innocent," but there does seem to be some reasonable doubt. State courts have been wrong before. It's a bit of a moot point now. 

As to "what about the victim," the family signed off on the plea. The state appealed to them anyway. 

None of the victim's family members were at the execution. Family members have mixed sentiments about the death penalty. Some strongly think it is warranted, some are indifferent, and others oppose it.  People need to stop generalizing about "victims." 

The Supreme Court rejected final appeals, the liberals (without comment) dissenting regarding some claims. (Both regarding the possible innocence and racism that might have tainted the jury.) This case was more troubling than some others and warranted more than some others a written dissent. 

Emmanuel Antonio Littlejohn (Oklahoma)

Emmanuel Littlejohn was sentenced to death for a deadly shooting at a convenience store in 1992.

On August 7, 2024, Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency. The governor makes the final decision. He did not go along with the recommendation. 

He does not admit his guilt. There is reason to believe him regarding as to whom was directly responsible:

Despite prosecutors first arguing in 1993 that Mr. Bethany was the shooter responsible, resulting in a sentence of life without parole, they then argued the opposite in the 1994 trial of Mr. Littlejohn, implicating him as the shooter rather than an accomplice in the robbery.

The sentencing jury also had problems. Again, there was independent evidence of difficulty. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has acknowledged the confusion and has revised instructions

Littlejohn did not have problems in prison and has had multiple health issues. If we grant he was guilty, was over thirty years in prison not a satisfactory punishment?  Another dubious death sentence. 

Alan Eugene Miller (Alabama) 

Miller in 1999 murdered two of his co-workers and his former superior. There seem to be mental health issues involved. The jury split 10-2 on recommending the death penalty. I discussed his case here when the state (again) botched an execution.

He wanted the state to use nitrogen gas. This time, he will get his wish. OTOH, when nitrogen gas was used for the first time, it didn't go well. 

Some people might be surprised (appalled) that a state can kill people in installments. The Supreme Court (1947) held that an accidental inability to execute someone does not mean they cannot try again. 

The precedent was never overturned. I think Alabama's record is negligent enough to warrant blocking them. But, what do I know? 

He was executed, completing a busy week of executions in four states. How did it go? 

The state made sure to keep many of the details private. Clarity has been a concern in recent years with botched executions. 

The media report speaks of him "shaking and trembling" for about two minutes and "then gasped on and off" for another six. The curtains then were closed for a few minutes before the official time of death.  

It sounds like it went better than the first time the method was used. FWIW. Not convinced it is better than lethal injection though that method has medical ethics concerns not quite present here.