[Deathpenalty] [POSSIBLE SPAM] death penalty news----N.C., DEL., OHIO, ALA., GA.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 5



NORTH CAROLINA:

Death penalty sought in Fayetteville girl's killing


Cumberland County prosecutors said Wednesday that they plan to seek the death 
penalty against the man charged with killing a 5-year-old Fayetteville girl 
almost 2 years ago but not against the girl's mother.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 30, has been charged with murder, kidnapping and rape 
in the death of Shaniya Davis, whose body was found in a kudzu patch near the 
Lee-Harnett county line on Nov. 16, 2009, six days after her mother, Antoinette 
Nicole Davis, reported her missing from their Fayetteville home.

Authorities believe Antoinette Davis is complicit in her daughter's death. 
Arrest warrants stated that she "did knowingly provide Shaniya with the intent 
that she be held in sexual servitude" and "did permit an act of prostitution 
with Shaniya."

An autopsy determined that Shaniya died of asphyxiation and that injuries she 
suffered were consistent with a sexual assault. A medical examiner noted in the 
autopsy that investigators believe the girl was used to pay off a drug debt.

A Cumberland County grand jury indicted Antoinette Davis in July on charges of 
first-degree murder, indecent liberties with a child, felony child abuse, 
felony sexual servitude, rape of a child, sexual offense of a child by an adult 
offender, human trafficking and making a false police report.

She was arraigned Wednesday, and a judge set her bond on the murder charge at 
$2 million. Bonds totaling $1.5 million were set previously on the other 
charges.

McNeill, whom police have described as a friend of the family, is being held 
without bond at Central Prison in Raleigh.

(source: WRAL)

*****************************

State to seek death penalty in Shaniya Davis murder case


A judge has cleared the way for prosecutors to seek the death penalty against 
the man accused of killing 5-year-old Shaniya Davis in 2009.

Prosecutors, however, told Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons in a hearing 
Wednesday that they do not intend to seek the death penalty for her mother, 
Antoinette Davis, 27, who is accused of giving up her daughter to pay off a 
drug debt.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 31, and Davis are both charged with first-degree murder 
in Shaniya's death.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against McNeill because of two 
aggravating factors - that he is accused of killing Shaniya during the 
commission of a rape and kidnapping and that the crime was "especially heinous, 
atrocious and cruel," District Attorney Billy West said.

West said in court that Antoinette Davis owed McNeill a $200 drug debt and that 
she was unwilling to have sex with him to pay it off. Instead, she offered her 
5-year-old daughter to settle the debt, he said.

"This is a case of a rape and/or sex offense against a 5-year-old victim who 
was helpless to prevent her asphyxiation," West said. "Her body was left in a 
ditch after she was asphyxiated and this was done, allegedly, by someone she 
knew and perhaps even trusted."

McNeill's lawyers did not contest the prosecutors' bid to proceed with the case 
as a capital trial, saying only they do not agree with the prosecution's 
position.

"We would like the record to show we don't agree or concur with the DA's 
aggravating factors," defense lawyer Harold "Butch" Pope told the judge.

Ammons granted the prosecution's request to seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors then told the judge they do not intend to seek the death penalty 
against Antoinette Davis.

West said that after consulting with the state Attorney General's Office, 
prosecutors determined that a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1982, Enmund v. 
Florida, would preclude the death penalty because Davis did not intend for her 
daughter to die.

That case established that the Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibits death 
sentences for defendants in felony murder cases who did not themselves kill, 
try to kill or intend to kill anyone.

Prosecutors allege that Davis sold her daughter as a prostitute to pay off a 
drug debt to McNeill on the morning of Nov. 10, 2009. McNeill took the girl 
from the family's home in the Sleepy Hollow Mobile Home Park off Murchison Road 
at 5:47 a.m. and checked into a Comfort Suites hotel in Sanford at 6:11 a.m., 
West said.

At 7:33 a.m., McNeill got a tip that someone knew he had taken Shaniya and he 
left the hotel, West said. The child's body was found off Walker Road near the 
Carolina Trace community in Harnett County on Nov. 16, 2009.

West alleged that Antoinette Davis lied repeatedly in interviews with 
detectives until she finally confessed to giving McNeill her daughter to pay 
the drug debt.

Davis was charged in November 2009 with human trafficking, child abuse 
involving prostitution, filing a false police report and obstructing an 
investigation. She was indicted in July on additional charges including 
1st-degree murder, rape of a child, taking indecent liberties with a child, 
committing a sexual offense, sexual servitude and making a false police report.

Since then, she has been held without bail at the Cumberland County Detention 
Center on the murder charge and on $1.5 million bail on the other charges. 
Prosecutors argued Wednesday that her bail on the murder charge be set at an 
additional $1 million because of the seriousness of the offense.

Her lawyer, D.W. Bray, argued for reduced bail, saying she is not a flight risk 
or a danger to the community. He said Davis was free on bond for months before 
the indictment, and she always made her court dates. He said Davis held a 
steady job as a certified nursing assistant at the time of her daughter's death 
and that she has no criminal history.

"Of course, we will be denying the underlying theory of the state's case as to 
Ms. Davis in that there were substantial other factors that have not been taken 
into consideration," Bray said.

He said Davis was employed at the time she allegedly assumed the drug debt, and 
the prosecution's theory that she willingly surrendered her daughter to pay off 
the debt does not mesh with the kidnapping charge McNeill is facing.

"We like to point out to your honor that there were other parties living in the 
home, and we anticipate entering evidence at trial to indicate that 
communication that occurred between Mr. McNeill did not happen with Ms. Davis," 
Bray said. "It actually happened with another party that was residing in the 
home."

Ammons set Davis' bail at $2 million total. McNeill continues to be held 
without bail.

(source: Fayetteville Observer)






DELAWARE:

Newark death penalty case sent back to lower court for review----Roland Davis 
convicted of murdering Elizabeth Sheeler in 2005


A Newark man convicted of murdering an 86-year-old woman says his now-deceased 
brother was the killer. An Ohio Supreme Court decision announced Tuesday will 
allow an appellate court to review the denial of his request for a new trial.

Roland Davis, 58, was convicted and sentenced to death in July 2005 for the 
2000 murder of 86-year-old Elizabeth Sheeler, who was stabbed repeatedly.

Davis was not a suspect until his DNA popped up in a national database in 2004 
after an arrest in Florida. DNA found on bed sheets had a one-in-97.1 
quadrillion chance of belonging to someone other than Davis, a scientist 
testified.

In January 2009, Davis’ attorney asked Licking County Common Pleas Court Judge 
Thomas Marcelain for a new trial to review Dr. Laurence Mueller’s expert DNA 
testimony.

Mueller pointed out the state’s witnesses did not mention laboratory error as a 
source of uncertainty. One of the state’s DNA experts incorrectly stated it is 
impossible for non-identical twins to have the same DNA.

“Davis argued that Mueller’s affidavit undermined the state’s DNA evidence, 
which was essential to its case against him,” Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judith 
Lanzinger wrote.

Marcelain denied Davis’ motion for a new trial, and the Fifth District Court of 
Appeals found Marcelain should not have even reviewed the case after the Ohio 
Supreme Court affirmed Davis’ conviction.

On Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court justices unanimously found that intermediary 
courts, like the Fifth District Court of Appeals, can review motions after the 
suspect is convicted in death penalty cases.

The decision clarified a 1994 amendment to the Ohio Constitution that allowed 
direct appeal of death penalty cases to the Ohio Supreme Court, essentially 
skipping the intermediate appellate courts.

“A holding that the supreme court has exclusive jurisdiction over all matters 
relating to a death-penalty case would be contrary to the language of the 
constitutional amendments and the statute and would have the effect of delaying 
review of future cases,” Lanzinger wrote.

Justices also found Marcelain could review Roland’s motion for a new trial 
based on newly discovered evidence.

Roland’s case will be sent to the Fifth District Court of Appeals for 
additional review. It could be returned to Marcelain.

(source: Newark Advocate)






OHIO:

Court rejects ‘homophobic panic’ claim in brutal killing


A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld an Ohio man’s death penalty for 
killing a man he met in a gay bar in 1985, rejecting claims that prosecutors 
violated his rights by not providing psychological reports showing he may have 
been motivated by “homophobic panic.”

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously 
affirmed a lower court’s ruling upholding the death penalty for Robert Van 
Hook, 51. The panel also rejected claims of ineffective counsel.

Van Hook’s attorney, Keith Yeazel, said Tuesday that he will either appeal to 
the full 6th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court after he has a chance to review 
the ruling.

The Supreme Court in November 2009 reversed an earlier decision by the 6th 
Circuit panel that had found ineffective trial counsel, and the panel said 
Tuesday that it was bound by the high court’s decision.

Van Hook’s latest appeal argued that the psychological reports showing he may 
have been motivated by “homophobic panic,” or rejection of his homosexual 
urges, rather than robbery, could have been used to support his claim of mental 
disease. The reports also would have been used to counter the murder element of 
“specific intent to cause the death of another person” and the aggravated 
robbery factor contributing to the death penalty, the appeal stated.

Van Hook claimed temporary insanity, but never denied strangling and then 
stabbing David Self to death at his Cincinnati apartment.

Prosecutors said he lured Self to the apartment with the intention of robbing 
him. He then mutilated Self’s body with a kitchen knife, hiding the murder 
weapon in the corpse before fleeing to Florida, where he arrested and 
confessed.

(source: Journal Gazette)

*********************

Death row inmate sues over lack of halal meals


A Muslim death row inmate says the Ohio state prison system is denying him 
meals prepared according to Islamic law while at the same time providing kosher 
meals to Jewish prisoners.

The state says it has already removed pork from its menus in response to the 
lawsuit brought by condemned inmate Abdul Awkal, who argues the prison system's 
failure to provide halal meals is a restraint on his religious freedoms.

Awkal, joined by a second inmate not on death row, says the vegetarian and 
non-pork options offered by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction 
aren't good enough. The inmates say food must be prepared according to halal 
practice.

"The issue of eating halal meals is especially important to me because I face a 
death sentence," Awkal said in a filing in federal court this year.

"It is important to me that I follow the requirements of my faith as I approach 
death."

The state's recent decision to drop pork from all meals accommodates religious 
preferences without jeopardising security, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for the 
state corrections department.

It "eliminates any doubt that Muslims or any inmate who has a specific 
prohibition against pork products receives pork inadvertently or otherwise".

But the state's announcement doesn't solve the problem that meat isn't 
slaughtered in the appropriate way for Muslim inmates who adhere to religious 
tradition, said David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice and 
Policy Centre, which brought the lawsuit on Awkal's behalf.

He said the lawsuit would continue.

A judge has given lawyers and inmates for the state until next month to finish 
filing documents bolstering their arguments before an expected January trial.

Awkal, 52, is scheduled to die in June for killing his estranged wife, Latife 
Awkal, and brother-in-law Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz in 1992, in a room in Cuyahoga 
County Domestic Relations Court.

Joining Awkal in the lawsuit is Cornelius Causey, 35, serving 15 years to life 
for murder and aggravated robbery.

Ohio says that providing halal meals could hurt the state financially, given 
the current budget situation.

Ohio included in its response to the lawsuit a document from a Muslim who does 
regular spiritual counselling of Muslim inmates.

Although Imam Sunni-Ali Islam said he thought it was problematic that Ohio 
provided kosher but not halal meals, he said he did not think it rose to the 
level of religious discrimination.

Ohio spends about US$3.50 to US$7 ($4.65 to $9.30) on kosher meals compared 
with US$1.70 for regular meals, LoParo said.

Ohio says requiring halal meals could mean new dietary plans for as many as 
2000 inmates, while Awkal's lawyers believe the figure is lower because not all 
Muslims eat halal meals.

(source: Associated Press)






ALABAMA:

Gregory Lance Henderson faces possible death penalty after conviction in murder 
of Lee County deputy----Columbus man faces possible death penalty for killing 
James Anderson


Gregory Lance Henderson never denied killing Deputy James W. Anderson when the 
Lee County lawman tried to pull him over 2 years ago in Smiths Station, Ala. 
Instead, the Columbus man blamed the incident on his abuse of methamphetamine 
and marijuana, claiming he never meant to run over Anderson.

But a jury here roundly rejected that version of events, delivering a unanimous 
capital murder verdict Tuesday that puts Henderson in jeopardy of facing 
Alabama’s death penalty. The relatively quick verdict capped a challenging week 
for Anderson’s colleagues and family, who waited more than 2 years for justice 
and relived their tragedy in a courtroom.

"2 years and 9 days -- all I wanted was my son back,” Anderson’s mother, Susan 
Mulkey, said after the verdict. “Today is a good day.”

The jury went out about 10:56 a.m. CDT and returned its decision about 2:14 
p.m. after taking a lunch break.

Jurors will return this morning to hear aggravating and mitigating 
circumstances in the penalty phase of the trial. Henderson is expected to call 
about five witnesses, who likely will testify about his struggle with drugs, or 
possibly his relationship with his family. It’s not clear whether Henderson 
will take the stand himself.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, will seek to address Henderson’s extensive criminal 
history -- a litany of convictions omitted from the guilty phase of the trial 
as Henderson did not testify in his own defense.

Henderson’s fate ultimately will be up to Circuit Court Judge Jacob A. Walker 
III. In Alabama, juries recommend a sentence in capital cases, but judges are 
not required to accept it.

Walker this year overturned a unanimous jury recommendation of life in prison 
without parole and sentenced Courtney Lockhart to die for the murder of Auburn 
University freshman Lauren Burk.

Attorneys declined on Tuesday to discuss specifics of the Henderson case 
because it is still pending. Defense attorney Jeremy W. Armstrong of Phenix 
City said the defense team “is disappointed, but we respect the verdict.”

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones declined to say which penalty would be just for 
Henderson.

“Under the circumstances, let’s just say that we believe that the jury made the 
correct decision in this case,” Jones told reporters.

The verdict followed impassioned closing arguments from both sides. Prosecutors 
said Henderson floored his car and was not overly impaired when he struck and 
killed Anderson, a 39-year-old deputy who had been on the force 3 years.

“In this case, there is absolutely no evidence that the defendant was incapable 
of discriminating between right and wrong,” Assistant District Attorney Kisha 
Abercrombie said.

Armstrong asked jurors to consider the many variables in the case, including 
Henderson’s drug use. He did not argue for an acquittal but asked jurors to 
weigh three lesser-included alternatives to capital murder: murder, 
manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

“We are not saying to you, ‘Let Lance go.’ We’re not saying to you that Lance 
is not responsible for his reckless actions,” Armstrong said in his closing.

“This is a horrific traffic accident that resulted in the death of a law 
enforcement officer, but it’s not capital murder,” he added. “We’re not asking 
y’all for mercy -- we’re asking y’all for fairness.”

Attorneys offered competing accounts of whether Henderson was too intoxicated 
to form specific intent, an element needed for a capital murder conviction. A 
toxicology expert told jurors Monday that Henderson tested positive for 
marijuana and about three times the therapeutic level of methamphetamine.

“The state has gone to great lengths to get you to ignore the intoxication in 
this case,” Armstrong said, noting it was the defense who called the 
toxicologist, Rachel Beck of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.

Prosecutors pointed to Henderson’s behavior, arguing he appeared to be coherent 
during the traffic stop, and was apparently sober enough to attempt to elude 
law enforcement.

“In this case, Mr. Armstrong told you early on that there would be no smoke, no 
mirrors -- instead what we have is fog and methamphetamine,” District Attorney 
Robbie Treese told jurors. “There’s not enough meth in his blood to mask the 
murder in his heart.”

(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

*************

Man convicted in 2007 Alabama killing


A Montgomery County jury has convicted a man of capital murder for killing and 
robbing a Montgomery minister in 2007.

Franky Johnson, who was convicted on Tuesday, already is serving 85 years for 
robbery, burglary and kidnapping convictions, and was on probation when he was 
arrested in the killing of the Rev. Paul Boswell, pastor of People's Baptist 
Church.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports (http://bit.ly/pIzazh ) Johnson is scheduled 
to appear at a sentencing hearing Oct. 20, where prosecutors said he will be 
sentenced to life in prison without parole for capital murder.

Johnson was ruled ineligible for the death penalty based on IQ tests.

Johnson alleged in a videotaped statement to police that Boswell had made 
aggressive sexual advances toward him.

(source: Associated Press)






GEORGIA:

Cobb death penalty for Drucker could be tougher sell, attorneys say


The fate of Troy Anthony Davis weighed on Cobb County death penalty defendant 
Joshua Drucker as his trial neared.

It remains to be seen whether it will weigh on the minds of jurors, too.

Court-watchers say a backlash against the death penalty in Georgia could make 
it harder for prosecutors to get the ultimate punishment for Drucker if he is 
convicted. Drucker is on trial for the April 5, 2004, shootings of an 
acquaintance and his girlfriend.

His attorneys hope to convince a jury Drucker doesn't deserve to die. But they 
don't know if Davis' case will help or hurt, if it affects jurors at all.

"You never know," said defense attorney Jimmy Berry, who is representing 
Drucker and has handled about 50 other death penalty cases over his long 
career.

"My opinion is that the death penalty is pretty archaic," Berry said. "We are 
the only civilized country that still has it."

The Davis case garnered national media attention when he was executed Sept. 21 
for the 1989 murder of Savannah police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Prosecutors 
expressed faith in the guilty verdict, but Davis supporters pointed to a number 
of witnesses who recanted their trial testimony to bolster their claim that he 
had been wrongly convicted.

In the dramatic moments before he received the lethal injection, Davis 
proclaimed his innocence one last time from the death chamber gurney.

Jury selection in the Drucker case was in its second week when Davis was 
executed. Two potential jurors brought up the controversy. One said they were 
"a little more concerned about the death penalty now and whether it was 
appropriate," Berry said. Neither of those jurors was ultimately picked for the 
jury.

Thomas Clegg has been on both sides of a death penalty trial as a former DeKalb 
County prosecutor and as a defense attorney. He said he would not be surprised 
if Davis' case affects some jurors.

"If there was any sort of doubt in my mind, even if it didn't rise to a level 
of reasonable doubt, I would not vote and I don't think most jurors would want 
to vote for it," Clegg said. "I would think a lot of jurors have a bad feeling 
in their mouth about the death penalty. I know I do."

Jerry Word, who heads the Georgia Capital Defender Office, also believes the 
Drucker jury could be impacted by Davis' execution.

"It makes jurors realize that we do execute people, and sometimes the evidence 
can be questioned even after someone is found guilty," Word said.

Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head said he has no hesitation about seeking 
the death penalty if the facts of the case warrant it. Drucker's case qualified 
because it was a double homicide and because it was excessively cruel and 
inhuman, Head said.

During the trial, which began Sept. 28 and is expected to last about a month, 
jurors have seen gruesome crime scene photographs of David Andrew Robertson, 
40, and his girlfriend, Lora Nikolova, 25. The pair were found shot to death in 
Robertson's home near Marietta.

Drucker, 33, once served as a youth minister at the church his father formerly 
pastored, Gospel Outreach Church in Stockbridge.

Drucker allegedly became addicted to methamphetamine, and he spent several 
several years in and out of prison for 1st-degree forgery and an assault on a 
girlfriend.

He is accused of shooting Robertson after telling a friend, Melissa McCrayer, 
that they were going to Robertson's house to buy drugs.

McCrayer cried on the witness stand this week when she described the slayings. 
She said Drucker turned his gun on Nikolova when she started hitting at him and 
shouting, "you killed him, you killed him."

Nikolova was on all fours, spitting up blood, when Drucker allegedly dispatched 
her with a final, fatal gunshot wound to the head.

Drucker told detectives in a videotaped confession that he killed Robertson 
because he had given Drucker's sister drugs that caused her to overdose in 
February 2003. She suffered severe brain damage and is now confined to a 
wheelchair.

Head said he is confident the jury will convict Drucker.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that he committed the crime," Head said.

Cobb County residents are considered primarily conservative, which has helped 
Head's office obtain the death penalty 3 times since he became district 
attorney in 1998.

Andrew Grant DeYoung was the most recent defendant from Cobb to be put to 
death, for murdering his parents and his 14-year-old sister in 1993. He was 
executed in July.

In July 2008 Lawrence Rice was the last person to be convicted in a death 
penalty case in Cobb. 8 people on death row in Georgia were convicted in Cobb.

The district attorney said it would be a shame if jurors opted not to vote for 
the death penalty in Drucker's case because of Davis.

Head said he read the 102-page order issued by the federal judge in Davis' 
appeal, and it was clear to him the judge had "no doubt whatsoever" about 
Davis' guilt.

"The people who have pushed the Troy Davis case really didn't know a thing 
about it," Head said. "They just know what they've been told."

Drucker operates an Internet ministry from jail with the help of his fiancee. 
He writes sermons posted on his website, TodayChristianMinistries.org.

In a sermon dated July 18, Drucker drew a parallel between Davis and the 
Biblical figure of Joseph, who was sold into slavery and wrongly imprisoned 
before he rose to become one of the most powerful men in Egypt. Joseph was also 
known to interpret dreams. Drucker said Davis must have been kept alive by his 
dreams. He exhorted readers to keep dreaming.

Drucker's sermons have never discussed what ultimately happened to Davis. But 
he ended that sermon by reflecting on his then upcoming trial:

"As I pen these words, I myself am facing an IMPOSSIBLE situation," Drucker 
wrote. "I have been locked up since April of 2004 for double murder in Cobb 
County, Georgia. And I am waiting for a death penalty trial. And my lawyers 
(which are the best in this state) tell me daily that there is no way I'll ever 
be free. I refuse to accept."

In his own words:

Joshua Drucker writes sermons in prison that appear at 
TodayChristianMinistries.org. Some excerpts:

About his hopes: "Everyday, I get out of the bed and hope for my freedom."

Expressing disappointment in his trial being delayed from July to September: 
"Not only am I tired, but my family is tired as well. Tired of waiting, tired 
of all the legal meetings, and most of all tired of not knowing what will 
become of me and my future."

About his decision to start an Internet ministry after he said God spoke to 
him: "I thought to myself, ‘An Internet ministry? Why? How?' As my Spirit was 
rejoicing, my mind was yelling -- ‘You are crazy. You are in prison. No one is 
going to listen.' ... I then told God, ‘Lord, if this is your will, then I will 
leave it up to you to make it happen.'"

His thoughts as his trial neared: "I am exactly 36 hours away from the biggest 
day of my life. As I pen these words, today is Saturday, Sept. 9, 2011. It is 
about 9 p.m., and I have just come back to my cell after watching college 
football for most of the day. I chose to watch football ALL DAY so that my mind 
would not be consumed with this trial. For the most part, it has helped. Today 
has been a good day."

His thoughts on jury selection: "By the time you read this we should be 
finishing up the jury selection and set to make opening statements Wednesday 
morning. It has gone EXTREMELY SMOOTH so far and I am looking forward to better 
days ahead."

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

*****************

Ga. records show Troy Davis' final death row hours


After a long day of emotional goodbyes, Troy Davis knelt in his prison cell and 
began to pray 15 minutes before he was scheduled to die. Then, a guard spotted 
him doing something a bit more unexpected: He was sleeping.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press provide a glimpse into the last 
moments of Davis' life before he was executed Sept. 21 for the murder of an 
off-duty Savannah officer in 1989. At one point, Davis vowed to fast and 
refused several prison meals, but as the night dragged on he asked for food. 
And as his 7 p.m. scheduled execution came and went, guards caught Davis taking 
an hour-long nap.

Davis' execution for the murder of Mark MacPhail was the center of an 
international outcry from supporters who said he was the victim of mistaken 
identity. Prosecutors and MacPhail's family said they were certain Davis was 
guilty and that justice was served.

The documents were obtained through an Open Records request. Prison officials 
also provided an audio recording and transcript of his last words, which he 
used to again proclaim his innocence and urge his supporters to "continue to 
fight this fight."

Davis was notified of the execution date on Sept. 7, and a day later he was 
asked to make a last meal request. He scrawled a response in big letters: 
"None. Will Be Fasting!"

Prison logs show Davis awoke the day of his execution and refused his breakfast 
tray. He stayed in bed until about 7:50 a.m. when he was strip-searched and 
escorted to the shower. The first of his 28 visitors soon began to file in.

Davis turned down his lunch at noon and, after the last visitor left about 6 
hours later, refused to eat an early dinner, requesting only the grape drink on 
the tray. Guards spotted him praying around 6:45 p.m., and by 7 p.m., when his 
execution was scheduled to begin, he was napping.

He awoke an hour later, called his attorney for an update on the status of his 
last-minute court appeals and asked the guards to bring in some food. He spent 
the next few hours on and off the phone with his lawyer awaiting news on his 
fate.

He likely heard that the Supreme Court denied his request for a last-minute 
stay shortly before guards came into the room at 10:28. A few minutes later, he 
was strapped to the gurney and execution witnesses started filing in. It was 
over at 11:08, when authorities pronounced him dead and cleared the death 
chamber.

(source: Associated Press)