[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENNESSEE

[Rick Halperin]

August 15




TENNESSEE----execution

Tennessee Executes Stephen West for 1986 Rape and Murders

West maintained that while he raped the 15-year-old victim, his accomplice 
killed the women


Stephen West has been executed in the electric chair 33 years after he was 
sentenced to death for the 1986 murders of Wanda Romines, 51, and her 
15-year-old daughter, Sheila, near Knoxville. West, who suffered from severe 
mental illness, was also convicted of raping the teen, and while he confessed 
to that crime he maintained that his accomplice stabbed the mother and daughter 
to death.

The curtains opened at 7:15 on Thursday night, revealing West, who appeared to 
be crying, sitting in the electric chair. Warden Tony Mays asked West if he had 
any last words. He responded by referencing scripture.

“In the beginning, God created man,” said West, pausing as he continued to 
weep. “And Jesus wept. That’s all.”

After West’s final statement, members of the execution team fastened a helmet 
to his head and placed a shroud over his face. At 7:19, West’s body jolted 
upward from the chair as the first current of electricity was administered. His 
body returned to the chair for a matter of seconds, before rising once again 
with a second jolt of electricity.

West was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m.

In West's petition for clemency, his attorneys write that then-17-year-old 
Ronnie Martin had tried to date Sheila Romines and was humiliated when she 
rejected him. They say Martin coerced West, who was 23 years old at the time, 
to rape Sheila before Martin stabbed the women to death. The attorneys also 
note that West was tried first, and that his jury never heard a tape recording 
of Martin admitting that he was the one who had killed the two victims. They 
also write that Martin threatened to have West and his then-pregnant wife 
killed if West didn't keep quiet about the crimes. Martin ultimately pleaded 
guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and is currently serving a life 
sentence.

2 of the surviving jurors from West's trial, both of whom had originally voted 
for the death sentence, told his attorneys they supported clemency in his case. 
Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday afternoon that he would not stop the 
execution.

West was born in a mental institution, where his mother had been sent after she 
attempted suicide while pregnant with him. As a young boy he was abused. His 
aunt witnessed his mother's violent outbursts and is quoted describing them in 
a court filing from last year.

“I came down,” she said. “[West’s sister] Patty came out to get some food for 
Steve, and [West’s mother] started swearing at them, and she ran in there and 
just slung Steve up against the wall; grabbed him by his feet. There was blood, 
and he started throwing up.”

Prison officials have been treating West for severe mental illness for years, 
giving him powerful antipsychotic drugs that one psychiatrist described in a 
court filing as "chemical straitjackets." In an extensive 2002 psychiatric 
evaluation, Dr. Richard Dudley writes that, in his opinion, West “was suffering 
from a mental disorder” at the time of the killings that sent him to death row. 
Dudley also says West’s “mental disorder was of the type that would have been 
relevant to his defense during the guilt phase of his trial and also relevant 
as mitigation during the penalty phase of his trial.” West’s mental health was 
not discussed during his trial.

West's legal team released a statement after the execution:

We are deeply disappointed that the State of Tennessee has gone forward with 
the execution of a man whom the State has diagnosed with severe mental illness; 
a man of deep faith who has made a positive impact on those around him for 
decades; and a man who by overwhelming evidence did not commit these murders 
but has nevertheless taken personal responsibility for his involvement in these 
crimes. We don't believe the decisions of the courts and ultimately the 
Governor reflect the forgiving and merciful citizens of this State.

Department of Correction spokesperson Dorinda Carter also read a statement from 
Eddie Campbell, the nephew of the late Jack Romines, husband and father to the 
victims.

As for the execution of Mr. Stephen West, I am deeply sorry that any of his 
family had to go through such a horrible experience. I hope that he has made 
peace with God and has truly asked God for forgiveness for such a heinous crime 
that he was a part of. One of the worst things about this execution of Mr. West 
is that Mr. Ronnie Martin was not also included in the same punishment. Our 
family has suffered very deeply over the past 33 years through all the appeals 
that we think is very unfair for anyone to have to go through, when all the 
proof in the world was there for the case to be over in 24 hours let alone 33 
years. I realize there are other families going through some of the same 
feelings and punishment that my family and I have had to experience very 
needlessly. Something in our Judicial system has to be done to put a stop to 
all this needless suffering for families of prolonged justice. I just wish that 
my Uncle Jack Romines, the father and husband of the two people that mean the 
most to him in his life and was so brutally murdered on March 17, 1986, could 
have lived long enough to know that the State of Tennessee finally brought 
justice in part for his loss. Uncle Jack passed away with a massive heart 
attack on February 25, 2008, he was only 69 years old and had to live with his 
wife and daughter for the last 22 years of his life, but told me almost every 
day how he missed them. I realized that 1 day or 22 years without a loved one 
is horrible enough, but having to go through all the reminders of the Court of 
Appeals and not knowing if justice will ever come or not is just too much for 
victims families to have to deal with. I just hope and pray that our Judicial 
system in Tennessee will consider the feelings of the victims' families that 
are still living in such a horrible situation and try and bring a speedy and 
correct justice to not only the families, but to the State of Tennessee as 
well. Most of our family is now deceased, but I have forgiveness in my heart 
for Mr. West and Mr. Martin, but I don't think that justice should be ignored. 
On behalf of my Uncle Jack Romines and the remaining members of our family I 
hope this statement will be published in its entirety and not just in parts.

West is the fifth Tennessee prisoner to be executed since August 2018, and the 
third of those men to choose the electric chair. One more execution is 
scheduled for this year — Lee Hall's on Dec. 5 — and two are currently 
scheduled for 2020. The state of Tennessee has not killed this many prisoners 
at this pace since the 1940s.

West becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death in Tennessee this year 
and the 11th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 2000.

West becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA 
and the 1501st overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

(sources: Nashville Scene & Rick Halperin)


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USA----impending/scheduled executions

With the execution of Stephen West in Tennessee on August 15, the USA has
now executed 1,501 condemned individuals since the death penalty was
re-legalized on July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia
decision.

Gary Gilmore was the 1st person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below
is a list of further scheduled executions as the nation continues its shameful
practice of state-sponsored killings.


NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.



1502-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas

1503-------Aug. 22------------Gary Ray Bowles----------Florida

1504-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas

1505-------Sept. 10-----------Mark Anthony Soliz-------Texas

1506-------Sept 25------------Robert Sparks------------Texas

1507-------Oct. 1-------------Russell Bucklew----------Missouri

1508-------Oct. 2-------------Stephen Barbee-----------Texas

1509-------Oct. 10------------Randy Halprin------------Texas

1510-------Oct. 16------------Randall Mays-------------Texas

1511-------Oct. 30------------Ruben Gutierrez----------Texas

1512-------Nov. 3-9-----------Charles Rhines-----------South Dakota

1513-------Nov. 6-------------Justen Hall--------------Texas

1514-------Nov. 20------------Rodney Reed--------------Texas

1515-------Dec. 5-------------Lee Hall Jr.-------------Tennessee

1516-------Dec. 9-------------Daniel Lewis Lee---------Federal - Ark.

1517-------Dec. 11------------James Hanna--------------Ohio

1518-------Dec. 11------------Travis Runnels-----------Texas

1519-------Dec. 11------------Lezmond Mitchell---------Federal - Ariz.

1520-------Dec. 13------------Wesley Purkey------------Federal - Mo.

1521-------Jan. 13-----------Alfred Bourgeois----------Federal - Tex.

1522-------Jan. 15-----------Dusten Honken-------------Federal - Iowa

1523-------Jan. 16-----------Kareem Jackson------------Ohio

(source: Rick Halperin)