Post by sclcookie on Jun 2, 2006 1:25:28 GMT -5
Boltz executed
The planned execution of John Albert Boltz, a 74-year-old death row inmate
convicted of stabbing his stepson to death 22 years ago, was put back on
track Thursday by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution was denied.
Boltz was given a lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma
State Penitentiary in McAlester.
The appeals court overturned the decision by U.S. District Judge Stephen
P. Friot to halt the execution until after a June 28 hearing to allow
arguments on Boltz's court-appointed attorney's challenge to the lethal
injection method used in Oklahoma.
Boltz's attorney, James L. Hankins of Oklahoma City, argued that
Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol may violate Boltz's 8th Amendment
guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.
In legal papers, Hankins argued that Boltz "is the only death row inmate
in America" without compensated counsel to prepare a civil rights action
to challenge the state's lethal injection process. Hankins was hired to
assist Boltz with his clemency hearing and other matters.
In staying the execution, Friot said time was needed to "allow the court
to hear the issues in a more developed and orderly fashion."
Boltz becomes the oldest person ever executed in the state. The oldest
inmate put to death previously in Oklahoma was Robert Hendricks, 64, who
was executed in 1957, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
Boltz, 52 at the time, was convicted of killing Doug Kirby on April 18,
1984. Kirby, 22, was killed after he drove to Boltz's home to discuss
threats Boltz had made to his mother, Pat Kirby, Boltz's estranged wife.
She had told Boltz earlier that day she wanted a divorce, authorities
said.
Boltz claimed he acted in self-defense and that Doug Kirby came to his
Pottawatomie County home to confront him. The Medical Examiner's Office
said Kirby sustained 8 separate stab wounds to the chest and abdomen as
well as cutting wounds of the neck that nearly decapitated him.
Boltz's execution was opposed by the National Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty in Washington and other anti-death penalty groups who said
his age and incarceration for more than 2 decades nullified the deterrent
effect putting him to death might have.
The victim's brother, Jim Kirby, said Boltz, a former car salesman and
part-time minister, had written threatening letters from his jail cell to
his mother, who Boltz believed had been unfaithful.
The Pardon and Parole Board voted 5-0 last week to deny clemency for
Boltz.
Boltz is the 3rd oldest person put to death in the nation since capital
punishment was reinstated nearly 3 decades ago.
John Nixon was 77 when he was executed in Mississippi on Dec. 14. Clarence
Ray Allen, who was legally blind and used a wheelchair, was executed in
California on Jan. 17 at the age of 76. James Hubbard, executed in Alabama
in 2004, was also 74.
Boltz becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Oklahoma and the 81st overall since the state resumed capital punishment
in 1990. Only Texas (365) and Virginia (95) have executed more inmates
since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976.
Boltz becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1025th overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press)
The planned execution of John Albert Boltz, a 74-year-old death row inmate
convicted of stabbing his stepson to death 22 years ago, was put back on
track Thursday by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution was denied.
Boltz was given a lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma
State Penitentiary in McAlester.
The appeals court overturned the decision by U.S. District Judge Stephen
P. Friot to halt the execution until after a June 28 hearing to allow
arguments on Boltz's court-appointed attorney's challenge to the lethal
injection method used in Oklahoma.
Boltz's attorney, James L. Hankins of Oklahoma City, argued that
Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol may violate Boltz's 8th Amendment
guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.
In legal papers, Hankins argued that Boltz "is the only death row inmate
in America" without compensated counsel to prepare a civil rights action
to challenge the state's lethal injection process. Hankins was hired to
assist Boltz with his clemency hearing and other matters.
In staying the execution, Friot said time was needed to "allow the court
to hear the issues in a more developed and orderly fashion."
Boltz becomes the oldest person ever executed in the state. The oldest
inmate put to death previously in Oklahoma was Robert Hendricks, 64, who
was executed in 1957, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
Boltz, 52 at the time, was convicted of killing Doug Kirby on April 18,
1984. Kirby, 22, was killed after he drove to Boltz's home to discuss
threats Boltz had made to his mother, Pat Kirby, Boltz's estranged wife.
She had told Boltz earlier that day she wanted a divorce, authorities
said.
Boltz claimed he acted in self-defense and that Doug Kirby came to his
Pottawatomie County home to confront him. The Medical Examiner's Office
said Kirby sustained 8 separate stab wounds to the chest and abdomen as
well as cutting wounds of the neck that nearly decapitated him.
Boltz's execution was opposed by the National Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty in Washington and other anti-death penalty groups who said
his age and incarceration for more than 2 decades nullified the deterrent
effect putting him to death might have.
The victim's brother, Jim Kirby, said Boltz, a former car salesman and
part-time minister, had written threatening letters from his jail cell to
his mother, who Boltz believed had been unfaithful.
The Pardon and Parole Board voted 5-0 last week to deny clemency for
Boltz.
Boltz is the 3rd oldest person put to death in the nation since capital
punishment was reinstated nearly 3 decades ago.
John Nixon was 77 when he was executed in Mississippi on Dec. 14. Clarence
Ray Allen, who was legally blind and used a wheelchair, was executed in
California on Jan. 17 at the age of 76. James Hubbard, executed in Alabama
in 2004, was also 74.
Boltz becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Oklahoma and the 81st overall since the state resumed capital punishment
in 1990. Only Texas (365) and Virginia (95) have executed more inmates
since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976.
Boltz becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1025th overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press)
