March 10 INDIANA----execution Wallace Executed Shackled to a gurney with a needle in his arm, Donald Ray Wallace Jr. could turn his head to face his witnesses. Staring through the mini-blinds and into the execution chamber, his witnesses heard a short, simple statement: "I hope everyone can find peace with this." He then signaled to his executioners, as required in an agrement to not autopsy his body. He was ready to die. It took only minutes for the lethal mix of chemicals to flow into his vein, paralyzing his lungs and stopping his heart. He was pronounced dead at 12:23 a.m. today. He was 47. Outside the prison, the death penalty was protested. Marti Pizzini, 64, Michigan City, a member of the Duneland Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, brought candles, leaflets, a few tables and some noisemakers. "I'm not very religious, but I believe you do not solve the problem of violence with more violence," said Pizzini, who said she has attended 10 execution protests. In Evansville, meanwhile, relatives of Wallace's victims -- Patrick and Theresa Gilligan and their 2 children -- gathered for a prayer service at St. Theresa Catholic Church, where the Gilligans were married. During the 40-minute service, the priest who notified family members of the killings led a rosary. Diana Harrington, of Louisville, Ky., the sister of Theresa Gilligan, told about 200 who attended that Theresa and Pat Gilligan would have appreciated the turnout and that their "children with their wonderful manners and beautiful smiles would have welcomed you all." Several in the church cried and dabbed their eyes. In January 1980, the Gilligans returned to their home to find Wallace, who had just been released from prison, police said. Wallace, in what he later called a "frenzied blur," killed the couple and Lisa, 5, and Gregory, 4, according to police and Wallace's own letters. He was sentenced to death in October 1982. In a recent interview with WTHR (Channel 13), The Indianapolis Star's news-gathering partner, Wallace said he panicked during the burglary and had no intention of embarking on a horrific killing spree. Rather, the murders were a "moment of utter madness," he said. "I wish I could take it back, but I can't. I can't change the past." Wallace had instructed his Indianapolis attorney, Sarah Nagy, not to submit a request for clemency. Nagy earlier this week said she thought Wallace had "resigned himself to the ultimate penalty." Wallace and his attorneys also reached an agreement to avoid a post-execution autopsy, a standard procedure meant to provide evidence that the person put to death was not abused and did not suffer needlessly. Gov. Mitch Daniels reviewed Wallace's case at least twice, including Wednesday. Daniels, a Republican, has said he has moral misgivings about capital punishment but supports the death penalty in "the most heinous cases." State law allows the governor broad powers to grant clemency to those on death row. In July, then-Gov. Joe Kernan reduced the sentence of Darnell Williams, who killed a Gary couple in 1986. It marked the 1st time in nearly a half-century that an Indiana governor spared the life of a convicted killer. In January, Kernan, a Democrat, spared the life of an Indianapolis man, Michael Daniels, convicted of murdering a minister during a robbery attempt. Gov. Daniels spent Wednesday night at the official governor's residence, 4750 N. Meridian St.; it has a hotline to the State Prison. 5 protesters had gathered on the sidewalk outside the residence by 11 p.m.; 2 more stood on the other side of Meridian Street. Karen Burkhart, of the local chapter of Amnesty International, carried a sign declaring: "Execution is not the solution." Referring to the death sentences Kernan commuted, she said "the reason he stopped them was because he thought there were some major questions about how death penalty cases were handled by the courts. We want Governor Daniels to take the same approach." Ed Towne, a retired Christian Theological Seminary professor, also showed up for the protest. "When you have a man in custody, you don't have to kill him in order to protect society from him," Towne said. Wallace's execution could be the 1st of a series of clemency decisions Daniels faces this year. On April 21, the state is scheduled to execute William J. Benefiel, 48, for torturing and killing an 18-year-old Terre Haute woman in 1987. Outside the sprawling, chain-linked State Prison, death penalty opponents prepared to gather late into the night, braving a bitter wind chill. Rows of satellite TV trucks lined a parking lot across from the prison entrance just hours before Wallace's scheduled death. A bitter cold breeze off Lake Michigan kept protesters sitting in their idling cars as they waited for the execution. Robert Dhoore, 64, South Bend, braved the elements long enough to carry 2 signs over to a small folding chair to claim his spot for a rally. A veteran protester at state executions, Dhoore came prepared. "I've got my 2 sets of pants, 2 sweatshirts. And I got a pail in the car just in case," he said. There are no public restrooms outside the prison. But the protests go on anyway along Hitchcock Road, the 2-lane street alongside the sprawling State Prison property. On this night, it was crowded with traffic. A few cars honked as they drove by. Dhoore, a Catholic who attends church on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, is eager to share the message on his well-worn signs, one of which begins: "We are called to love our enemies." "What more can I say?" said Dhoore. "I do not believe in the death penalty for any reason at any time. It's gotta stop." It was not a sentiment shred by Mark Hamner, 37, an Indianapolis Police Department officer who drove to the prison with 2 friends to support the death penalty. They set up a camping stove on a card table and cooked hamburgers and beans for dinner. "We came up here to protest the protesters," Hamner said. "Most of the time, it's the protesters that get the press. We are here to show that the majority of this state does favor the death penalty." Not all of the protesters of Thursday's execution were outside the walls of the prison. Holly Saylor, 46, Greenwood, said she was on the list to be a witness to the execution, courtesy of her 2-year friendship with Wallace. She said she began corresponding with Wallace, who she met through her husband, who was incarcerated at the same time. "Society as a whole just throws these people away," Saylor said. "He (Wallace) has admitted his guilt, and he is ready to pay the price. But he is going to be very missed." Wallace becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Indiana, and the 12th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1981. Wallace becomes the 9th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 953rd overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Courier-Press, Indianapolis Star, Associated Press & Rick Halperin) NORTH CAROLINA----impending execution N.C. high court denies death row appeal The fate of a Cleveland County man now rests with the U.S. Supreme Court or N.C. Gov. Mike Easley. On Wednesday, William "Bugsy" Powell, 58, lost his latest appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court and is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 2 a.m. Friday at Central Prison in Raleigh. What happens next: Powells attorneys made a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon. They expect an answer today. Barring that, they are hopeful that Easley will grant clemency. He could rule that Powell be sentenced to life in prison without parole. The witness list: On Wednesday, prison officials released the list of witnesses to the execution. They are Cleveland County District Attorney Bill Young; Assistant DA Rick Shaffer; two Cleveland County sheriffs deputies, Lt. Rick Beaver and Lt. David F. Crow; two members of the victims family, Keith and Ricky Carroll; and three media witnesses, Bill Holmes of The Associated Press, Tracey Early of News 14 in Raleigh and Star court reporter Amelia Townsend. The crime: Powell was convicted in 1993 for the beating death of Mary Gladden of Cleveland County. On Halloween night 1991, Powell went into the convenience store where Mrs. Gladden worked to steal money to buy drugs. According to court documents, Mrs. Gladden was beaten with a tire tool and died at the store. (source: The Shelby Star)
