March 11 SOUTH CAROLINA----new execution date State Supreme Court sets Detroit man's execution date A Detroit native is scheduled to die April 8 for the kidnapping and murder of a Charleston woman 12 years ago, the South Carolina Supreme Court announced Friday. However, Joseph Gardner has filed an appeal to the U.S. District Court that may delay his execution. Gardner was convicted of the Dec. 30, 1992, killing of Melissa "Missi" McLauchlin, who was raped, tortured, shot 5 times in the face and left to die by the side of a road in Summerville. At the time of the shooting, police said Gardner and some other men made a New Year's resolution to rape and kill a white woman as retribution for 400 years of oppression of black people. Gardner, who was later arrested in Philadelphia, was the trigger man. Gardner was sentenced to death in December 1995 by a jury of 10 whites and 2 blacks. In March 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court turned aside without comment an appeal by Gardner. Gardner said his trial should have been moved elsewhere because of pretrial publicity. He appealed to the federal Supreme Court after his argument was turned down by state Supreme Court justices who said there was no evidence of juror prejudice. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA----70-year-old female may face death penalty Death penalty sought for elderly woman accused of killing neighbor In Easton, prosecutors filed court papers Friday indicating that they will seek the death penalty against a 70-year-old woman accused of killing her 84-year-old neighbor with a hammer. Prosecutors allege that Kathy MacClellan killed Marguerite "Tutti" Eyer by means of torture, an aggravating factor that allows them to pursue a death sentence. "The defendant didn't just strike the victim once, causing her immediate death," Northampton County First Deputy District Attorney Paula A. Roscioli said. "She struck her at least 37 times with the claw end of the hammer, and this victim lived for a significant period of time in excruciating pain." Eyer was found Feb. 7 covered in blood in her home in the Hickory Hills development in Moore Township. She died about an hour and a half later after being airlifted to a hospital. She allegedly told a police officer, "Kathy did it with a hammer." Police said they found a bloody hammer and Eyer's wallet, driver's license and checkbook in MacClellan's home the following day. Defense lawyer Anthony Martino, who represents MacClellan along with attorney Mark Minotti, declined comment Friday afternoon. A database kept by the Death Penalty Information Center of all executions in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976 shows only one person executed above the age of 70. James Barney Hubbard was 74 when he was executed Aug. 5 of last year for the 1977 murder of 62-year-old Lillian Montgomery of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; he was in his 40s when he killed her. According to the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Hubbard was the oldest person executed in the United States since 1941, when James Stephens of Colorado was executed at age 76. (source: Associated Press)
