April 15 SOUTH CAROLINA----execution Spartanburg man executed for movie theater killings in 1991 A Spartanburg man was executed Friday for the shooting deaths of 2 Upstate movie theater employees more than 14 years ago. Richard Longworth, 36, died by lethal injection at 6:14 p.m. In a final statement read by attorney David Belser, Longworth said he didn't pull the trigger, but apologized to the victims' families. "I hope they also know how deeply, truly sorry I am for what I have done. I hope my death brings them peace they deserve," Longworth said in the statement. "I hope my family knows how much I love them and how ashamed I am that I have tarnished their name." Longworth was the 2nd of 2 men convicted in the shooting deaths of 19-year-old Alex Hopps and 24-year-old Todd Greene on Jan. 7, 1991. He lost a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday afternoon. Longworth and his co-defendant David Rocheville decided to go to the WestGate Mall movie theater in Spartanburg where they used to work and rob it, prosecutors said. Rocheville was executed in 1999. Longworth becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in South Carolina, and the 33rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1985. Longworth becomes the 14th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 958th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) MISSOURI----new execution date Execution date set for man who killed girl The Missouri Supreme Court on Friday set a May execution date for a St. Louis man convicted of killing a neighbor girl. Vernon Brown is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. May 18 at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. Authorities said Brown, using the alias Thomas Turner, was at the home of his stepsons in north St. Louis in October 1986 when 9-year-old Janet Perkins walked by. He enticed her into the house and locked his stepsons in their bedroom. Brown then took the child into the basement, bound her feet and one hand with a wire coat hanger, and then strangled her with a rope. Police found the child's body in 2 trash bags in an alley behind Brown's house the next day. Missouri has executed 1 man this year. Stanley Hall was put to death March 16 for abducting a St. Louis County woman and throwing her over a bridge railing to her death. A 2nd execution is scheduled for April 27. Donald Jones was convicted of killing his grandmother in St. Louis. (source: Associated Press)
