August 20 INDIANA----impending execution Killer asks for clemency----Man to be executed Aug. 31 for killing parents says something else was controlling his actions. A Montgomery County man scheduled to be executed Aug. 31 for killing his parents told the Indiana Parole Board on Friday he wants clemency so he can do the good work God intends for him. Arthur Baird II was sentenced to death for the murders in 1985. Baird, who also was sentenced to life in prison for killing his pregnant wife the day before his parents' slayings, seeks clemency on the grounds that he is mentally ill. "I totally believe regardless of when I die, or what causes the death, I fully believe that God will use me to do good before I die," Baird told the Parole Board at the Indiana State Prison. "Baird and his wife, who lived in Darlington, were going grocery shopping when, Baird said, a voice told him to turn back to their mobile home and wait. Nadine Baird, who was seven months pregnant, then lay on the bed. He stood in the living room waiting. "One minute everything is fine. We're loving each other. The next minute, it felt like I was being held, my hands were being manipulated," he said. "I knew what was happening. I didn't want it to be happening." Baird said 2 "beings" made him feel as though they had him in a headlock and took turns manipulating his hands while a 3rd being watched as his wife was strangled. "I told them if they want to kill somebody, just kill me," he said. "I had absolutely no control over what was happening." A similar feeling overcame him the next day when he fatally stabbed Arthur and Kathryn Baird in their home next door. "My body was doing it, but it was not my control," he said. "I didn't see those 2 or 3 figures, but I was still being controlled." Baird, 59, told the board about his upbringing. He said he was an average student who joined the Navy, served in Vietnam and became active in a church. He told them he had been molested by a friend of his brother when he was 8 or 9, and at age 11 began having thoughts of doing bad things, such as robberies and rapes. Jessie Cook, Baird's attorney, said she believes Baird was unable to control his actions and hopes the governor will commute his sentence to life without parole. The hearing continues Wednesday in Indianapolis. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Convicted killer apologizes, not 'half of what' his victims were A man convicted of murdering a Marine and his lifelong friend outside a North Carolina State University football game apologized through gasps to his victims' families and his own as a jury considered whether to sentence him to die. Timothy Wayne Johnson, 23, was convicted Thursday of 1st-degree murder in the death of Kevin McCann and the 2nd-degree murder of 2nd Lt. Brett Harman. Harman, a native of Park Ridge, Ill., stationed at Camp Lejeune, and McCann, an insurance broker visiting from Chicago, tangled with Johnson and his younger brother, Tony, in a tailgating area outside Wolfpack home opener Sept. 4, 2004. Timothy Johnson admitted shooting the men, but testified during his trial that he did so in hopes of scaring them away. Tony Johnson will face trial later on 1st-degree murder charges. A parade of McCann's and Harman's relatives testified Friday as the sentencing phase of Timothy Johnson's trial began, praising the 23-year-old victims and describing the pain of their loss. Then Johnson's relatives took the stand one by one to beg the jury not to choose the death penalty. When Johnson's turn arrived, he spoke haltingly, as if choking between words. He expressed his respect for Harman and McCann. "I just wish I could have been half of what they were," he said. Johnson also thanked his parents for standing by him, saying: "It's not your fault. It's mine." Johnson could be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole because he has been convicted of a prior violent felony. Jurors will consider a sentence next week. The panel also heard from the families of McCann and Harman, who was due to ship out for Iraq in January. "My family and I are left haunted by the horror of Brett's murder," his mother, Nancy Johnson Tighe, testified. The victims were longtime friends and well-known in each other's homes. McCann's father, Dennis, coached Harman in wrestling and considered the young man as close as a son. He praised the two as "courageous, brave and honest, ... loving young men without a mean bone in their bodies." "You would be hard-pressed to find a more positive, enthusiastic family with a genuine zest for life than the McCanns," Dennis McCann testified. "Now, everything is shrouded in gray. Everything seems dark." As Johnson watched, his own family asked the jury to spare his life. "Please let Tim live," his mother, Ann Johnson, testified, as her son began to shake. She was the last witness to speak. "I'm just so sorry for your loss," she said to the victims' families. "I'm sorry for any part - that I didn't make right decisions in how I raised him - anything I could have done to stop him," she said. "We ask you to forgive us." She began to leave the witness stand, then turned back and addressed her son. "I love you, Tim," she said. (source: Charlotte Observer)
