Oct. 24 GEORGIA: Inmate dies during surgery A man who had been serving a life sentence in Georgia after going on a crime spree with his wife in the early 1980s that left 2 people dead has died. Alvin Neelley died Friday at Oconee Regional Medical Center, said Peggy Chapman, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections. He was 52. Neelley was being held at Bostick State Prison in Hardwick, Chapman said. She said she could not give any other details on the death. But Kathy Bauguess, the ex-sister-in-law to Neelley's wife, Judith Ann Neelley, said Judith Ann Neelley told her he died during surgery. Judith Ann Neelley had been sentenced to death in Alabama for the murder of 13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican, who was abducted from Rome in 1982. Her body was recovered a few days later near Fort Payne, Ala. But Neelley was saved from the electric chair when former Alabama Gov. Fob James commuted her death sentence several days before he left office in 1999. She remains imprisoned in Alabama. Alvin Neelley had been serving a life sentence in Georgia for kidnapping and murdering Janice Kay Chatman, 22. Judith Ann Neelley's family has blamed her husband for the crimes they committed, saying she was under the control of an abusive man she met and married at 15. Bill Adams, Judith Ann Neelley's younger brother, expressed little sympathy for Alvin Neelley, who he said had even threatened to kill him if he ever got out of prison. "We're not going to build a shrine for him," Adams said Sunday. But Bauguess, who said she has talked to Judith Ann Neelley about the death, said his wife felt sad. "They were married to each other, so there's a little sadness there," Bauguess said. (source: Associated Press) DELAWARE----impending execution Death penalty appeal denied; Steckel seeks to delay Nov. 4 execution In Wilmington, the Delaware Supreme Court has denied convicted murderer Brian D. Steckel's appeal to delay his Nov. 4 execution by lethal injection. In a 9-page decision issued Friday, Justice Randy J. Holland wrote that the state high court could not grant a stay of execution simply because Steckel intends to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Holland wrote that Steckel must establish that four federal justices would vote to hear the appeal and that there is "a significant possibility that the decision of (the state Supreme Court) would be reversed." "There is no reason to think that four justices will vote to grand Steckels petition or that reversal of the decision of this court's most recent decision is a significant possibility," Justice Holland wrote. Steckel, 37, formerly of Elsmere, raped and strangled Sandra Lee Long in her Prices Corner apartment Sept. 2, 1994, then set her bedspread on fire, burning Ms. Long to death. Steckel was convicted in October 1996 of 3 counts of 1st-degree murder for intentional killing, killing while committing arson and killing while fleeing a rape. A New Castle County Superior Court jury recommended 11-1 that he die by lethal injection, a sentenced imposed Jan. 8, 1997. Wilmington attorney Joseph M. Bernstein, who is representing Steckel, said he and attorney John P. Deckers plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia this week. "Those things (state Supreme Court appeals) are never surprising. When you get down to this point, they rarely grant a stay," Mr. Bernstein said. "We were asking for a stay so we could get things done and considered on the merits before the execution." Mr. Bernstein said he would ask both courts for delays of the Nov. 4 execution. Deputy Attorney General Loren C. Meyers, chief of the appeals division, said the state is prepared to argue both appeals. "We feel extremely confident (Steckel's) applications will be turned down," Mr. Meyers said. Mr. Meyers said the testimony from the trial of passersby trying to pull Ms. Long from her burning apartment is "some of the most chilling testimony you could ever read." "It's a pretty sobering account of her last minutes," he said. There have been 13 executions in Delaware since 1992, and there are 17 inmates currently on death row. The state Board of Pardons is scheduled to hear Steckels request for a commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment Friday at Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna. (source: Delaware State News)
