[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----OKLAHOMA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 9



OKLAHOMA----execution

Tulsa killer Corey Duane Hamilton executed


In McAlester, convicted killer Corey Duane Hamilton was put to death at
the Oklahoma State Penitentiary Tuesday for the execution-style slaying of
4 employees at Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken Restaurant in Tulsa 14 years
ago.

Hamilton, 36, was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. in the maximum security
prison's death chamber. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the Tulsan's final
appeals on Monday, with justices David Souter and John Paul Stevens voting
in the minority to grant a stay of execution.

"I wish everyone could experience the love of God to the degree I have
experienced," Hamilton said while strapped to a gurney, intravenous tubes
attached to his arms. "I love everybody, and I hope to see you on the
other side."

The drugs began to flow at 6:08 p.m., and Hamilton appeared to stop
breathing around 6:10 p.m.

Hamilton received 4 death sentences after he and 3 others were convicted
of killing Joseph Gooch, 17; Theodore Kindley, 19; Senaida Lara, 27; and
Steven Williams, 24.

4 robbers took $2,200 and then forced the victims into the restaurant's
walk-in refrigerator on Aug. 17, 1992. They were each shot once in the
back of the head.

3 other men were convicted and sentenced to life in prison in the case,
but Hamilton received the death penalty in part because one of the
co-defendants testified Hamilton was the shooter.

"I'll never forget what he did to my family," Janice Ramsey, Williams'
mother, said after the execution. "We may try to forgive him in our
hearts, but we'll never forget."

Hamilton becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Oklahoma, and the 84th overall since the state resumed executions in 1990.

Hamilton becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1058th overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.

Hamilton's was the 1st of 30 U.S. executions scheduled for this year,
according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.

Hamilton was also the 1st person put to death in the United States since
California and Florida imposed moratoriums last month on the lethal
injection procedure in the wake of botched executions.

"It is disturbing that Oklahoma decided to go ahead with this execution
without reviewing its protocol. There is no reason why they can't do what
Florida and California are doing," said Sarah Tofte, a researcher with New
York-based Human Rights Watch.

Experts have said that eroding support for capital punishment in the
United States is one reason why death sentences fell to a 30-year low last
year and why executions hit the lowest level in a decade in 2006.

The Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment,
said there were 53 executions in 2006, the lowest number since 1996 when
there were 45.

There were 114 death sentences handed out in 2006, the lowest level in 30
years and down from nearly 300 each year in the 1990s.

But the death sentence still has political support in the United States,
where rates for violent and gun-related crimes are high in comparison to
other developed countries.

In neighboring Texas, 5 inmates are scheduled to be executed this month --
the 1st slated for Wednesday.

(sources: Associated Press, Reuters & Rick Halperin)