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

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 25



OKLAHOMA----execution

Cummings put to death at state prison


A man described by investigators as a cold and evil man was put to death
Thursday at 6:11 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

Jessie James Cummings, 52, was sentenced to die by lethal injection for
the 1991 Coal County murder of his 11-year-old niece, Melissa Moody.
Cummings claimed that he was victim of a plot between his 2 wives and was
innocent of the crimes. Cummings is the 2nd Oklahoma inmate put to death
this year. Terry Lyn Short was executed in June for an Oklahoma County
firebomb killing.

At the time of the slaying, Cummings was married to 2 women, Juanita and
Sherry Cummings. Both women lived with Cummings and had children with him.
Prosecutors said Cummings controlled the women and urged them to kill his
sister, Melissa's mother. Judy Moody Mayo, 42, was shot by Juanita as she
sat in the living room of the Cummings' home. Jessie Cummings was in
Oklahoma City with his father at the time of his half-sister's murder.
Mayo's body was found near Atoka Lake on Sept. 9, 1991. Melissa's body was
found about a month later in Choctaw County.

Prosecutors said Cummings helped the women dump his sister's body in a
farm pond near Atoka Lake. After molesting his niece, she was taken to
rural Choctaw County and stabbed to death, according to court records. Her
skeletal remains were found Oct. 16, 1991 near the bridge over Clear Boggy
River in rural Choctaw County.

It would take 3 years for investigators to solve the murders. In 1994,
Juanita Cummings went to police and told them about the murder plot.
Melissa Moody's body was exhumed and a medical anthropologist determined
that she was stabbed to death, confirming statements from the Cummings
wives.

Jessie Cummings was convicted in 1996 by a Coal County jury for the death
of his sister and niece. The jury sentenced him to death. In 1998, the
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals threw out Cummings' conviction in his
sister's death, saying testimony only from accomplices couldn't link
someone to a crime. Juanita Cummings is serving a life sentence after
being convicted of murdering Mayo. Sherry Cummings is serving a
35-year-sentencer for allowing child abuse and being accessory to a crime
after the fact.

During his clemency hearing in August, Cummings continued to deny his role
in the crime and asked the Pardon and Parole Board to give him clemency so
we could, "continue to clear his name." The board unanimously denied his
request. International anti-death penalty groups had rallied against
Cummings' execution, but there were no protestors outside the gate of the
prison in McAlester before the execution.

While Cummings denied his role in the crime, Attorney General Drew
Edmondson said the state proved its case.

"Cummings was properly convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of
Melissa Moody," Edmondson said. "Appeals courts at every level have upheld
this conviction and sentence. My thoughts are with the family and friends
of Melissa and her mother, Judy."

Cummings becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Oklahoma and the 88th overall since the state resumed capital punishment
in 1990. Oklahoma trails only Texas (414) and Virginia (102) in the
numbers of inmates executed since the US Supreme Court re-legalized the
death penalty in America on July 2, 1976.

Cummings becomes the 24th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1123rd overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.

(sources: The Oklahoman & Rick Halperin)