Daryl Keith Holton picks electric chair

[rfox]

Inmate picks electric chair
State law gives killer alternative to lethal injection

By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer
www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060904/NEWS03/609040347

A Shelbyville man who is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 19 has asked to die by electric chair, raising the possibility that the state could carry out its first electrocution death in 46 years.

Daryl Keith Holton, a Gulf War veteran who shot his three sons and their sister in 1997, could have chosen death by lethal injection.




But under Tennessee law, death-row inmates can choose between the electric chair and lethal injection if their crimes were committed before 1999, said David Raybin, a Nashville attorney and legal scholar who wrote the state's death penalty statute.

The inmates were allowed that option when the state adopted lethal injection as the method of execution to avoid any appeals of the process.

"What they did was say, 'You could have your choice,' and then there wouldn't be any way they could challenge the method of execution, since they had the power to decide themselves," Raybin said.

Last week Holton checked electric chair as his preferred way to die, Dorinda Carter, spokeswoman for the Department of Correction, said. The state will be able to use the device, she said.

It wasn't clear why Holton chose it over lethal injection. His attorneys could not be reached for comment.

The last time the electric chair was used in Tennessee was Nov. 7, 1960, when inmate William Tines was executed for rape, Holton said. That was the last execution in the state until 2000, the year that convicted child killer Robert Glen Coe was put to death. Sedley Alley, who was convicted of raping and killing a Marine, was executed in June. Both men died by lethal injection.

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[Lotus Flower]

Couldn't think of a better POS to fry. I am not typically anxious to see a person executed; however, this monster should be electrocuted 4 times over...one for each child's life he stole.

One serving of cold-blooded, remorsefulless, cowardly, worthless piece of crap coming up.....NEXT! I hope it hurts.

[hoyadestroya85]

2 electrocutions within a couple of months of each other..
this is starting to feel like the mid 90's
ERIC!
We need you!!!

[Michael]

Looks like Old Sparky experiences a Renaissance....

[bigmama]

I wonder what the chances are that any of our California condemned would exercise their option to choose the gas chamber... Now there's a method!

[Michael]

bigmama said:

I wonder what the chances are that any of our California condemned would exercise their option to choose the gas chamber... Now there's a method!

I thought I heard that California doesn´t have gas anymore as an option since the facilities for the gas have been dismantled? Could be wrong, but I somewhere read this...

The last gassing was in Arizona I think.

Anyway I think that the historical significance of the words "gas chamber" is hardly a recommendation for this method of execution.

[bigmama]

You might be right Michael but I could have sworn that it was being reported as a viable option as recently as when Scott Peterson was sent to the row. To me, the gas chamber is the scariest "modern" execution method, it's sure the last one I'd pick if given a choice and that has nothing to do with its historical significance.

[hoyadestroya85]

michaelstoker78 said:

bigmama said:

I wonder what the chances are that any of our California condemned would exercise their option to choose the gas chamber... Now there's a method!

I thought I heard that California doesn´t have gas anymore as an option since the facilities for the gas have been dismantled? Could be wrong, but I somewhere read this...

The last gassing was in Arizona I think.

Anyway I think that the historical significance of the words "gas chamber" is hardly a recommendation for this method of execution.

I actually agree..
Going to Dachau really changed my view about lethal gas after catching a glimpse of some of the atrocities of the holocaust..

[bigmama]

As it turns out, in 1996, the 9th Circuit in Fierra v. Gomez held that California's gas chamber constituted cruel and unusual punishment. caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&case=/data2/circs/9th/9416775.html

[dude]

I saw a closeup of Nevada's execution facility a while back (on a TV station website in Reno, I think). They have the same setup of a former gas chamber that has been modified to handle LI's. In doing so, they drilled holes to accomodate the IV tubing, and in doing so, compromised the chamber's airtightness. I would love to see a diagram of CA's ex chamber. I wonder if they had to do it that way as well, thus preventing its use as a gas chamber.

How long ago was CA's first LI? I forget.

[Elric of Melnibone]

We could use some rubber cement or gasket material to fix the holes if we wanted. However, I am not certain that would work.
But with holton, I think he may be making a statement v. cruel and unusual. But how can we not be cruel to a man that murders his own children?

[onetwobomb]

bigmama said:

As it turns out, in 1996, the 9th Circuit in Fierra v. Gomez held that California's gas chamber constituted cruel and unusual punishment. caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&case=/data2/circs/9th/9416775.html

Inmates can still choose gas, though.

[onetwobomb]

mikebook said:

We could use some rubber cement or gasket material to fix the holes if we wanted. However, I am not certain that would work.
But with holton, I think he may be making a statement v. cruel and unusual. But how can we not be cruel to a man that murders his own children?

Actually Holton is volunteering.

[Rev. Agave]

[glow=red,2,300]Hell yeah!!!!!!!![/glow]

[john - uk]

Holton judged competent for death

By Clint Confehr, Shelbyville Times-Gazette

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Shelbyville man knows what he's doing
and so his Sept. 19 execution remains on schedule.

Daryl Holton's mental competency was the issue before U.S. District Court
Judge Thomas Phillips Tuesday, according to Alex Wiesendanger, associate
director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing.

Divorced from his wife, Holton killed his three sons and step-daughter in
November 1997, believing that their lives were ruined and that he was doing
what was best for them, Wiesendanger said after the federal court hearing in
Nashville where Phillips ruled from the bench.

"Daryl Holton's murder of his four children was a horribly tragic event, but
it might never have happened if Holton had been receiving proper treatment,"
Wiesendanger said. "To contend that a person suffering from severe mental
illness is competent to make rational decisions is to gravely misunderstand
how mental illness affects the human mind."

Many men who commit such crimes do so while suffering major depression, a
condition causing them to project their feelings of helplessness and
hopelessness onto the lives of their children, Wiesendanger said. These men,
like Holton, then act in what they believe is an altruistic manner,
attempting to "save" their children from pain by ending their lives.

Last week, Holton selected the electric chair instead of lethal injection as
the method of execution. He has that choice because the state changed the
system after he was convicted by a Bedford County jury that also returned
four death sentences, one for each child killed in the auto repair shop
where Holton was living.

Source : Shelbyville Times-Gazette

www.t-g.com/story/1167057.html

[Lotus Flower]

"Daryl Holton's murder of his four children was a horribly tragic event, but
it might never have happened if Holton had been receiving proper treatment,"
Wiesendanger said. "To contend that a person suffering from severe mental
illness is competent to make rational decisions is to gravely misunderstand
how mental illness affects the human mind."

Wise-in-danger...interesting name for an abolitionist....

Anyway, PLENTY of people suffer from mental illness and they do not line up babies and murder them. Holton needs to die, he deserves to die and that is all there is to it.

Even if you buy the mental illness line, then fine, but does that mean he is not deserving of his punishment? No and hell no.

I say dip him in water first then flip the switch. Let him fry!

[onetwobomb]

Great news. Looks like this one's going through.

[Rev. Agave]

hoyadestroya85 said:

michaelstoker78 said:

I thought I heard that California doesn´t have gas anymore as an option since the facilities for the gas have been dismantled? Could be wrong, but I somewhere read this...

The last gassing was in Arizona I think.

Anyway I think that the historical significance of the words "gas chamber" is hardly a recommendation for this method of execution.

I actually agree..
Going to Dachau really changed my view about lethal gas after catching a glimpse of some of the atrocities of the holocaust..

Just remember, the Nazis also used guns to commit their atrocities. Certainly we should not refrain from using guns to defend ourselves simply because they were used by Nazis to shoot Jews. Likewise, we should not refuse to gas our murderers just because the Nazis used gas chambers to commit genocide.

[Big Al]

The only thing wrong with this guys brain is that it is still able to send and recieve electrical pulses. The first pulse of the electric chair should put an end to that.

[Rev. Agave]

I say an interview with Holton last night on a documentary about Riverbend. It seems like he is pretty committed to this. He said that he was pro and that he was not going to change his stance simply because he was facing the DP for a crime that he admits to.

[DeadElvis]

I don't know. Remember the last TN volunteer (Reid)? Someone got a fed. judge to stay the execution. I'm curious to see if they can do this thing especially with the EC option. I'll bet that TN and the Governor will not be the ones to stop it, though.

[Lotus Flower]

Well apparently if you mention the fact that he CHOSE the chair on PTO, they get all freaked out and delete it.

[onetwobomb]

deadelvis said:

I don't know. Remember the last TN volunteer (Reid)? Someone got a fed. judge to stay the execution. I'm curious to see if they can do this thing especially with the EC option. I'll bet that TN and the Governor will not be the ones to stop it, though.

But was Paul Reid ever declared competent at a competency hearing?

[Deleted]

onetwobomb said:

bigmama said:

As it turns out, in 1996, the 9th Circuit in Fierra v. Gomez held that California's gas chamber constituted cruel and unusual punishment. caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&case=/data2/circs/9th/9416775.html

Inmates can still choose gas, though.

Technically, Section 3604b of the California Penal Code allows an inmate to choose between lethal injection or gas. I am assuming this means that the plumbing is still intact in the chamber at San Quentin, that the rubber seals are maintained, and that the chairs can be reinstalled. I am also assuming that an inmate's choice of gas would not invoke the 9th Circuit's ruling on cruel and unusual punishment.