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Execution marks 500th in U.S. since death penalty restored
December 18, 1998
Web posted at: 11:07 p.m. EDT (0307 GMT)
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) -- A man who stabbed an elderly couple to death after they refused to let him borrow their car was put to death by injection Friday in the nation's 500th execution since capital punishment resumed in 1976.
Andrew Lavern Smith was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., prisons spokesman John Barkley said.
Smith, 38, stabbed Christy Johnson 27 times and Johnson's wife, Corrie, 17 times in 1983. Johnson, 86, and his wife, 82, were Smith's cousins. He had rented a house from the couple.
Oklahoma's execution of John Wayne Duvall this week was the 499th since the Supreme Court ended a four-year nationwide ban on capital punishment in 1976. Thirty-eight states have the death penalty, and about 3,500 people are on death row.
Most of the executions have come in six states: Texas, Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Louisiana and Georgia. By far, the leader is Texas, which has executed 163 since 1977.
The pace of executions was slow at first. Gary Gilmore was the only one in 1977, going before a firing squad in Utah. No one was executed in 1978. Altogether, 11 were put to death in the first seven years after capital punishment was restored.
The numbers peaked at 74 executions last year. So far this year, there have been 68, including Smith's.
Among the most notorious killers executed over the past 21 years were Ted Bundy, who admitted killing 20 women, and John Wayne Gacy, who murdered 33 boys and young men. Only three women have been put to death.
Although polls show most Americans support capital punishment, opponents argue that its use is unfair and is affected too often by race, the location of a crime and whether the defendant can afford a good lawyer.
Smith's lawyer, John Blume said Smith had a psychotic reaction to penicillin and does not recall the slayings.
Ann Roberts, Mrs. Johnson's daughter, said: "Ordinarily, I'm pro-life. But I do believe in execution for him. It's torn apart our family. It's taken a toll on my mental and physical health. I have no sympathy for him. That was a gruesome thing he did."
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.