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Karla Faye Tucker
Karla Faye Tucker (b. 1960), 2 weeks before her
execution by lethal injection in Texas. her warders, campaigners
and
Amnesty International all appealled for clemency on
the grounds that she was no threat to anyone.
The lethal injection table, Texas, USA.
Tucker was flown to Huntsville on Monday 2nd February 1998from
female death
row in the . Mountain View building at Gatesville about 175 miles
from
Huntsville. She was placed in a holding cell next to the execution
chamber.
On her final day, she refused breakfast in her cell and was said
by her
guards to be "at peace". She wrote a letter and took two visits.
She was
allowed half-an-hour with her husband, prison minister Dana Brown
whom she
married on death row, and another half-hour with a spiritual adviser.
The US Supreme Court rejected two last-minute calls for clemency
and the
Texas governor, George Bush, ordered the execution to go ahead
on time. He
said her case had been thoroughly reviewed.
"I have concluded judgements about the heart and soul of an individual
on
Death Row are best left to a higher authority," Mr Bush said.
"May God bless Karla Faye Tucker and may God bless her victims
and their
families."
Sometime after 6.20 p.m. Karla dressed in fresh white prison clothes
got
onto the gurney unaided and was strapped down over her legs and
body. Her
arms were strapped to side boards and a catheter was inserted into
the
veins of each arm. She was wheeled into the execution chamber at
6.35 p.m.
She was asked if she had a final statement and turned her head
towards the
witness chamber and said into the microphone: "Yes sir, I would
like to say
to all of you, the Thornton family and Jerry Dean’s family that
I am so
sorry. I hope God will give you peace with this.
Tucker then looked at her husband, watching from behind the screen,
and
said: "Baby, I love you. Everybody has been so good to me. I love
all of
you very much. I’m going to be face to face with Jesus now.
"Warden Baggett, thank all of you so much. You have been so good
to me. I
love all of you very much. I will see you all when you get there.
I will
wait for you."
She closed her eyes, and seemed to move her lips in silent prayer
before
looking at the ceiling.
The three drugs, sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium
chloride began to be injected at 6.37 p.m. Within two minutes,
the
witnesses heard Tucker give two deep sighs and then a groan. She
was
pronounced dead at 6.45pm (12.45am GMT), eight minutes later. Her
eyes were
open and still staring at the ceiling.
Richard Thornton, the victim’s husband, and her son, Bucky David,
24, and
step-daughter, Katheryn Thornton, 26, were among those who watched
the
execution.
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