Dec. 14 MISSISSIPPI-----execution State executes killer The state executed its 1st inmate in 3 years at 6:25 p.m. today when John B. Nixon Sr. was pronounced dead at Mississippi State Penitentiary. His mood changed from cheerful and chatty to somber and withdrawn as the time of his execution grew near, state corrections officials said at 4 p.m. 'He's not playing anymore," Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said. "Time is caving in on Mr. Nixon, and it appears to me that he is realizing that." Epps and officials observed Nixon in Unit 17 of the Mississippi State Penitentiary during a portion of his visitation with family this afternoon. Earlier in the day, Nixon told Epps he did not commit the crime but knew who did. Nixon had his last meal and a shower from 4-4:30 p.m. He called for his spiritual adviser from 4:30 to 5 p.m. The quote Nixon gave his attorneys to pass on to media this morning - "That I was where I would be/then should I be where I am not/ here I am where I must be/where I would be I cannot" - was taken from a Mother Goose poem titled "Katy Cruel." Nixon was convicted of killing Rankin County resident Virginia Tucker for $1,000 and shooting her husband Thomas Tucker in 1985. Elester Ponthieux, Virginia Tucker's ex-husband, hired Nixon to kill Tucker. He is serving a life sentence for his role in the crime. Thomas Tucker survived the shooting and witnessed Nixon's execution. At age 77, Nixon is the oldest person executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Earlier this morning Nixon said he was sorry for himself and the Tucker family. Nixon is the only person put to death this year in Mississippi, and the 7th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Nixon becomes the 60th and last condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1004th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. The 60 executions this year represents a slight increase from last year, when 59 condemned inmates were put to death nationwide. There are 8 executions already set for January. (sources: The Clarion-Ledger & Rick Halperin) TEXAS: Death row escapee enjoyed time on lam----'Relaxed' atmosphere at prison allowed him to walk out, he says A condemned prisoner who got a taste of freedom last month when he escaped from a county jail said Wednesday his flight was worth it even though he was caught after three days on the run. "It was great," Charles V. Thompson, 35, said from death row in his first public comments about the November 3 escape from the Harris County Jail in downtown Houston, Texas. "I got to smell the trees, feel the wind in my hair, grass under my feet, see the stars at night. It took me straight back to childhood being outside on a summer night," he said. Thompson said he rode trains for more than 2 days to the Shreveport, Louisiana, area and posed as a Hurricane Katrina refugee to get some money before he was arrested there. "It was short lived, but I think it was worth it," he said from a tiny visiting cage outside death row in the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Thompson said his flight from the jail, where he had been housed for five months while he was attending a new sentencing trial, was aided by lackadaisical deputies who allowed him to walk out the front door virtually unchallenged. "Once I got there and seen how relaxed it was -- they sit ... and play video games, they sleep on the job," he said. "The sheriff said it was human error and nothing is wrong with their policies. I have to disagree." Thompson fled a week after he was re-sentenced to death for the 1998 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. After Thompson met with an attorney in a small interview cell, he slipped out of his handcuffs and orange jail jumpsuit and left the unlocked room. He refused to reveal how he got a handcuff key in the Harris County Jail. "I'm not a snitch. I'll take that one to the grave with me." Thompson waived a badge fashioned from his prison ID card to get past several deputies. "Then I walked out the front door," Thompson said. "It was the hardest thing in the world to not run. I walked down the steps, down the street, around the corner, stripped to my jogging clothes and went on the jogging path." Sheriff Tommy Thomas fired one deputy and disciplined 8 others for Thompson's escape. One more retired rather than face discipline. Thompson said he expects to pay for his escape by getting no leniency from Texas courts in his legal appeal. He said prison officials asked if he would try another escape. "I said, 'I don't think there's any holes in your security here,'" he said. "I'm pretty much resolved to my fate. Concrete box 23 hours a day. Just sit in there and think about how they're going to kill you." (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: State Implements Execution Changes Often family members want to witness the execution of the person who killed their loved one, but in one case that may have been impossible. For many, it's a difficult time of year as they remember loved ones who died as victims of violent crime. The state organized a special memorial service Tuesday at Centennial Park to remember victims of violent crimes. Friends and family created special ornaments and placed them on the memorial tree. Gina Jackson was one of the mothers at the event who lost a daughter to violence. The man who killed 16 year old Sarah Jackson got the death penalty. At first, Gina didn't think she'd get to watch the execution. Corrections officials made an unusual move to accommodate her. Jackson's daughter was murdered at the Captain D's. "Sarah was shot 3 times. She was shot twice in the head and once in the back," said Gina Jackson. Convicted killer Paul Reid pulled the trigger, and got the death penalty. Gina wants to watch him die, by law she has that right. But in this case, there was going to be a problem. "When Paul Reid dropped his appeals 2 1/2 years ago, there was 17 of us, we were not going to fit in that room," said Jackson. Because Paul Reed had murdered 7 people, there wasn't going to be enough room inside the execution chamber for everyone who wanted to be there. Members of the media, and other so-called official witnesses would watch in the room. Any family members of the victim would view from closed circuit TV. Months ago, corrections officials started to create another room for witnesses. So, when Paul Reid dies by lethal injection, family members of the victims will be just a few feet away from the man who did so much damage. Correction Officials said they made the changes to the execution chamber simply because it was the right thing to do. Paul Reid is set to die by lethal injection, June, of 2006. (source: Newschannel15)
