Steve Henley was already strapped to the gurney when the blinds were raised in the death chamber and his family saw him for the last time.
They'd spent the last hour together in sterile conference rooms, reminiscing about their father and praying about his exit from this life. They spent 12 long minutes staring at the blinds with no clue what was happening behind them. When the time finally came at 1:17 a.m. and a prison official raised the blinds, Henley lifted his head from the gurney as if surprised, and stuck out his tongue at his grieving family.
For the past 2 decades, Henley has insisted he did not fatally shoot Fred and Edna Stafford at their Jackson County home in 1985. Today was no different.
"I would like to say that I hope this gives Fred and Edna's family some peace. In my experience in life, it won't," said Henley. "The death of a family member never brings anything but pain ... I wish them the best. I'm sorry Fred and Edna had to go through what they went through. As I've
said, ever since this happened, I did not kill them I hope they can rest easy when this procedure is done."
He then expressed love to his family and said he was an innocent man.
Warden Ricky Bell gave the word and a 3-drug cocktail began to drip into his veins as punishment for the murders 23 years ago.
Henley told his family to stop crying.
"You're a pitiful bunch," he said. "I'll see you on the other side."
His daughter, son and sister shouted to him through the glass, saying they knew he was an innocent man and that he's finally getting out of prison after all these years.
"Y'all never quit," Henley said.
He shouted that he felt it coming. He made a snoring sound and fell silent.
His family a daughter, son-in-law, son and sister erupted in shouts and sobs and hugged one another. They recited The Lord's Prayer with his spiritual advisor and anti-death penalty advocate, Stacy Rector. They said that he was free.
At 1:33 a.m., after more than 23 years on death row, Henley was pronounced dead.
Outside where media gathered, Henley's son Greg Henley offered a statement.
"I forgive the state of Tennessee for executing our loving daddy," Greg Henley said. "I want them to know I'm praying for both our side of the family and Fred and Edna Stafford's family. But I also want you to know you executed an innocent man."
In tears, Greg Henley left the podium.
Henley has always maintained that he was not the man who shot Fred and Edna Stafford and burned their house down in 1985. His co-defendant, Terry Flatt, testified that Henley was mad at the couple because he thought they owed his family money.
Flatt was given a reduced sentence for his testimony against Henley and served five years of a 25-year prison sentence.
Fred Stafford was standing on his porch when Henley shot him through the heart, according to court documents. Edna Stafford was also shot, but died from burns and smoke inhalation after Henley doused the Stafford house with gas and set it on fire, court documents said.
Prison officials said that Jack Stafford, the nephew of Fred and Edna Stafford, witnessed the execution from another room. He didnt speak to the press.
About 75 people attended a prayer service for Henley at the Brookmeade Congregational Church Tuesday evening, and more than 65 people came out at midnight in weather well below freezing to hold a vigil for Henley as the hour of his death approached.
Among them was Michael McCormick, who served alongside Henley on death row for more than 20 years before McCormick was exonerated, based on DNA evidence and a re-trial.
"I never knew him to cause any trouble in 20 years," McCormick said. "(Whether he's innocent) is irrelevant in my mind. Killing is killing, and I don't believe in killing."
It was the first lethal injection in Tennessee since 2007, when Phillip Workman was put to death for killing a Memphis police officer.
On Monday, the U.S. 6th Circuit of Appeals denied motions from Henley's attorney to issue a stay of execution. Denials followed from the U.S. Supreme Court and the Tennessee Supreme Court. The governor denied clemency Tuesday night.
Henley's appeals relied on a legal challenge by death row inmate Edward Jerome Harbison. In that case, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ruled in September 2007 that Tennessee's 3-drug lethal injection method amounted to cruel and unusual punishment because of the "substantial risk of unnecessary pain" to the inmate.
Trauger barred the state from using the method until it addressed problems with training and medical expertise. The state is appealing that ruling.
Even before Trauger's ruling, executions had been on hold in Tennessee until officials could update a manual outlining how they should be conducted. But officials decided to resume executions after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection in Kentucky.
Henley becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Tennessee and the 5th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 2000.
Henley becomes the8th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1144th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
Sources: The Tennessean & Rick Halperin, February 4, 2009
They'd spent the last hour together in sterile conference rooms, reminiscing about their father and praying about his exit from this life. They spent 12 long minutes staring at the blinds with no clue what was happening behind them. When the time finally came at 1:17 a.m. and a prison official raised the blinds, Henley lifted his head from the gurney as if surprised, and stuck out his tongue at his grieving family.
For the past 2 decades, Henley has insisted he did not fatally shoot Fred and Edna Stafford at their Jackson County home in 1985. Today was no different.
"I would like to say that I hope this gives Fred and Edna's family some peace. In my experience in life, it won't," said Henley. "The death of a family member never brings anything but pain ... I wish them the best. I'm sorry Fred and Edna had to go through what they went through. As I've
said, ever since this happened, I did not kill them I hope they can rest easy when this procedure is done."
He then expressed love to his family and said he was an innocent man.
Warden Ricky Bell gave the word and a 3-drug cocktail began to drip into his veins as punishment for the murders 23 years ago.
Henley told his family to stop crying.
"You're a pitiful bunch," he said. "I'll see you on the other side."
His daughter, son and sister shouted to him through the glass, saying they knew he was an innocent man and that he's finally getting out of prison after all these years.
"Y'all never quit," Henley said.
He shouted that he felt it coming. He made a snoring sound and fell silent.
His family a daughter, son-in-law, son and sister erupted in shouts and sobs and hugged one another. They recited The Lord's Prayer with his spiritual advisor and anti-death penalty advocate, Stacy Rector. They said that he was free.
At 1:33 a.m., after more than 23 years on death row, Henley was pronounced dead.
Outside where media gathered, Henley's son Greg Henley offered a statement.
"I forgive the state of Tennessee for executing our loving daddy," Greg Henley said. "I want them to know I'm praying for both our side of the family and Fred and Edna Stafford's family. But I also want you to know you executed an innocent man."
In tears, Greg Henley left the podium.
Henley has always maintained that he was not the man who shot Fred and Edna Stafford and burned their house down in 1985. His co-defendant, Terry Flatt, testified that Henley was mad at the couple because he thought they owed his family money.
Flatt was given a reduced sentence for his testimony against Henley and served five years of a 25-year prison sentence.
Fred Stafford was standing on his porch when Henley shot him through the heart, according to court documents. Edna Stafford was also shot, but died from burns and smoke inhalation after Henley doused the Stafford house with gas and set it on fire, court documents said.
Prison officials said that Jack Stafford, the nephew of Fred and Edna Stafford, witnessed the execution from another room. He didnt speak to the press.
About 75 people attended a prayer service for Henley at the Brookmeade Congregational Church Tuesday evening, and more than 65 people came out at midnight in weather well below freezing to hold a vigil for Henley as the hour of his death approached.
Among them was Michael McCormick, who served alongside Henley on death row for more than 20 years before McCormick was exonerated, based on DNA evidence and a re-trial.
"I never knew him to cause any trouble in 20 years," McCormick said. "(Whether he's innocent) is irrelevant in my mind. Killing is killing, and I don't believe in killing."
It was the first lethal injection in Tennessee since 2007, when Phillip Workman was put to death for killing a Memphis police officer.
On Monday, the U.S. 6th Circuit of Appeals denied motions from Henley's attorney to issue a stay of execution. Denials followed from the U.S. Supreme Court and the Tennessee Supreme Court. The governor denied clemency Tuesday night.
Henley's appeals relied on a legal challenge by death row inmate Edward Jerome Harbison. In that case, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ruled in September 2007 that Tennessee's 3-drug lethal injection method amounted to cruel and unusual punishment because of the "substantial risk of unnecessary pain" to the inmate.
Trauger barred the state from using the method until it addressed problems with training and medical expertise. The state is appealing that ruling.
Even before Trauger's ruling, executions had been on hold in Tennessee until officials could update a manual outlining how they should be conducted. But officials decided to resume executions after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection in Kentucky.
Henley becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Tennessee and the 5th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 2000.
Henley becomes the8th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1144th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
Sources: The Tennessean & Rick Halperin, February 4, 2009
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