On
this date, May 25, 2011, a pedophile by the name of Donald Edward Beatty, was
executed by lethal injection in Arizona for the murder of thirteen year old clarkprosecutor.org. . I got the
information about him for
Donald
Edward Beatty
|
Christy Ann Fornoff
|
State v. Beaty, 158 Ariz. 232, 762 P.2d 519 (Ariz. 1988). (Direct Appeal)
Beaty v. Schriro, 509 F.3d 994 (9th Cir. 2007). (Habeas)
Final Words:
"I just want to say to the Fornoff family, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. God will let you see her again. Freddy, I love you, I kept my promise. Thank you for being here for me."
Final / Special Meal:
A beef chimichanga with salsa and guacamole, a double cheeseburger with all the fixings, fries, 14 ounces of rocky road ice cream, and a Diet Pepsi.
Internet Sources:
Arizona Department of Corrections
Inmate: BEATY DONALD E.
DOC#: 054558
DOB: 02-07-55
Gender: Male
Height: 73"
Weight: 209
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Ethnic: Caucasian
Sentence: DEATH
Admission: 07-24-85
Conviction: [1]:MURDER 1ST DEGREE [2]:SEXUAL ASSAULT
County: MARICOPA
Case#: 0140790
Date of Offense: 05/09/1984
Summary: On May 9, 1984, thirteen-year-old Christy Ann Fornoff disappeared at a
Tempe, Arizona apartment complex while making collections for her newspaper
route. Donald Beaty, a maintenance person for the complex, actively assisted
the police in searching for Christy Ann. Although the police located her
collection book near the complex, she was nowhere to be found. In the early
morning of May 11, Joseph Kapp, a tenant, encountered Beaty while throwing out
his trash. Beaty told Kapp that he had found a body behind the dumpster and
that he had called the police. Kapp observed the body, spoke with Beaty for a
few minutes, and then returned to his apartment. The police later arrived and
determined that the body was Christy Ann's. A medical examiner concluded that
Christy Ann had been asphyxiated by smothering and that she had been sexually
assaulted, either contemporaneously with or shortly after her death. The
examiner also opined that she had died within two hours of her disappearance.
The police focused their investigation upon Beaty. Vomit smeared on the body
matched a substance found in Beaty's closet. The blood, semen, and hair found
on the body was consistent with Beaty's. Hair found on Beaty's closet carpet,
couch, bedroom, and bathroom was consistent with Christy Ann's. Fibers found on
the body matched Beaty's carpet and a blanket in his bedroom. Ferret hair was
found on the body; the tenant who lived in Beaty's apartment a few months prior
to the murder owned a ferret. Police records showed that Beaty had called the
police at 5:52 a.m. According to Kapp, he had returned to his apartment at 5:50
a.m. The timing suggested that Beaty had lied to Kapp about having called the
police. The police also speculated that Beaty had moved the body after speaking
with Kapp. Robert Jark drove his truck in front of the dumpster at
approximately 4:50 that morning. As with Kapp, Jark was sure that a body was
not visible from in front of the dumpster. However, when the police arrived,
the body stuck out noticeably beyond the dumpster's edge. Beaty told police
that he was with George Lorenz, a tenant, at the time Christy Ann disappeared,
and that Teresa Harder, another tenant, saw them together. However, Lorenz denied
being with Beaty that night, and Harder similarly denied seeing them together.
Beaty also claimed that the police had searched his apartment the night Christy
Ann disappeared. However, the two officers who searched the complex claimed
that they did not enter Beaty's apartment. Finally, the police found it
suspicious that Beaty had attempted, unsuccessfully, to borrow a friend's car
at 11:30 p.m. the night after Christy Ann disappeared. The police speculated
that Beaty wanted to borrow a car to move the body. On May 21, 1984, Beaty was
arrested and charged with Christy Ann's murder and sexual assault. A day later,
Dr. George O'Connor, a prison psychiatrist, met with Beaty for about an hour.
O'Connor routinely met with newly admitted, high-profile inmates to determine
whether they were a threat to themselves. The record does not reveal much about
their conversation. O'Connor apparently inquired whether Beaty felt depressed
and whether he wished to talk with someone on a regular basis. O'Connor and
Beaty also discussed a medical problem Beaty was having with his foot and
Beaty's family's reaction to his arrest. After the conversation, O'Connor
concluded that Beaty was not suffering from any significant psychiatric
problems. Nonetheless, O'Connor decided that he would occasionally drop by and
check up on him. The following day, O'Connor spoke with Beaty about his foot
and arranged for him to be seen by an orthopedic doctor. The record does not
reveal whether O'Connor and Beaty discussed anything other than Beaty's foot
problem. Approximately two months later, O'Connor recommended transferring
Beaty from the main jail to the jail's psychiatric facility. O'Connor's
supervisor approved the recommendation, and Beaty did not object to the
transfer. Several factors motivated O'Connor's recommendation to transfer
Beaty. First, Beaty needed space to rehabilitate his injured foot. Beaty had
been confined to his cell from the time of incarceration because of several
death threats from other inmates. Second, the jail's psychiatric facility
offered a safer place for Beaty because it was isolated from the jail's general
population. Third, Beaty was becoming increasingly agitated and depressed,
perhaps because of his confinement to his cell. Indeed, Beaty underwent a
hunger strike, and he also repeatedly complained that inmates were harassing
him. The record is unclear as to the nature and the extent of the treatment
Beaty received while at the psychiatric unit. In any event, Beaty participated
in a “counseling group” moderated by O'Connor. The group consisted of five
female and five male inmates, including Beaty. The purpose of the group was to
foster respect between male and female inmates by bringing them together in a
small group. O'Connor described the group's purpose as “bringing men and women
prisoners together to explore the difficulties that they may have had in
interrelating with members of the opposite sex in their personal lives.”
O'Connor chose Beaty for the group. while Beaty had the option of not
participating, he likely would have been transferred back to the main jail if
he had refused. Beaty, along with the rest of the group participants, signed a
document entitled “Interpersonal Relationships Group Contract.” The document
stated that any information disclosed to the group would be kept confidential.
Specifically, it stated, “I understand that all group communication is
confidential and therefore group business cannot be discussed outside of group.
Only in this way can I feel free to express my feelings.” The group met twice a
week and each session lasted between an hour and an hour-and-a-half. During
these sessions, group members occasionally harassed Beaty regarding the nature
of his crime. In particular, some group members called him “cold blooded.”
After a few weeks, Beaty approached O'Connor at the end of a session. It was
about five to ten minutes after the session had formally ended, but some of the
group was still milling around. Beaty and O'Connor were conversing casually.
when Beaty suddenly complained that the group had unfairly labeled him a
“terrible thing.” He told O'Connor that he did not mean to kill Fornoff. He
explained that he accidentally suffocated her when he put his hand over her
mouth to muffle her screams. While O'Connor was surprised by Beaty's
confession, he described the statement as an “overflow of feelings from that
particular group.” O'Connor did not immediately disclose Beaty's confession to
anyone, and the case proceeded to trial. The state's case rested primarily on
the physical evidence tying Beaty to the crime. The state also stressed the
events surrounding Beaty's discovery of the body and the fact that two
witnesses discredited his alibi. Beaty, in turn, attacked the reliability of
the state's physical evidence. He stressed that Kapp had been playing a
“drinking game” that morning. Beaty suggested that another unknown tenant
committed the murder and he faulted the police for not thoroughly investigating
the other tenants. Finally, Beaty emphasized that he had actively assisted the
police in searching for Fornoff the night she disappeared. On March 18, 1985,
the trial court declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked ten to two in
favor of guilt. On May 8, 1985, Beaty's second trial commenced. Two days later,
O'Connor went to state court to testify in an unrelated case. While waiting to
testify, O'Connor spoke casually with a detention officer. During the course of
the conversation, O'Connor disclosed Beaty's confession. The prosecution
quickly learned about the conversation and contacted O'Connor. O'Connor refused
to testify but, after an evidentiary hearing, the trial court ordered him to do
so. During the second trial, the state presented much of the same evidence as
it had offered at the first trial, but with the addition of O'Connor's
testimony. The jury unanimously found Beaty guilty of first degree murder and
sexual assault. The judge thereafter conducted a sentencing hearing without a
jury. The judge imposed the death penalty after finding one aggravating
circumstance and no mitigating circumstances. Specifically, the judge found
that the murder was committed in an especially cruel, heinous, or depraved
manner. The judge also sentenced Beaty to a consecutive twenty-eight-year term
for sexual assault. Christy Ann's parents, Carol and Roger Fornoff, became
involved in victims support groups such as Parents of Murdered Children and
created "Christy's House in the Pines," a mountain retreat for
victims' family members. They also worked for the passage of a Victim's Bill of
Rights in Arizona in 1990. They described Christy Ann as a "dream
child" and decorated their cabin with butterflies, which remind them of
Christy.
UPDATE: An emotional
Donald Beaty used his last words to apologize to the family of his victim,
13-year-old Christy Ann Fornoff, moments before he was put to death by lethal
injection Wednesday at Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence. "I'm sorry,
I'm sorry," Beaty, 56, said, his lips quivering as he lay on the death
gurney awaiting the injection of a lethal three-drug cocktail. "God will
let you see her again." After the execution, Fornoff's family spoke to the
media. "We are here to bring closure to the loss of our beloved daughter
and sister, Christy Ann Fornoff," said the victim's mother, Carol. "Her
life was not in vain. Even in death, she has brought light to the darkness of
evil that surrounded her when she was murdered."
May his soul rot in hell and his name be forgotten by all of mankind..
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