On
this day, 25 January 1996, Billy Bailey was the third person executed by
hanging in the U.S.A since 1965 and currently as of today, the last person
executed by hanging in the country. I will post information about him from Wikipedia
and some other links, before giving my thoughts.
 |
| Billy Bailey the Last man hanged in the United States of America |
Billy Bailey
|
|
Born
|
January
1947
Smyrna, Delaware, United States |
Died
|
|
Conviction(s)
|
2 counts of
first degree murder
|
Penalty
|
Death by
hanging
|
Conviction
status
|
Executed
|
Billy Bailey
(1947 – January 25, 1996) was a convicted murderer hanged in Delaware in 1996.
He became only the third person to be hanged in the United States since 1965
(the previous two were Charles Rodman Campbell and Westley Allan Dodd, both in
Washington) and the first hanged in Delaware in 50 years. He is currently the
last person in the United States to be hanged.
The crime
In
1979, Bailey was assigned to the Plummer House, a work release facility in
Wilmington, Delaware, but soon escaped. He later appeared at the home of his
foster sister, Sue Ann Coker, in Cheswold, Delaware, saying he was upset and
was not going back to the Plummer House.
He
and Charles Coker, his foster sister's husband, went on an errand in Coker's
truck. Bailey asked Coker to stop at a liquor store. Bailey entered the store
and robbed the clerk at gunpoint. Emerging from the store with a pistol in one hand
and a bottle in the other, Bailey told Coker that the police would be arriving
and asked to be dropped at Lambertson's Corner, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away.
At
Lambertson's Corner, Bailey entered the farmhouse of Gilbert Lambertson, aged
80, and his wife, Clara Lambertson, aged 73. Bailey shot Gilbert Lambertson
twice in the chest with a pistol and once in the head with the Lambertsons'
shotgun. He also shot Clara Lambertson once in the shoulder with the pistol and
once each in the abdomen and neck with the shotgun. Both Lambertsons died.
Bailey arranged their bodies in chairs and then fled from the scene. He was
spotted by a Delaware State Police helicopter as he ran across the Lambertsons'
field. He attempted to shoot the helicopter co-pilot with the pistol and was
later arrested.
Conviction
Bailey was found guilty of the murders in 1980.
After his conviction the jury held that the crimes "were outrageously or
wantonly vile, horrible, or inhuman" and recommended the death penalty.
Bailey was sentenced to be hanged by his neck until he was dead.
Preparations
Although
Bailey had been sentenced to hang, because the method of execution in Delaware
had been changed to lethal injection, he had the option of choosing
that method. Bailey refused to accept lethal injection, telling a visitor
"I'm not going to let them put me to sleep."
As
Delaware had not carried out a hanging in 50 years, it sought advice from
corrections officials at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla,
Washington, where hangings had recently been performed.
The
wooden gallows
was built in the grounds of the Delaware Correctional Center at Smyrna in 1996,
as Bailey's execution date approached. The structure required renovation and
strengthening before Bailey could be executed on it. The platform housing the
trap door is 15 feet (4.6 m) from the ground and is accessed by 23 steps.
Delaware
used an execution protocol written by Fred
Leuchter. This specifies the use of 30 feet (9.1 m) of 0.75-inch
(19 mm) diameter Manila hemp rope, boiled to take out stretch and any
tendency to coil. The area of the rope sliding inside the knot was lubricated
with melted paraffin wax to allow it to slide freely. A black hood is specified
by the protocol, as is a sandbag to test the trap door and a "collapse
board" to which a prisoner can be strapped if necessary.
The
day before, Bailey was weighed in at 220 lb (100 kg). and the drop
was determined to be at around 5 feet (1.5 m).
Bailey
was moved from his prison cell to a trailer close to the gallows in preparation
for the execution. There he spent his last 24 hours sleeping, eating, watching
television, talking with staff, and meeting with his fifty-three-year-old
sister, Betty Odom; the prison chaplain; and his attorney.
For
his last meal, he requested a well-done steak, a baked potato with sour cream
and butter, buttered rolls, peas, and vanilla ice cream.
His
final appeals having failed, Bailey was executed by the state of Delaware on
January 25, 1996.
The
gallows in Delaware was later dismantled in 2003, because in that year none of
its death row inmates remained eligible to choose hanging over lethal
injection. Only the states of Washington and New Hampshire still permit the
hanging method of execution as of 2013.
LINKS:
MY
THOUGHTS:
I
totally denounce the idea of the United States abolishing the gallows; I prefer
it to the lethal injection. The needle is a painless and less frightening
execution. The U.S.A should have kept the gallows or at least return to the old sparky and the firing squad. I was satisfied that Billy Bailey paid with his life with some pain and
fear.
One of my beloved judges of the United
Kingdom, Lord Rayner Goddard once said in a speech in the House of Lords on 10
July 1956:
“I believe the fear of the rope, as it is generally called among certain classes, is a very great deterrent.”
Go
to this blog post to see the victims’ families’ feelings.
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