Post by carolinem on Jun 29, 2009 6:47:34 GMT -5
Alabama Death Row inmate Jack Trawick apologizes before execution
`I don't deserve it but I do ask for it.'
Friday, June 12, 2009
TOM GORDON
News staff writer
ATMORE - After asking for forgiveness from those he hurt, twice-convicted murderer Jack Trawick died by lethal injection Thursday evening, as relatives of the victims watched.
Trawick, 62, who also had claimed to have committed another Birmingham-area murder and two in the Pacific Northwest, was executed for abducting, stabbing and strangling Stephanie Gach, 21, of Irondale on the night of Oct. 9, 1992.
He had been on Death Row at Holman Correctional Facility since 1994, and no legal efforts were made to stop his execution. The official time of death was 6:17 p.m.
In his final statement, Trawick spoke into a microphone: "I wish to apologize to the people who I have hurt and I ask for their forgiveness. I don't deserve it, but I do ask for it."
That would be his last public statement. Moments later, after conversing with Holman chaplain Chris Summers, Trawick yawned, made several small gasps then lost consciousness.
Stephanie Gach's sister Heather watched Trawick die. So did Donna Middlebrooks, sister of Aileen Pruitt, 26, whom Trawick was convicted of stabbing to death a few months before Gach's death. Trawick had been sentenced to life without parole for that killing.
Both said they were surprised by Trawick's words of apology. "The Jack Trawick I've seen has been kind of unremorseful, reveling in the attention he got for being a serial killer," said Heather Gach after the execution. "But he gave no indication of that tonight."
Middlebrooks, with tears running down her face, said she was praying for Trawick as he died. "I would have told him that I had forgiven him a long time ago. I really do think he was sincere," she said referring to his apology. "I was not expecting it at all."
Stephanie Gach's mother, Mary Kate, who chose not to come to Atmore, released a statement saying she and Heather were "thankful for the deliverance of justice for my daughter."
Trawick's witnesses were two of his cousins, Rebecca and Norman Sudduth; James Slack, a UAB faculty member who has been a spiritual adviser to Trawick, Randy Susskind, an attorney with the Equal Justice Initiative, Ben Sherrod of the Kairos prison ministry, and Tod Bohannon, the operator of a Web site that auctions memorabilia from notorious criminals.
Prison officials said Trawick had decided to give Bohannon a Bible, a dictionary, a wallet, a television, and assorted photos and cosmetics. He also planned to give pictures and a Bible to a cousin, Mary Anne Pearson.
Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said authorities were going to examine all of the items before releasing them.
Essays attributed to Trawick that detail the Gach murder, and a drawing, also attributed to him, that shows the mutilated body of a young woman, have been for sale on the Web. An envelope signed by Trawick is listed on Bohannon's Web site, with a starting bid of $15
Prison officials said Trawick was in a good mood throughout the day, receiving visitors and eating a last meal of fried chicken, French fries, onion soup and a roll. Though Trawick was sentenced to life without parole for Pruitt's murder, a new state law allowed up to two of Pruitt's family members to witness Trawick's execution because only Heather Gach was on hand for the Gach family.
A provision in that law basically states that if an inmate has another murder conviction on his record, two immediate family members of the victim of that crime can witness his death. That only applies if the six available family witness spaces are not taken by those with immediate family ties to the crime for which the inmate is being executed. Joshua Pruitt, Aileen Pruitt's son, had been planning to come and witness Trawick's death, but chose not to.
Trawick's execution ended a life that his defense attorney said was plagued by mental illness, and decades of crime that included burglaries he said he committed to terrify women he found attractive. In an interview after the Gach and Pruitt murders, Trawick said he cut up women's undergarments and left menacing lipstick messages on mirrors.
After he was convicted of Gach's murder in 1994, Trawick wrote Circuit Judge James Hard, who presided in his trial. In the letter, Trawick told Hard that if he did not sentence him to death but to time in the prison system, he would kill a prison system employee. Hard sentenced him to death.
Trawick's execution was the fifth this year in Alabama. He was the 196th inmate to be put to death by the state since 1927, the 43rd since executions resumed in 1983 after an 18-year pause, and the 19th to die by lethal injection.
`I don't deserve it but I do ask for it.'
Friday, June 12, 2009
TOM GORDON
News staff writer
ATMORE - After asking for forgiveness from those he hurt, twice-convicted murderer Jack Trawick died by lethal injection Thursday evening, as relatives of the victims watched.
Trawick, 62, who also had claimed to have committed another Birmingham-area murder and two in the Pacific Northwest, was executed for abducting, stabbing and strangling Stephanie Gach, 21, of Irondale on the night of Oct. 9, 1992.
He had been on Death Row at Holman Correctional Facility since 1994, and no legal efforts were made to stop his execution. The official time of death was 6:17 p.m.
In his final statement, Trawick spoke into a microphone: "I wish to apologize to the people who I have hurt and I ask for their forgiveness. I don't deserve it, but I do ask for it."
That would be his last public statement. Moments later, after conversing with Holman chaplain Chris Summers, Trawick yawned, made several small gasps then lost consciousness.
Stephanie Gach's sister Heather watched Trawick die. So did Donna Middlebrooks, sister of Aileen Pruitt, 26, whom Trawick was convicted of stabbing to death a few months before Gach's death. Trawick had been sentenced to life without parole for that killing.
Both said they were surprised by Trawick's words of apology. "The Jack Trawick I've seen has been kind of unremorseful, reveling in the attention he got for being a serial killer," said Heather Gach after the execution. "But he gave no indication of that tonight."
Middlebrooks, with tears running down her face, said she was praying for Trawick as he died. "I would have told him that I had forgiven him a long time ago. I really do think he was sincere," she said referring to his apology. "I was not expecting it at all."
Stephanie Gach's mother, Mary Kate, who chose not to come to Atmore, released a statement saying she and Heather were "thankful for the deliverance of justice for my daughter."
Trawick's witnesses were two of his cousins, Rebecca and Norman Sudduth; James Slack, a UAB faculty member who has been a spiritual adviser to Trawick, Randy Susskind, an attorney with the Equal Justice Initiative, Ben Sherrod of the Kairos prison ministry, and Tod Bohannon, the operator of a Web site that auctions memorabilia from notorious criminals.
Prison officials said Trawick had decided to give Bohannon a Bible, a dictionary, a wallet, a television, and assorted photos and cosmetics. He also planned to give pictures and a Bible to a cousin, Mary Anne Pearson.
Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said authorities were going to examine all of the items before releasing them.
Essays attributed to Trawick that detail the Gach murder, and a drawing, also attributed to him, that shows the mutilated body of a young woman, have been for sale on the Web. An envelope signed by Trawick is listed on Bohannon's Web site, with a starting bid of $15
Prison officials said Trawick was in a good mood throughout the day, receiving visitors and eating a last meal of fried chicken, French fries, onion soup and a roll. Though Trawick was sentenced to life without parole for Pruitt's murder, a new state law allowed up to two of Pruitt's family members to witness Trawick's execution because only Heather Gach was on hand for the Gach family.
A provision in that law basically states that if an inmate has another murder conviction on his record, two immediate family members of the victim of that crime can witness his death. That only applies if the six available family witness spaces are not taken by those with immediate family ties to the crime for which the inmate is being executed. Joshua Pruitt, Aileen Pruitt's son, had been planning to come and witness Trawick's death, but chose not to.
Trawick's execution ended a life that his defense attorney said was plagued by mental illness, and decades of crime that included burglaries he said he committed to terrify women he found attractive. In an interview after the Gach and Pruitt murders, Trawick said he cut up women's undergarments and left menacing lipstick messages on mirrors.
After he was convicted of Gach's murder in 1994, Trawick wrote Circuit Judge James Hard, who presided in his trial. In the letter, Trawick told Hard that if he did not sentence him to death but to time in the prison system, he would kill a prison system employee. Hard sentenced him to death.
Trawick's execution was the fifth this year in Alabama. He was the 196th inmate to be put to death by the state since 1927, the 43rd since executions resumed in 1983 after an 18-year pause, and the 19th to die by lethal injection.