Executed, by lethal injection: the 74-year-old so stricken by dementia he forgot who he was
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
07 August 2004
The killing for which James Barney Hubbard was convicted happened so long ago that Elvis Presley was still performing live concerts.
For 27 years Hubbard and his lawyers had fought to extend his life, filing appeal after appeal with the courts as he lingered on death row, getting ever older and more sick.
On Thursday, with those appeals finally exhausted, Hubbard, weakened by dementia, was executed by lethal injection in a jail in Alabama. He was 74 - the oldest person to be executed in the United States for six decades.
While some of his victims' relatives welcomed his death, the execution is set to trigger fresh questions about the use of the death penalty in the US in regard to its fairness and its applicability to those suffering from mental illness. There were days when Hubbard's dementia was so bad that he did not know who he was or what he had been convicted of.
Alan Rose, Hubbard's lawyer for the past 16 years, was among the witnesses at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. "He is a sick, frail man," he said. "He is harmless, and it makes no sense for the state of Alabama to have executed him." Hubbard was convicted of the shooting in 1997 of Lillian Montgomery, a widow who ran a grocery store in Tuscaloosa. Lonely and suffering from alcohol problems, she had agreed to take in Hubbard after he was released on parole for his involvement in a killing in 1957.
Mrs Montgomery's family claimed that on the day of her death, she and Hubbard had been drinking together. Hubbard always denied the killing, saying she had shot herself, even though she suffered three gunshot wounds to the face from a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver. She had been given the gun by her oldest son, Jimmy, to protect herself at the store.
Mr Montgomery was among six members of the family who attended the execution on Thursday evening. He said the last time he had seen his mother alive was when he went to pick her up to take her to see Elvis perform at the Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.
Afterwards he told reporters he had been disappointed that Hubbard, silent and pale and suffering from cancer, hepatitis and emphysema, chose to make no final words of apology when he was strapped to the gurney (the trolley). He said he appeared to die too painlessly once the combination of three chemicals were released into his veins. "I personally was glad to see this part of our lives end today, and maybe we can get on down the road with some of the things we've been trying to do," he said. "He looked like he was quite comfortable on that gurney. I'd just as soon see the electric chair still in use or maybe the firing squad. It seems like he just dozed off."
Hubbard's time lingering on death row ran out after Mr Rose's appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down. He had argued that given his age and sickness, executing represented a "cruel and unusual punishment", as prohibited by the eighth amendment to the US constitution. On Thursday morning the court decided by 5-4 not to stay the execution.
At that stage the only person who could have saved Hubbard was Bob Riley, the state's Republican Governor. Mr Riley refused to commute Hubbard's sentence for what he called a "heinous and violent" crime. "Justice has not been swift in this case, but justice must be delivered," he said.
And so, after a final meal of fried eggs, four pieces of bacon, fried green tomatoes, sliced tomatoes, pineapple slices slathered with mayonnaise, white bread, a banana and a can of vegetable juice, Hubbard was taken to the execution chamber and put to death.
Witnesses said that Hubbard said nothing but looked to his daughter, who was also present, and nodded. He was declared dead at 6.36pm.
Hubbard was the oldest person to be executed since 1941, when James Stephens of Colorado was executed aged 76.
In 2002, the Supreme Court blocked the execution of mentally retarded prisoners. But so far, it has failed to address the issue of prisoners suffering from mental illness.
"The next thing we expect the court to look at is the execution of juveniles this September," said Brenda Bowser of the Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington DC. "Maybe after that it will look at mental illness."
Campaign groups in Alabama had asked for the state to commute Hubbard's sentence.
US EXECUTIONS 2004
Top 5 states: Texas 10; Ohio 6; Oklahoma 5; South Carolina 4; Virginia 3
Prisoners on death row Top 5: North Carolina 214; Pennsylvania 241; California 625; Texas 453; Florida 380
Current US death row population by race: White 45.6 per cent; Black 41.9 per cent; Hispanic 10.2 per cent; other 2.3 per cent
No of states practising death penalty: 38
In 2003, Texas executed 256 prisoners (32 per cent), while all other US states with death penalty statutes executed 432 prisoners (62 per cent).
On the federal level, 3.5 per cent of people sentenced to death have been innocent. In one example of state-level problems, Illinois had an error rate of 4.5 per cent
More than 114 people have been freed from death row since 1972, including 23 form the state of Florida alone
Authorised methods of execution: Gas chamber, lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, electrocution.
Independent UK.Co.
8 August 2004 01:39
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
07 August 2004
The killing for which James Barney Hubbard was convicted happened so long ago that Elvis Presley was still performing live concerts.
For 27 years Hubbard and his lawyers had fought to extend his life, filing appeal after appeal with the courts as he lingered on death row, getting ever older and more sick.
On Thursday, with those appeals finally exhausted, Hubbard, weakened by dementia, was executed by lethal injection in a jail in Alabama. He was 74 - the oldest person to be executed in the United States for six decades.
While some of his victims' relatives welcomed his death, the execution is set to trigger fresh questions about the use of the death penalty in the US in regard to its fairness and its applicability to those suffering from mental illness. There were days when Hubbard's dementia was so bad that he did not know who he was or what he had been convicted of.
Alan Rose, Hubbard's lawyer for the past 16 years, was among the witnesses at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. "He is a sick, frail man," he said. "He is harmless, and it makes no sense for the state of Alabama to have executed him." Hubbard was convicted of the shooting in 1997 of Lillian Montgomery, a widow who ran a grocery store in Tuscaloosa. Lonely and suffering from alcohol problems, she had agreed to take in Hubbard after he was released on parole for his involvement in a killing in 1957.
Mrs Montgomery's family claimed that on the day of her death, she and Hubbard had been drinking together. Hubbard always denied the killing, saying she had shot herself, even though she suffered three gunshot wounds to the face from a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver. She had been given the gun by her oldest son, Jimmy, to protect herself at the store.
Mr Montgomery was among six members of the family who attended the execution on Thursday evening. He said the last time he had seen his mother alive was when he went to pick her up to take her to see Elvis perform at the Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.
Afterwards he told reporters he had been disappointed that Hubbard, silent and pale and suffering from cancer, hepatitis and emphysema, chose to make no final words of apology when he was strapped to the gurney (the trolley). He said he appeared to die too painlessly once the combination of three chemicals were released into his veins. "I personally was glad to see this part of our lives end today, and maybe we can get on down the road with some of the things we've been trying to do," he said. "He looked like he was quite comfortable on that gurney. I'd just as soon see the electric chair still in use or maybe the firing squad. It seems like he just dozed off."
Hubbard's time lingering on death row ran out after Mr Rose's appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down. He had argued that given his age and sickness, executing represented a "cruel and unusual punishment", as prohibited by the eighth amendment to the US constitution. On Thursday morning the court decided by 5-4 not to stay the execution.
At that stage the only person who could have saved Hubbard was Bob Riley, the state's Republican Governor. Mr Riley refused to commute Hubbard's sentence for what he called a "heinous and violent" crime. "Justice has not been swift in this case, but justice must be delivered," he said.
And so, after a final meal of fried eggs, four pieces of bacon, fried green tomatoes, sliced tomatoes, pineapple slices slathered with mayonnaise, white bread, a banana and a can of vegetable juice, Hubbard was taken to the execution chamber and put to death.
Witnesses said that Hubbard said nothing but looked to his daughter, who was also present, and nodded. He was declared dead at 6.36pm.
Hubbard was the oldest person to be executed since 1941, when James Stephens of Colorado was executed aged 76.
In 2002, the Supreme Court blocked the execution of mentally retarded prisoners. But so far, it has failed to address the issue of prisoners suffering from mental illness.
"The next thing we expect the court to look at is the execution of juveniles this September," said Brenda Bowser of the Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington DC. "Maybe after that it will look at mental illness."
Campaign groups in Alabama had asked for the state to commute Hubbard's sentence.
US EXECUTIONS 2004
Top 5 states: Texas 10; Ohio 6; Oklahoma 5; South Carolina 4; Virginia 3
Prisoners on death row Top 5: North Carolina 214; Pennsylvania 241; California 625; Texas 453; Florida 380
Current US death row population by race: White 45.6 per cent; Black 41.9 per cent; Hispanic 10.2 per cent; other 2.3 per cent
No of states practising death penalty: 38
In 2003, Texas executed 256 prisoners (32 per cent), while all other US states with death penalty statutes executed 432 prisoners (62 per cent).
On the federal level, 3.5 per cent of people sentenced to death have been innocent. In one example of state-level problems, Illinois had an error rate of 4.5 per cent
More than 114 people have been freed from death row since 1972, including 23 form the state of Florida alone
Authorised methods of execution: Gas chamber, lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, electrocution.
Independent UK.Co.
8 August 2004 01:39
