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STARKE – Amos King wanted
to hear some noise at his execution.
As the deadly chemicals
from a lethal injection rushed through the death-row veteran’s body,
more than 30 local and national death penalty opponents waved
makeshift noisemakers outside Florida State Prison on Wednesday
night.
King, who raped and murdered 68-year-old Natalie
Brady in 1977, requested supporters not remain silent during the
scheduled execution.
“We’re going to make noise we hope he
will hear,” said Bonnie Flassig, a member of Gainesville Citizens
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. “If not, we hope others will
hear. That’s his only request.”
Supporters jabbed life-size
posters condemning the execution into the ground and shook bells,
chimes and maracas on a field across the street from the prison’s
entrance.
The whistling and chants of opposition continued
for more than an hour, including a 30-minute delay while state
officials awaited Florida and U.S. supreme courts denial of a
seventh stay of execution for King.
About 20 footsteps away,
two men stood cross-armed on the other side of a gold rope, silently
supporting the execution.
Philip Prevatt’s sister Betty was
killed 15 years ago with a shot to the head, but her killer was
never sentenced, he said. Because of his own family’s suffering,
Prevatt said he thinks lethal injection isn’t a fair enough
punishment for convicted murderers.
“Let them feel a little
bit of pain,” Prevatt, of Lawtey said. “They’ll feel that neck snap.
A little pain for what they’ve done.”
King’s six stays,
which have spanned three Florida governors since his conviction 25
years ago, demonstrate the problems in the judicial process, he
said.
“That little old lady (Brady) didn’t even get one
stay,” said Prevatt, who has never been to the prison in support of
execution.
Death penalty opponent Bill Pelke, of Alaska,
joined the loud protests, although his grandmother was killed by a
teenager who is serving a life sentence in Indiana.
“The death
penalty just continues the cycle of violence,” he said. Pelke
chanted a repetitious chorus of “Not in our name” with the group
until a white van full of witnesses to the execution exited the
prison.
“This may be a pattern for the future,” Flassig
said. “It makes much more sense to be loud in opposition when
someone is being executed.”
King was pronounced dead at 6:43
p.m.
“There was lingering doubt, even in the mind of [Gov.
Bush] himself,” said Kevin Malone, King’s spiritual adviser. “This
is inhumane, cruel and barbaric. What happened here tonight will
bring no closure.”
Death penalty supporter Norman Traylor
said the execution doesn’t heal a family’s wounds but serves as a
deterrent to potential criminals.
“It’s not good to see
anybody die,” said Traylor, whose cousin, correctional officer Fred
Griffiths, was murdered in 1986 by a prison inmate. “But when you
take another’s life, when you kill unmercifully, there has to be a
certain amount of justice.”
Two of Brady’s nieces witnessed
King’s execution and described the years of set and stayed
executions as an emotional roller coaster.
“It’s not a happy
time for any of us, but it’s a relief,” said Peggy Scheerer, Brady’s
niece.
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