Jacksonville.com: Brady's relatives say jutsice finally done with King execution 2/27/03

Thursday, February 27, 2003

Story last updated at 04:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 27, 2003

Brady's relatives say jutsice finally done with King execution

By RON WORD
Associated Press Writer

STARKE, Fla. - After enduring more than two decades of delays, relatives of Natalie Brady said justice finally was served with the execution of death row inmate Amos King.

King, 48, was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday for raping and murdering Brady in 1977 after slipping away from a neighboring work-release prison. He also set her home on fire.

"This has been an emotional roller coaster for our family for many years and now maybe we can have some closure," said Brady's niece, Monica Watson, who attended Wednesday's execution.

As she spoke, her sister, Peggy Scheerer, held a picture of Brady, 68, who was known to the women as Aunt Tillie, a loving, white-haired woman with sparkling blue eyes.

"Now this is over, maybe our remembering won't focus on the last few hours of her life," Watson said.

Before the injection, King maintained his innocence in a rambling last statement that lasted four minutes.

"I would like the governor and the family to know I am an innocent man and the state had evidence to that effect," King said while on a gurney. "I'm sorry for the victim's family, for all the things we have gone through."

Defense attorneys and others who fought to spare King's life, said his death was a senseless killing.

"Even those who support the death penalty should be troubled by the execution of Amos King," said David Menschel, a staff attorney for The Innocence Project, who claims there were grave problems with the case against King.

"This evening the people of the State of Florida and of the United States executed Amos King despite substantial doubt about Mr. King's guilt," Menschel said.

He claimed the state destroyed evidence that could have established. King's innocence. He also noted that King, who was black, was convicted by an all-white jury.

King's attorney, Peter Cannon, sat dejected on the second row of witnesses to King's death.

In a prison interview Tuesday, King said he was the victim of racism, circumstances, perjured testimony, and ignored and lost evidence.

"I am not confessing to anything I did not do," he said.

King had survived six execution dates by three governors, including four in the last year. His final execution was scheduled after DNA tests on evidence were inconclusive.

He became the 55th inmate to die since Florida reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

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