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Tommy Arthur - wow, flashback. I remember the night his daughter broke him out of jail. My family sat around all that night listening to the scanner. Despite all those roadblocks and all those cops out looking for them, they never caught him. I remember hearing at the time that it was the largest manhunt in north Alabama history. It was a little surreal because my mother went to school with him and she looked up his picture in her yearbook to show us. She said that even in high school he was BAD news so it didn't totally surprise her when he was convicted of a contract killing.
Too many people have forgotten the primary reason we have capital punishment in the first place.

It's supposed to act as a huge deterrant to those who might be considered the same or similar heinous crimes. If we understand the one fact that most of these people are NOT able to be or even want to be rehabilitated, then we can stop letting them sit in our prisons for the rest of their lives with color TVs, gym equipment, conjugal visits, etc. Can you imagine what the reaction would be in the criminal community if we took every person who was on death row and began continuous executions in order of their convictions, until there were none left? Then we start with those who should have been given the death sentence but got life instead and began executing them in the same fashion? I would bet you would see a dramatic decrease in the level of capital punishment eligible crimes and crimes in general.
The U.S. Supreme Court's 7-2 decision Wednesday upholding lethal injection in a Kentucky case will likely restart the clock on executions in Alabama, including one for a convicted killer from Colbert County, officials said.

"I would say it's a green light for executions," said Talitha Bailey, director of the Capital Defense Clinic at the University of Alabama's law school.

Tommy Douglas Arthur, 65, of Sheffield, and fellow death row inmate James Harvey Callahan challenged Alabama's method of execution, which involves lethal injection. The challenge was based on the makeup of the chemicals used in executions.

Because Kentucky lethal injection chemicals are similar to Alabama's, the Supreme Court stayed Arthur's and other executions pending the outcome of the Kentucky challenge.

Assistant Alabama Attorney General Clay Crenshaw said that three inmates, Arthur, Callahan and Daniel Siebert, have stays based on the court challenges, but three more are scheduled for execution. They are Willie McNair, Jimmy Dill and Phillip Hallford.

Crenshaw said inmate Herbert Williams Jr. filed a challenge against lethal injection last week.

Arthur was convicted three times in the 1982 shooting death of Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker in what is described as a murder-for-hire scheme involving Wicker's wife, Judy.

Arthur has been spared from execution three times, the latest by the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 5, 2007.

Arthur has been on death row more than 24 years for the murder. Judy Wicker pleaded guilty to murder and later testified against Arthur. She testified that she paid Arthur $10,000 to kill her husband. She also said that she and Arthur were having an affair.

Arthur's daughter, Sherrie Arthur Stone, said she found out about the ruling Wednesday morning at her home near Tampa, Fla.

"I haven't talked with my dad (today), but I'm sure he knows," she said Wednesday afternoon. "I talked with his attorney, and I'm sure she has talked with him."

Stone said the U.S. Supreme Court's decision was "no

surprise."

"I was really expecting it. I thought they might put some type of procedure protocol in the ruling, but they didn't," she said.

Stone said she's not giving up hope, but "this was our only last shot, our only recourse."

She has previously requested that the Supreme Court stay the execution and have DNA found at the scene of the crime tested. DNA testing was not available at the time of the shooting.

"The Supreme Court shot that down," Stone said. "It's a shame because there is crime scene evidence, DNA that could prove his innocence, and it will not be reviewed."

Alabama has about 200 inmates on death row. Crenshaw said there are no pending executions set by the state Supreme Court but he expects the stay on Arthur and others to be lifted soon and legal procedures to set execution dates restarted.

Stone said she expects the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the stay of execution from her father's case soon.

"And then, he'll be executed very quickly. I'm sure of that," Stone said. "As soon as they lift the stay, he'll be one of the first ones on the list (to be

executed)."

Stone said while the Supreme Court decision is a blow to her father's case, she's not giving up.

"We're not going to give up until it's over," she said.

Bailey said Alabama's statute on lethal injection is similar to Kentucky's.

Alabama uses three chemicals to render the condemned unconscious, stop his breathing, and stop the heart. Alabama, as well as 35 other states and the federal government, use similar chemicals and methods in executions.

"The proper administration of the first drug ensures that the prisoner does not experience any pain associated with his paralysis and cardiac arrest caused by the second and third drugs," the Supreme Court said in the Kentucky case.

Bailey said while the Supreme Court opinion will result in the resumption of executions, the decision probably won't stop legal challenges to executions.

"Instead of an (absolute decision), it provides a template for people opposed to executions to test the templates," Bailey said. "There will be litigation on this."

Attorney General Troy King said the ruling was "a substantial victory for the champions of justice, and it strikes a blow to those who stand in justice's way."

He said the opinion "reaffirmed a constitutional principle long understood by Alabamians: Those who willfully and cruelly take a human life can - and must - face the only punishment equal to their crime."

Crenshaw said he's unsure whether the U.S. Supreme Court will lift the Alabama stays, including Arthur's, or whether the attorney general will have to request to dissolve the

stay.

Dana Beyerle can be reached at (334) 264-6605 or dtb12345@aol.com.
I am sure that the victims didn't receive any stay of execution they were Murdered. Ripped from their loved ones lives. I don't agree with giving any convicted murderer a second chance or a stay. But if they receive anything it should be a time limit put on any appeals and after that time is up (say 2 years) go ahead and execute them. The only reason I say two years is because our so called justice system says these murderers have rights. Well their victims had a right to LIVE, what happens to the victims rights and the relatives of the vicitms rights. As a relative of a murder victim I will spend the rest of my life making sure the murderer in our case does not ever go free. How is that right that I a victim have to do this for the rest of my life? While the MURDERERS sit in jail getting 3 meals a day and a place to sleep and all the medical attention they want or need. That makes us all victims doesn't it?

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