HUNTSVILLE (TEXAS), February 4: AXE murderer Karla Faye Tucker was put to death by lethal injection, becoming the first woman executed in Texas since the civil war. She moved her lips as if in prayer as she died and gave a soft moan.``She gave a soft moan,'' said David Nunnelee, spokesman for the Texas department of criminal justice, who announced she had been executed at 1845 local time (yesteraday) (0645 gmt today).
Tucker, convicted for the 1983 murder of two people with a pickaxe during a burglary, died eight minutes after a fatal mix of chemicals was injected into her arm.
Tucker's death came after a flurry of last-minute legal motions failed in state and federal courts yesterday. Texas governor George W Bush, son of the former US president, could have declared a 30-day reprieve, but did not.Her case gathered support from around the world because of her gender and a religious conversion that occurred shortly after she was jailed. But pleas for her life from Pope John Paul and US televisionevangelist Pat Robertson fell on deaf ears.
``I will come face to face with Jesus,'' Tucker said in her final words, according to Vicente Arenas of Houston TV Station, and expressed sorrow for what she had done. There were cheers from some people outside the prison as her death was announced. Some singing could also be heard.
About 300 people gathered outside the looming prison walls and stood milling about. Some carried signs urging that Tucker not be killed, while others supported her execution. The two sides shouted at each other but police kept them separated. Tucker died in the small death chamber out of sight to the spectators and a large media contingent. She was strapped to a gurney about 1800 local time (0530 IST today).
Requests for stays were rejected by the US supreme court, the US fifth circuit court of appeals and a state district court yesterday, but Tucker's attorneys continued to file appeal on top of appeal in hopes of getting a stay.
Tucker said in a final interview broadcastyesterday afternoon on the Christian Broadcasting Network that she would be thinking about God and her family as she was strapped to the cross-shaped gurney in the death chamber.
``I am going to be thinking about certainly what it's like in heaven. I am going to be thinking about my family and my friends and the pain. I am going to be thankful for all the love,'' she said.
``There should always be a place for mercy. Life is precious, and if we believe life is precious in abortion, or in mercy killing, shouldn't we believe life is precious in the death penalty?'' she said. Last year, 37 men were executed in Texas, the most in the state's history.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
