> Bloody execution photos draw gamut of responses
>
> By JACKIE HALLIFAX The Associated Press
>
> (via Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
>
> Web-posted: 11:32 p.m. Oct. 6, 1999
>
> TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Supreme Court Justice
> Leander Shaw said he thought photos of Allen
> Lee "Tiny" Davis strapped in the electric
> chair after his bloody execution provided a
> graphic illustration that electrocution was
> cruel and unusual punishment.
>
> People around the world have searched the
> Internet for the photographs, which Shaw
> attached to his opinion against the electric
> chair, and many have reached a different
> conclusion.
>
> "I am a 33-year-old mother of two young
> children who expected to be disturbed by
> these pictures," one woman wrote in an e-mail
> to Craig Waters, a spokesman for the state's
> high court who helps manage the court's Web
> page. "I looked anyway. To my surprise I felt
> nothing but relief that this scum is now long
> gone!"
>
> Like all decisions by the Florida Supreme
> Court, the Sept. 24 electric chair opinion
> with its accompanying photos is available on
> the court's Web site. The response has been
> overwhelming.
>
> So many people have tried to download the
> photos that one of the court's two servers
> has crashed several times. Even the program
> that counts visitors to the site was
> destroyed.
>
> There are two addresses for the page with
> the photos:
> http://www.flcourts.org/courts/supct/deathwarrants
> or http://www.firn.edu/supct/deathwarrants
>
> Waters estimated that thousands of people
> have looked at the pictures. He has received
> more than 300 e-mails from people looking for
> them. Some only asked for an address; others
> shared their views -- most of them in favor
> of capital punishment and the availability of
> the pictures.
>
> Chat rooms and newsgroups on the Internet
> also are talking about the photos.
>
> "Unfortunately, the public does not have
> ready access to the photos of his three
> victims, whom Davis raped and slaughtered,"
> one person wrote, noting that if those
> pictures were also available "perhaps the
> punishment would seem more in context with
> the crime committed."
>
> Davis, 54, was executed on July 8 for
> killing a pregnant Jacksonville woman and her
> two daughters in May 1982. He was not
> convicted of raping his victims. But the
> killings were brutal.
>
> Davis battered Nancy Weiler, 37, with his
> pistol until her face was nearly
> unrecognizable. Kristina Weiler, one day shy
> of her 10th birthday, was shot twice, her
> hands tied behind her back. Davis shot
> Katherine Weiler, 5, in the back and then
> beat her, crushing her skull.
>
> During Davis' execution, blood poured
> from behind the mask covering his face,
> soaking the middle of his white shirt.
>
> _________________________________________
> McReynolds 2000 Committee
> "Building a Movement for Jobs, Peace and Freedom"
> P.O. Box 91, Floral Park, NY 10012
> http://votesocialist.org/
>
>
>
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