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Thread: Terry Lyn Short - Oklahoma Execution - June 17, 2008

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    Terry Lyn Short - Oklahoma Execution - June 17, 2008


    This undated photo shows Ken Yamamoto, far right, during his last Christmas.




    Facts of the Crime:
    Convicted and sentenced to death in the January 8, 1995 murder of Ken Yamamoto.

    22-year-old Ken Yamamoto lived in an Oklahoma City apartment directly above that of Short's former girlfriend, Brenda Gardner, and her sister Tammy. After a fire started in Tammy's apartment, Brenda, Tammy, and the children escaped. Robert Hines, the father of one of Tammy's children, was also present and escaped with serious injuries. The fire spread quickly causing Yamamoto's apartment to collapse. Yamamoto, who had been sleeping, suffered burns to ninety-five percent of his body. He was conscious when taken to the hospital, but he died several hours later. The fire was started by a gasoline bomb. Brenda and several friends testified that Short had threatened to "burn Brenda and her family up." A search of Short's hotel room revelead a journal where he had stated that he had lost Brenda and "I need her to go on in my life. She is all I got." Gasoline was found on Short's clothing.

    Victim: Ken Yamamoto

    Time of Death: 6:08 pm

    Manner of Execution: Lethal Injection

    Last Meal: Ten pieces of fried chicken

    Final Words: "I have nothing to say."

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    June 17, 2008

    OKC man's killer is executed

    Terry Lyn Short on Tuesday became the first person to be executed in Oklahoma since the Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection is constitutional and not cruel or unusual punishment.

    Short was convicted April 21, 1997, in Oklahoma County of the first-degree murder of Ken Yamamoto in January 1995.

    Yamamoto, 22, a student at Oklahoma City University, lived in an apartment above Short's ex-girlfriend's apartment.

    After the couple split, Short threw a homemade explosive at her home.

    The explosion killed Yamamoto and injured several other people.

    Oklahoma has killed death-row inmates by lethal injection since 1977. Executions were suspended for several months, though, until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the constitutional question in April.

    At 6:08 p.m. Tuesday, Short became the 170th person to be executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and the 87th in the state to die from lethal injection.

    Just before the execution began, Short cried and told officials, "I have nothing to say."

    Then three drugs were injected into his arms.

    The first, sodium thiopental, rendered him unconscious. The second, vecuronium bromide, stopped his breathing, and the third, potassium chloride, stopped his heart.

    Short's family, who witnessed the execution, did not comment.

    Two of Short's victims also watched the execution and expressed no sympathy for him.

    "He took a life, and now his was taken," said Robert Hines, a former resident of the Oklahoma City apartment complex that Short firebombed.

    Hines suffered second- and third-degree burns over 35 percent of his body and is unable to work. He has had four surgeries on his arms and lower torso.

    "My whole life was changed that night because of him," he said after the execution.

    Hines remembered Yamamoto.

    "He was a nice, very quiet guy," he said. "It was so shocking and terrible this happened to him."

    Patti Grubbs, who also lived in the apartment complex and was a friend of Yamamoto's, said Short's punishment didn't fit his crime.

    "He took the easy way out," she said. "He felt no pain. We felt pain."

    Hines offered a different perspective on the death penalty and Short's execution.

    "Justice was served," he said.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...1_spancl400227

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