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Thread: David Leroy Washington - Florida Execution - July 13, 1984

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    David Leroy Washington - Florida Execution - July 13, 1984

    Facts of Crime: During a ten-day period in September 1976 Washington committed a series of crimes which included three brutal murders.

    On September 20, 1976, Washington and an accomplice stabbed to death a minister, David Pridgen. Three days later Washington broke into the house of Mrs. Katrina Birk. After binding Mrs. Birk and her three elderly sisters-in-law, he shot and stabbed each of them, killing Mrs. Birk and inflicting severe injuries upon the others.

    Finally, on September 29th, Washington kidnapped Frank Meli, a twenty-year-old college student, and tied him to a bed with the help of two accomplices. After an attempt to extort ransom money from Meli's family failed, Washington stabbed him to death. Each of these criminal episodes involved a substantial degree of preparation and each included acts of theft.

    On October 1, 1976, Washington surrendered to Dade County police after his two accomplices were arrested for the murder of Frank Meli. He voluntarily confessed to the crime in a lengthy statement to the police.

    Victims: Daniel Pridgen, Frank Meli and Katrina Birk

    Time of Death: 7:09 a.m.

    Manner of execution: Electric Chair

    Last Meal: Fried shrimp and oysters, french fries, lemonade, a half-pint of vanilla ice cream, hot rolls and ketchup.

    Final Statement: "I would like to say to the families of all of my victims I'm sorry for all the grief and heartache I have brought to them. If my death brings any satisfaction, so be it. I'd like to say to all the guys on death row, don't bow to defeat, don't bow to a victory, don't bow to a defeat without a fight. I'm kind of nervous. That's all."

    Co-defendants: Johnnie Gary Mills (Pridgen and Meli) - sentenced to life in prison; Nathaniel Taylor (Meli) - sentenced to life in prison.

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    Senior Member Frequent Poster joe_con's Avatar
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    July 7, 1984

    David Leroy Washington wins stay

    MIAMI -- David Leroy Washington, one of two inmates scheduled for a double execution this week in Florida, won a stay Saturday from a circuit judge who ruled the state must wait until a federal appeals court rules on a similar case.

    Lawyers for the state of Florida were expected to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the stay, issued Saturday by Dade County Circuit Judge Herbert Klein.

    Washington, 34, on death row for the slayings of three people, had been scheduled for execution early Thursday along with death row inmate Jimmie Lee Smith, who killed a woman and her 12-year-old daughter.

    Attorneys for Smith said they would file a petition Monday seeking a stay of execution in state court in Mariannna, Fla., and in federal court in Pensacola.

    Klein rejected arguments by public defender Richard Burr of West Palm Beach that Washington, who is black, was the victim of racial discrimination in sentencing.

    But the judge agreed to the stay of execution pending a ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving prejudicial statements by prosecutors. Washington's lawyers said the state attorney unfairly compared the worth of his victims' lives with the worth of Washington's life.

    A three-judge panel of the Atlanta appeals court rejected, by a 2-1 vote, a similar argument in the case of Moore v. Zant. But the entire 12-judge court is reconsidering the matter.

    Washington killed three people during a 10-day rampage of robbery, kidnap and torture in south Florida in September 1976. He confessed to two of the murders.

    http://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/07/...5168458020800/

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