Summary of Offense: Convicted of shooting a cab driver to death in a robbery.
Victim: William Hosea Waymon
Time of Death: 12:15 a.m.
Manner of execution: Electric Chair
Last Meal: pink salmon and candied yams.
Final Statement:
Summary of Offense: Convicted of shooting a cab driver to death in a robbery.
Victim: William Hosea Waymon
Time of Death: 12:15 a.m.
Manner of execution: Electric Chair
Last Meal: pink salmon and candied yams.
Final Statement:
March 19, 1986
Convicted killer Arthur Lee Jones, scheduled to die
MOBILE, Ala. -- Convicted killer Arthur Lee Jones, scheduled to die in Alabama's electric chair Friday morning, says capital punishment does no more to deter crime 'than AIDS does to homosexuality.'
In a jailhouse interview with a Mobile newspaper published Wednesday, Jones said he had no 'hangups' about the threat of death but repeatedly insisted he was framed for two murders in south Alabama.
'I don't think I'll ever understand why people would go all out of their way to snuff out a man when they know he's not the person who needs snuffing out,' he told The Mobile Press-Register at Holman prison in Atmore.
Jones, 47, of Jackson, was convicted in 1982 for the murder of Vaughn Thompson, a 21-year-old storekeeper, and William Hosea Waymon, 71, a cab driver.
Defense attorney John Furman of Mobile said U.S. District Judge W. Brevard Hand was wrong Tuesday in refusing to halt the scheduled execution, and he appealed the case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
Jones spoke in a raspy, quiet voice and showed little emotion as he talked of death -- until he was asked about the deterrence argument often voiced by death penalty supporters.
'Capital punishment does little more to deter crime than AIDS does to homosexuality,' Jones said with a laugh, referring to the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
'Some are going to be sent to death row because they can't afford attorneys. Some who might be guilty might not even come to death row. If they execute everybody on death row today, a year from now they'd have a death row full of people (again),' he said.
The convict said others on death row talk about death.
'Everyone back there expects to be executed. They don't know who's going to be first,' he said. 'They got me now, but who knows who it will be next week?
'I feel okay. I don't have any hangups or problems. I'm comprehending what's going on. You get a little uptight because things are not going the way you expect them to go.'
Jones claimed he was 'set up' by police for both murders and was convicted because evidence was withheld. He also said he had insufficient legal representation.
http://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/03/...9883511592400/
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