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Thread: Willie Watson - Louisiana Execution - July 24, 1987

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    Willie Watson - Louisiana Execution - July 24, 1987

    Summary of Offense: Convicted of the 1981 rape, robbery and murder of a Tulane University medical student.

    Victim: Kathy Newman

    Time of Death: 1:58 a.m.

    Manner of execution: Electric Chair

    Last Meal:

    Final Statement: Asked if he wanted to make a final statement, Mr. Watson shook his head no.

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    July 25, 1987

    Killer of Medical Student Dies In Electric Chair in Louisiana

    ANGOLA, La., July 24 — Willie Watson went calmly and silently to his death in the electric chair early today for the rape, robbery and murder of a Tulane University medical student.

    He was the sixth murderer executed in Louisiana since early June and the second this week.

    The student, Kathy Newman, 25 years old, was abducted, raped and shot to death in 1981. Mr. Watson, 30, confessed that he killed her, attributing the crime to his drug addiction while an adolescent growing up in New Orleans housing projects.

    The execution, which had been scheduled for midnight, was delayed two hours after the United States Supreme Court rejected Mr. Watson's appeal on a 4-to-4 tie vote and Mr. Watson's lawyers made a last-minute plea to Gov. Edwin W. Edwards in Baton Rouge. Refused Final Statement

    At 1:58 A.M. Mr. Watson walked into the death chamber. His head had been shaved of the shoulder-wide Afro hairstyle he had the day before when he appeared at the state Pardon Board in a futile appeal.

    Asked if he wanted to make a final statement, Mr. Watson shook his head no. He was then strapped into the wooden electric chair.

    Before his face was masked, he looked at his spiritual adviser, Sister Lee Scardina, and mouthed ''I love you, Sister Lee.''

    Then he received the first of four jolts of electricity at 2:02 A.M. He was pronounced dead at 2:09. After it was over, the spiritual adviser went to Jed Stone, Mr. Watson's lawyer, who was outside the death chamber, and cried on his shoulder.

    Outside the prison, six advocates of the death penalty marched in the darkness. Appeals Question Law

    Mr. Watson spent his last day visiting with his girlfriend, his mother, three sisters, and the adviser. Hilton Butler, the warden, said Mr. Watson had spurned a final meal before the execution.

    In the days before the execution, Mr. Watson lost all his appeals, which were based in part on the argument that Louisiana's death penalty law is unconstitutional.

    Willie Celestine, 30, of Lafayette, was put to death Monday for raping, beating and strangling an 81-year-old woman in 1981. Mr. Celestine was the 12th person to die in Louisiana's electric chair since executions resumed.

    http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/25/us...xecuted&st=nyt

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