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Thread: Sterling Rault - Louisiana Execution - August 24, 1987

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    Sterling Rault - Louisiana Execution - August 24, 1987

    Summary of Offense: Convicted of raping, shooting and stabbing Jane Ellen Francioni, 21, whose body was then doused with gasoline and set afire in March 1982 in a desolate section of eastern New Orleans.

    Victim: Jane Ellen Francioni

    Time of Death: 12:16 a.m.

    Manner of execution: Electric Chair

    Last Meal:

    Final Statement:

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    August 24, 1987

    Embezzler Who Killed Secretary Dies in Louisiana's Electric

    ANGOLA, La., Monday, Aug. 24 — An accountant who raped and murdered his secretary because he feared she would expose his embezzlement of $84,000 was executed early today in Louisiana's electric chair.

    Sterling Rault was pronounced dead at 12:16 A.M., according to C. Paul Phelps, secretary of the state Department of Corrections.

    Mr. Rault, 36 years old, was the eighth person executed in Louisiana this summer and the 15th to be put to death in the state since it resumed executions in 1983.

    In his final hours, Mr. Rault was visited by his mother, father, brother and sister-in-law, and his spiritual advisers, the Rev. Alan J. McLellan and Sister Mary Rault, his aunt.

    After speaking with Mr. Rault late Sunday, Warden Hilton Butler said, ''He's taking it real well.'' High Court Denied a Stay

    Mr. Rault was convicted of raping, shooting and stabbing Jane Ellen Francioni, 21, whose body was then doused with gasoline and set afire in March 1982 in a desolate section of eastern New Orleans.

    Mr. Rault, a New Orleans accountant, was denied a seventh stay of execution Friday by the United States Supreme Court, leaving his last hope with Gov. Edwin Edwards. But Governor Edwards has refused to stop executions unless given proof of innocence.

    At a State Pardon Board hearing, Mr. Rault said he was innocent of murder, that he recalled nothing of the events preceding his arrest and that someone must have drugged him.

    The prosecution said Mr. Rault killed Miss Francioni in 1982 because she knew he had embezzled $84,000 from the Louisiana Energy and Development Company and was afraid she would expose him. Told Contradictory Stories

    Mr. Rault originally told arresting officers that he and Miss Francioni were kidnapped by two masked men who raped and killed her.

    At one time, he said two long-dead cousins appeared while he was in a self-induced hypnotic trance and killed the woman while he tried to stop them. Later, under hypnosis, Mr. Rault said Miss Francioni was shot accidentally when his dead cousins appeared to rape the woman, slit her throat, drag her around with a belt and then set her body afire.

    In yet another version, Mr. Rault told his defense attorney that Miss Francioni pulled a gun on him and was accidentally shot during a struggle.

    http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/24/us...xecuted&st=nyt

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