Word: spenkelink
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...nation's judicial system be so unjust that Dan White of San Francisco can get off with manslaughter after committing two senseless murders, and John Spenkelink [June 4] is executed...
...Jacksonville is raising money to play in a tournament in New Orleans by selling, for $5 each, pastel T shirts decorated with a drawing of "Old Sparky," the Florida electric chair, and bearing the legend 1 DOWN, 133 TO GO. The reference is to the recent execution of John Spenkelink and the 133 people left on death row in Florida. So far, 2,500 T shirts have been sold and orders-including some from lawyers and judges-have come in from all 50 states and from as far away as Australia...
With only a few hours left, Spenkelink's lawyers made their final appeals...
Three lawyers, including Clark, argued before Federal Judge Elbert Tuttle that the court-appointed lawyers who defended Spenkelink at his trial were ineffective. In Washington, Lawyer Joel Berger went from Justice to Justice. Finally, Thurgood Marshall ordered that the execution be stayed. Almost simultaneously, Judge Tuttle...
Next morning, the full Supreme Court briefly considered Spenkelink's appeal and voted 7 to 2 to turn it down. In New Orleans, a panel of three federal judges deliberated into the night, then rejected it too. Spenkelink's lawyers appealed once more to the Supreme Court in Washington. At 9:50 a.m. on Friday, only ten minutes before the scheduled execution, the court refused again, by 6 to 2. Almost immediately, Spenkelink, his arms heavily manacled, was led into the death chamber next door...