In June 1998 firefighters found the body of Ronnie “Kitten” Hewitt inside her burning apartment in Amarillo, Texas. Though the fire burned her body, it was determined that she died from asphyxiation from being choked by a belt found tightened around her neck; she likely had been sexually assaulted; and someone set fire to her house using aerosol hair spray. Later that month, police officers in Oklahoma questioned Roach about an unrelated crime, and during the questioning Roach confessed to killing a woman named Kitten in Amarillo. He signed a written confession in which he stated that he entered Hewitt’s apartment through a window, confronted her, and choked her with his arm and then with a belt until she died. Then, he raped her vaginally and anally and took money, a knife, a beer, and some rings. Finally, he described using hair spray to set the apartment on fire. A knife identified as Kitten’s and two of her rings were retrieved from pawn shops in Amarillo and in Guymon, Oklahoma, along with pawn slips signed by Roach. Semen was present in vaginal and anal swabs. Roach was excluded as the contributor of the vaginal swab, but the DNA profile of the contributor of the semen found in the anal swab matched his DNA in ten different areas; such a profile would occur in only one in six billion Caucasians, Blacks, or Hispanics. A jury convicted Roach of capital murder, and he was sentenced to death. UPDATE: Tony Roach was executed after apologizing to the family members of his victim who had come to watch him die. Roach repeatedly asked for forgiveness from the fiancé and the daughter of his victim, who stood a few feet away looking through a window. "So much hurt I've caused you all," Roach said. "I can only imagine how you feel. I pray the Lord Jesus Christ touches your heart the way he's touched mine." Saying that he was to blame for the killing, Roach said he knew the victim was "in a good place. I can't agree with this justice the state is carrying out, but I accept it and I'm sorry," he said. "I have no ill will toward anyone carrying out this so-called justice. I leave y'all in God's care."

On January 15, 1983, Frank Russell returned home from work to discover that his wife, Edith, had been murdered. The Russells rented an apartment at the back of their Chattanooga, Tennessee, house to a tenant who, at that time, was away on vacation, and Mrs. Russell’s body was found inside this apartment. Medical examiners determined that the cause of her death was “massive multiple skull fractures with marked lacerations of the scalp and head, expelling brain tissue and literally crushing the victim’s face and disfiguring her beyond recognition.” Mrs. Russell was last seen that afternoon at a neighborhood market, where witnesses spoke with her between approximately 2:30 and 2:45 p.m. Bags of groceries and ignition keys were found in Mrs. Russell’s car, which was parked in the driveway, when her body was discovered near midnight. Nothing in the record indicates a precise time of death. The logical inference is that Mrs. Russell was killed a short time after purchasing the groceries in the middle of the afternoon, or else she would have taken them and her keys out of her car. Moreover, the porch lights were off. Her husband said she always left the outside lights on for protection. The Russells’ house and the rented apartment were burglarized. Missing items included “a television, two cable television converters, a quartz heater, a Polaroid camera, a silver Cross pen and pencil set, a jeweler’s loop, a jewelry box, antique jewelry, a marble vase, and Mrs. Russell’s purse.” The police later found the quartz heater, the Polaroid camera, the pen and pencil set, and the jeweler’s loop in the residence of Edward Jerome Harbison’s girlfriend who was also co-defendant David Schreane’s sister. The jeweler’s loop was found in Harbison’s shaving kit. In an adjacent unoccupied apartment, the police found Mrs. Russell’s purse, a jewelry box, and two large paper bags containing antique glassware and brassware. The stolen television was found in the residence of Schreane’s girlfriend. Schreane was taken into custody and questioned on February 21, 1983, when he led police to the missing marble vase. Chemical testing later revealed the presence of blood on the vase. Furthermore, debris that was vacuumed from the carpet in Harbison’s car revealed crystalline calcite fragments that were consistent with the marble vase. Harbison also was arrested on February 21, 1983. In a taped statement, he confessed to killing Edith Russell. Harbison stated that after he drove his girlfriend home from work, he and Schreane went to the Russell home, determined that it was empty, and used a screwdriver to break into the residence. While he and Schreane were carrying the stolen items from the house and the apartment to their car, Mrs. Russell returned home. Harbison contended that he thought Mrs. Russell was reaching for a gun, so he grabbed her. He stated that he hit her with the marble vase, “at the most” two times. At his trial, Harbison testified that he had not killed Mrs. Russell and that he was not at the Russell house on the day of the murder. He said that he was at his girlfriend’s home that afternoon and evening. He asserted that his confession was coerced, and that the police had threatened to arrest his girlfriend and take away her children if he did not confess. He further testified that the police had told him what to say and that his taped confession, which was played to the jury, had been altered. Finally, he testified that he had purchased the jeweler’s loop at a pawn shop. Harbison was convicted and sentenced to death.

On the day before Thanksgiving, 1992, Joseph Roland Lave, James Langston and Timothy Bates conspired to rob a suburban Dallas sporting goods store. During the robbery, the assailants brutally killed two of the store’s employees, Frederick Banzhaf and Justin Marquart. A third employee at Herman's Sporting Goods, Angela, was also attacked but managed to survive, call 911 and identify Langston as one of the perpetrators. All three victims were beaten with a hammer and their throats were slit. As a result of Angela's identification, the police sought to apprehend Langston. During the attempted arrest, Langston tried to run over the police officers. The police responded by shooting Langston who died soon after. Inside Langston’s shoe, the police found a card with Bates’ name and phone number. Using that information, the police arrested Bates, who identified Lave as the third robber. Subsequently, the police executed a warrant and searched Lave’s apartment and automobile, where they seized merchandise from the sporting goods store and other evidence. When police searched Lave's car and apartment, they found some loot from the robbery. Authorities said $2,950 in cash, 21 rifles and shotguns and athletic clothing were taken. Lave surrendered to police 2 days later after he rented a Cadillac and drove to New Orleans, where he was told by a friend that he was a suspect in the Richardson slayings. Lave was tried for the murder of Marquart. A police sergeant took the stand at Lave's trial and  testified that Bates told him that, on the night of the crime, he and Langston went to the sporting goods store and met with Lave. Langston gave Lave a gun and the two of them went to the front and broke in. Bates waited in the back until his accomplices allowed him to enter. Bates had told him that while waiting in the hallway he saw Lave in a room with Langston and that Langston was striking one of the victims with a hammer. When Bates saw this, he went outside to the back of the store and waited for his accomplices. Eventually, Lave, with Langston, emerged from the back carrying the knife and drove off with the money. Lave did not testify. At the end of the trial, the jury convicted Lave for the murder of Marquart, under Texas’ law of the parties, and sentenced him to death.

John Spirko was sentenced to die in 1984 for the murder of Elgin postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger. Spirko claims that the state's case against him was weakened when charges against his co-defendant were dropped last year. He also says prosecutors withheld key evidence and presented a false case. An important element of the Van Wert County prosecutor's case was a witness who said she recognized co-defendant Delaney Gibson, a friend of Spirko, near the Elgin post office the day that Betty Mottinger disappeared. No physical evidence tied Spirko to the murder. He was convicted of the killing based largely on his statements to police and the testimony of the eyewitness who said she had seen Gibson near the post office. Prosecutors had alleged that Spirko participated in the kidnapping and killing of Mottinger with Gibson. Prosecutors never told the jury or defense that they had evidence before the trial that Gibson was with family in North Carolina, hundreds of miles from Elgin, the night before the crime. Recently, Spirko's lawyers said evidence had surfaced that a key investigator told the prosecutor before the 1984 trial that Gibson wasn't involved in the murder, but that the prosecutor used the Gibson allegations against Spirko anyway. The prosecutor has denied this. Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge James Carr of Toledo authorized Spirko's lawyers to investigate that evidence further. Gibson was never tried in the Mottinger case. Capital murder charges against him were dismissed last year. Spirko, born in Toledo, was paroled in Kentucky in 1982 for a separate murder. He returned to Swanton to live with his sister. He was soon jailed there on an unrelated assault charge, a parole violation. Spirko's attorneys argued he is sitting on death row because he lied to investigators about having information about the unsolved Mottinger murder. Spirko has maintained he wanted to trade false information for leniency for himself on the assault charge as well as for his girlfriend, who had been charged with helping him to attempt a prison escape. Although investigators dismissed much of what he told them, they latched onto Spirko's connection with Gibson and several details they said could come only from the killer. These details included: 1) the location of the stab wounds in Betty’s body; 2) a description of Betty Mottinger’s clothing; 3) knowledge that a stone had been pried from a ring worn by Betty Mottinger; 4) a description of the ring; 5) the type of shroud and specific method used to enwrap Betty Mottinger’s body after her death; 6) a description of Betty Mottinger’s purse into which the perpetrators placed the fruits of the Post Office robbery; and 7) a description of what was stolen in that robbery. On October 28, 2004 and November 16, 2004, Spirko filed an application for DNA testing in the trial court. Spirko requested DNA testing on “blood or other evidence received from the person of the deceased, Betty Mottinger, or from physical evidence recovered from the area where the body was discovered including blood evidence on tarp and boots.” On March 10, 2005, the trial court denied Spirko’s request for DNA testing. In doing so, the trial court noted the following: 1) There was no biological material found at the site of the abduction; 2) At trial it was never claimed that any of the blood found on or in the area of the victim’s remains was Spirko’s; and 3) As to the boots, it was conceded by the prosecution at trial that it could have been Spirko’s blood on the boots. Thus, the trial court concluded that DNA testing could not exonerate Spirko. In September 2005, Gov. Bob Taft delayed Spirko's execution to allow for a second parole board hearing. Taft ordered the execution delayed from Sept. 20 until Nov. 15 to allow for the hearing. In November 2005, Taft granted John Spirko a 60-day reprieve at the request of Attorney General Jim Petro, who said he needed that long to test several items that Spirko's attorneys wanted reviewed. Spirko received other execution dates in January 2006, November 2006, and April 2007 and each time received a stay. UPDATE: John Spirko's execution has been stayed yet again, and rescheduled for January 24, 2008.

At approximately 1:30 am on March 16, 1993, Scott Stobaugh, a college student, was washing clothes at the Funwash Laundromat on West Markham street in Little Rock. An assailant, in an apparent robbery attempt, shot Stobaugh seven times in the back at close range with a .22-caliber pistol, causing his death. A surveillance camera captured a portion of the incident on videotape. The videotape showed the assailant and Stobaugh as Stobaugh raised his hands. Nooner took $20 and a checkbook. Two witnesses identified the person on the Laundromat video as Terrick Terrell Nooner, by clothing and appearance. Other testimony and ballistics evidence tied Nooner to the murder weapon. A Pulaski County Circuit Court jury convicted Nooner of capital murder. During the penalty phase of his trial, the jury heard testimony from several witnesses, including Stobaugh’s mother, who described the impact of Scot’s death on his family. The jury also heard mitigation testimony from Nooner’s stepfather. The jury found two aggravating circumstances (that Nooner had previously committed another felony, an element of which was the use or threat of violence, and that the murder was committed for pecuniary gain) and no mitigating circumstances. Nooner was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder. Nooner's co-defendant, Robert Rockett, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the slaying and was sentenced to 65 years in prison. He is also serving a life sentence without parole for a separate murder conviction. UPDATE: A federal judge has issued a stay in an execution scheduled next week for an Arkansas death-row inmate convicted of killing a university student at a coin-operated laundry in 1993. Judge J. Leon Holmes issued the stay for inmate Terrick Nooner, who faced a September 18 execution date. The stay comes after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled last month that a request for mental-health professionals to examine Nooner should be reconsidered in court. Lawyers for Nooner have argued their request for the mental examinations was not an appeal of his original conviction in Pulaski County court. Instead, the lawyers say, it was an attempt to get examinations the Arkansas Department of Correction has denied over the last year and a half. Since his incarceration, Nooner has made a number of rambling legal filings and statements about people poisoning his food, sexually assaulting him, performing witchcraft and "shooting up my blood" with drugs and poisons. Julie Brain, a federal public defender for Nooner, declined to comment on the judge's stay.

A Fayette County jury found him guilty of breaking into a mobile home and gunning down Larry A. Bobish, Sr., 50, Joanna Marian Bobish, 42, and Krystal Leigh Bobish, 17, on April 14, 2002. The jury returned three first-degree murder convictions and one second-degree murder conviction for death of Krystal Bobish's unborn child, which was at 28 weeks' gestation. The jury also found the defendant guilty of arson and attempting to kill the Bobish's 12-year-old son, Larry Bobish, Jr., a key witness to the shootings. The boy survived gunshot wounds to the hand and head and a stab wound to the neck. He testified that he played dead and only fled when he realized the house was on fire. Witnesses testified that Edwards shot the Bobish family to avoid a drug debt. Two days before the murders, Edwards and a friend reportedly stole six bottles of a street drug called "wet" -- cigarettes dipped in formaldehyde mixed with PCP -- from Larry Bobish, Sr. at gunpoint. Larry Bobish repeatedly paged Edwards, seeking payment for the drugs, and threatened to call police. Two witnesses testified they heard Edwards say that he planned to kill the Bobish family. When interviewed by police, Edwards waived his Miranda rights. He stated that he killed the parents but did not recall shooting the son and daughter.  

Clifford Kimmel and another man, Derek Murphy, were arrested for the April 1999 fatal stabbings of Rachel White and Susan Halverstadt, both 22 and dancers at a topless bar, and Brett Roe, 29. Their bodies were found in a San Antonio apartment. Kimmel, who had a previous burglary conviction, was arrested about six weeks later for a parole violation and confessed to police. Court records show he and Murphy injected two of their victims with the cleaner Tilex to drug them before they robbed them. Kimmel pleaded guilty to capital murder, and a jury decided he should be executed. A defense psychiatrist testified at his trial the Kimmel, now 31, had been a heavy user of methamphetamines since he was 13 or 14. Kimmel's companion, Murphy, is serving a life prison term for his role in the slayings.

Marguerite Lucille Dixon was the mother of 7 grown children and a registered nurse living in Hockley, Texas when Michael Richard was paroled from prison.  On August 18, 1986, Richard approached Marguerite's son outside her home and asked if a van that was parked in the driveway was for sale. When the son told Richard that the van was not for sale, Richard left but watched the home until he saw Marguerite's son and daughter leave a short time later. Richard returned to Marguerite's house and forced his way in. He forced  Marguerite into a bedroom where he sexually assaulted her before shooting  her in the head with a 25-caliber pistol. After the rape and murder, Richard stole two televisions and the van. He later traded the murder weapon for cocaine. His fingerprint was found on a sliding glass door in Marguerite's home. Richard later confessed to the murder but claimed the gun discharged accidentally. Prior to murder, Richards had served just over half of a six year sentence for burglary and was returned to prison less than four years later with a five-year sentence for auto-theft, theft and forgery. He served less than 18 months before being released on mandatory release on June 23, 1986, just two months before murdering Marguerite Dixon.

Ralph Baze, Jr. was convicted of the 1992 murders of Sheriff Steven Bennett and Deputy Sheriff Arthur Briscoe, whom he shot in the back when they attempted to arrest him pursuant to an outstanding Ohio multiple-felony arrest warrant. Ralph Baze lived in Powell County, Kentucky, in a mountain hollow known as Little Hardwick’s Creek, with his wife. Some of his other relatives lived on another ridge of the same mountain. His cabin was at the end of gravel road, heavily wooded on both sides, approximately 1,000 feet up the mountain, in a small clearing that made maneuvering a vehicle very difficult. By January 1992, the time of the shootings, Baze was a twice-convicted felon and was wanted in Ohio for felonious assault of a police officer, jumping bail, receiving stolen property, and flagrant non-support. On January 15, 1992, authorities from the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office in Toledo, Ohio notified the Powell County authorities that they wished to extradite Baze on the felony counts. At that time, Baze was in Ohio, and his wife, Becky Baze, informed the police that she did not know where he was when they came to arrest her husband in mid-January. She then phoned Baze to warn him that the police were looking for him. Baze left Ohio for Michigan, where he bought a SKS assault rifle and ammunition, which he ultimately used to kill the two police officers. Baze returned to his brother-in-law’s house in nearby Bath County, Kentucky, on January 28 and decided to move to Florida. He returned to his cabin on January 30 with his wife, and his siblings-in-law, Wesley and Sophie McCarty, intending to hold a yard sale to lighten their load and then to leave for Florida that evening. Deputy Sheriff Briscoe heard that Baze was back in town and proceeded to Baze’s cabin to arrest him. When Briscoe arrived, Baze was inside; however, he could hear Briscoe announce his intention to Becky to arrest her husband. While Briscoe returned to his cruiser, Baze left the cabin through a trapdoor in the bedroom floor, retrieved his SKS assault rifle from behind the cabin, and then walked around the cabin to inform Briscoe that he would not allow himself to be arrested. Wesley McCarty intervened to avoid a confrontation, during which Briscoe put his hand on or near his holster. Becky grabbed Briscoe’s arm, and Baze used the opportunity to leave the immediate area. Briscoe then left in his cruiser to recruit additional officers to effect the arrest. Baze used the interim to gather his personal belongings, and 98 rounds of ammunition, and went uphill into the woods. He later told the Louisville Courier-Journal that he circled around to hide behind a stump behind the spot where the police would have to leave their cars. Deputy Briscoe arrived back first, followed by Sheriff Bennett. Both got out of their cruisers with their guns out and they came together on the rear driver’s side of Bennett’s cruiser. Baze’s wife Becky was yelling at them from the porch of the cabin, so
that when they turned to engage her, they had their backs to the woods where Baze was hiding. All agree that at that moment gunfire began. Baze testified that he moved out from behind a large stump and brush pile, unarmed, intending to surrender, but that Briscoe shot him in the leg with a pistol. Wesley and Sophie McCarty supported Baze’s version by testifying that Baze stood up without a gun. In contrast, Baze’s son-in-law, Greg Profitt, who was also at the house, testified that Baze shot first, but he admitted that he could not distinguish between rifle and pistol fire. Becky Baze also testified that Baze shot first, causing Bennett to turn his head back to his right to see where the gunfire was coming from. The policemen who were driving up the road to lend support testified that the first 6-10 shots they heard were rifle fire. Briscoe and Bennett then turned to face the woods and took cover behind the police cruiser on the driver’s side, with Briscoe shooting over the hood and Bennett over the trunk. For reasons that are unclear, Bennett moved around the rear of the cruiser and opened the back passenger door as if to get into the back seat, in fact crossing directly into Baze’s line of fire. Thereupon, Baze shot him three times in the back. Baze then started to walk down the hill towards Briscoe, who continued to shoot at Baze over the hood of the police cruiser until he ran out of ammunition, and Baze was too close to give him time to reload. Briscoe then turned to attempt to escape and, after he had gone about ten feet, Baze shot him twice in the back. Wesley McCarty described Briscoe as “staggering away” before he fell on his face. Baze then approached the fallen officer and, allegedly thinking that he might be reaching for his gun, shot Briscoe in the head at pointblank range. Baze then picked up the weapons and ammunition and fled on foot to adjoining Estill County. He surrendered without incident at 8 p.m. that evening at the home of the former Estill County Sheriff, where he received his Miranda warnings. Upon overhearing a query over the radio as to whether the arresting officer had the correct suspect, Baze responded: “You tell them that you got the right man. I’m the one that killed them son-ofa-bitches.” Baze was tried in Rowan County, convicted, and sentenced to death in February 1994 for shooting the officers.

Carlton Akee Turner was a 19-year-old on August 8, 1998 when he killed his adoptive parents in their suburban Dallas home and put their bodies in the garage. Each of the victims was shot several times in the head and Turner dragged their bodies through the house and dumped them in the garage. After the murders, Turner went shopping with his parents' cash and credit cards, buying new clothes and jewelry and forging a check on their personal account. He continued to live in the family home for three days while his parent's decomposed in the garage in the hot Texas summer. The family had lived in the neighborhood for less than a year, but neighbors realized something was wrong and called police to say they had not seen the couple for several days and had observed Turner acting strangely and driving his parents' cars, which they did not allow. Turner was arrested at his home on outstanding warrants for traffic violations. He had marijuana on his person when arrested. Police found the parents' bodies in the garage and found enough evidence to allow them to charge the son with their murders. Turner testified at trial that he shot his father in self-defense. This self-defense theory contradicted Turner's pretrial statements in newspaper and television interviews that he had nothing to do with the murders. Turner offered no explanation at trial for killing his mother, saying he could not recall. He testified that he felt nothing when he killed his parents. Turner has a long history of violence and other inappropriate behavior. Turner claimed that a history of parental abuse largely explains his violent behavior. Neighbors of the couple believed that Turner killed his parents because they were being strict with him after he was convicted of a robbery charge and received three  years' probation.

On February 1, 1982, at 9:12 A.M., police officers were called to the residence of Mary Jewel “Judy” Wicker and Troy Wicker in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The officers found Troy murdered in his bed; his wife, Judy Wicker, lying on the floor with traces of blood on her face; and her sister, Teresa Rowland kneeling beside her. The investigators found four .22-caliber expended cartridge cases on the bed. An autopsy revealed that Troy’s death was caused by a close range wound through his right eye from a .22-caliber long rifle bullet which severed his brain stem. Wicker told the investigators that, after she had dropped her children off at school, she had returned to find an African American man in her home. She said that the man raped her, knocked her unconscious, and shot Troy. Wicker was subsequently charged and convicted of murdering Troy to collect insurance proceeds, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Some time after Wicker’s conviction, the prosecuting district attorney appeared before the parole board to inquire about the possibility of an early release in exchange for Wicker’s testimony against Arthur. Wicker’s daughter, Tina Jenkins, retained attorney Gary Alverson to appear at this meeting on her behalf. Alverson was later hired as a state prosecutor. In 1991, during Arthur’s trial for Troy’s murder, Alverson represented the state and Wicker testified as the prosecution’s main witness. She explained that she had known Arthur since they were both young and worked at Tidwell Homes. She revealed that she, Rowland, and Rowland’s boyfriend, Theron McKinney had discussed killing Troy beginning in early 1981. Wicker explained that Troy was physically violent with her, and that Rowland and Troy often argued when Troy threatened to turn Rowland in to the police for the arson on her home which he had committed for her. Wicker recalled that she received a telephone call from Arthur in November 1981 in which he told her that he had been “hired to do the job . . . to kill her husband.” She saw him the next week and began a sexual relationship with him. At that time, Arthur was residing at the Decatur Work Release Center and was assigned to work at Reagin Mobile Homes. Wicker testified that she knew that the murder was to take place on February 1, 1982, and that she had agreed to tell the police that her home was burglarized and that her husband was murdered by an African American man. She explained that, on the day of the murder, she met Rowland and Arthur at the airport. She stated that Arthur, who had been drinking and was carrying a gun and a garbage bag, had painted his face black and put on an Afro wig and black gloves. She testified that Arthur got into her car and, while driving him to her house, she urged him not to kill Troy. She stated that, after they arrived at her house, she heard a shot and that Arthur then struck her, knocked out several of her teeth, and lacerated her lip. Wicker admitted that, after she collected $90,000 in insurance proceeds from Troy’s death, she paid Arthur $10,000, paid Rowland $6,000, and gave McKinney jewelry and a car for their assistance in the murder. She also admitted that she continued her relationship with Arthur after the murder. Wicker’s testimony was corroborated by other witnesses and evidence. Muscle Shoals Police Sergeant Eddie Lang testified that, while he was working at a school crossing about 7:40 A.M. on February 1, he observed Wicker driving east toward the airport and, about 10 minutes later, returning toward her house. He did not see anyone in the car with her during either trip. The work release facility’s records for the day of the murder showed that Arthur had signed out of work release at 6:00 A.M. and had not returned until 7:50 P.M. Joel Reagin, the owner of Reagin Mobile Homes, was unable to say whether Arthur was at work on the day of the murder. He remembered, however, having seen Wicker and Arthur together at Reagin Mobile Homes while Arthur was working there. Patricia Yarborough Green, a waitress at Cher’s Lounge, testified that, on January 31, 1981, the day before the murder, Arthur asked her to send a friend to purchase .22-caliber Mini-Mag long rifle bullets for him and gave her $10 for the purchase. She said that, while they were waiting for the friend to return with the bullets, Arthur told her that they would be used to kill someone. She gave the bullets to Arthur when she received them. Debra Lynn Phillips Tynes, the manager of Cher’s, went to lunch with Arthur on the day of the murder. While they were out, Arthur drove to a bridge over the Tennessee River, stopped the car, and dropped a black garbage bag into the river. She said that he explained to her that he wanted to get rid of some old memories. On the day of the murder, Wicker’s automobile was found in the parking lot at Northwest Junior College in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Inside the car, officers found Wicker’s purse and an Afro wig; the inside of the wig contained no human hairs. In March 1982, officials at the work release center discovered a discrepancy between the amount of time that Arthur had logged as being at work and the amount of money that he had been paid for that work, and transferred him to the county jail pending investigation. After he left the work release center, his personal belongings at the work release center were inventoried and a Reagin Mobile Homes envelope containing $2000 was discovered. In April 1982, Arthur was interviewed by a Muscle Shoals Police Department detective and denied knowing anything about Troy’s homicide or knowing Wicker or Rowland. When the officer confronted Arthur with contrary information, Arthur asked to see an attorney and refused to make any further comments. Arthur was indicted and charged with intentionally murdering Troy by shooting him with a pistol after having been convicted of second degree murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982. UPDATE: Gov. Bob Riley stayed the execution of a contract killer Thursday, hours before it was to have been carried out, so the inmate could be put to death using a new lethal injection formula the governor had ordered just a day earlier. Riley said he issued the 45-day stay of Tommy Arthur's execution only to allow time for the new lethal-injection procedures to be put in place. The changes are designed to make sure the inmate is unconscious when given drugs to stop the heart and lungs. Riley said evidence is "overwhelming" that Arthur is guilty "and he will be executed for his crime." The governor encouraged the attorney general's office to ask the Alabama Supreme Court to set another execution date "as soon as possible." Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw said the request would be filed with the court Friday.