Georgia executes man for fatal beating in 1994

[webfact]

Georgia executes man for fatal beating in 1994
By KATE BRUMBACK

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — A man who was convicted of fatally beating another man to death after a night of drinking and drug use in 1994 was put to death late Thursday in Georgia.

Joshua Bishop, 41, received an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson, and Warden Bruce Chatman announced his time of death as 9:27 p.m. Bishop was convicted in the June 1994 killing of Leverett Morrison in Milledgeville.

Bishop apologized to the people of Baldwin County and Morrison's family.

"I'd like to also thank all the people who have stood by me," he said.

He mouthed messages to several of his supporters who witnessed the execution, including at least one of his attorneys. He also appeared to pray.

Earlier Thursday, Bishop received visits from 13 people, including friends, clergy members and lawyers, and ate a specially requested last meal that included a barbecue sandwich and Brunswick stew.

The State Board of Pardons and Paroles on Thursday denied his request for clemency after holding a hearing a day earlier. State courts and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeals and declined to halt the execution.

Bishop spent June 19, 1994, drinking and using drugs with Morrison and a third man, Mark Braxley, according to court records. The records show they drank at a bar that evening and then went to Braxley's trailer, where they continued to drink and use drugs.

Morrison fell asleep and Braxley decided he wanted to take Morrison's Jeep to visit his girlfriend and instructed Bishop to take his keys. Morrison woke up as Bishop was trying to take his keys from his pocket, and Bishop hit him over the head with a piece of a closet rod to knock him out, according to the court filings.

Bishop told investigators he and Braxley both beat Morrison and, once they realized he was dead, they dumped his body between two trash bins and burned his Jeep.

While in custody, Bishop told police he and Braxley also had killed another man, Ricky Willis, about two weeks earlier, also at Braxley's trailer. Bishop told police he repeatedly punched Willis after Willis bragged he had sexually assaulted Bishop's mother and then Braxley cut Willis' throat, killing him.

Bishop and Braxley were both charged with murder and armed robbery in Morrison's death. After a trial, a jury convicted Bishop and sentenced him to die. Braxley pleaded guilty and got life in prison with the possibility of parole.

While Bishop confessed to his involvement in both killings, his lawyers argue that Braxley, who was 36 at the time, was the instigator and exerted his influence over Bishop, who was 19.

Bishop's lawyers also have said he had an extremely rough childhood, with a mother who constantly drank and used drugs and had a weakness for abusive men who beat her and her sons. He bounced between foster families and group homes and was homeless at times, they said.

In a clemency petition, Bishop's lawyers also noted that he had taken responsibility and expressed remorse very quickly after Morrison's death. They said he became a man of deep faith in prison and had a positive influence on fellow inmates and others.

Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee, whose office investigated the killings of Morrison and Willis, acknowledged that Bishop had had a tough home life but said the slayings were very violent and that he believes Bishop was the primary aggressor. Massee said he also met this week with three of Morrison's children, who said they wanted Bishop to be executed.

-- 2016-04-01

[i claudius]

Should have done it in 1994 .

[Junkyarddog]

And this process only took 22 years.

[Goong Ying]

They said he became a man of deep faith in prison and had a positive influence on fellow inmates and others.

Except for the extreme difference of the offenses, the lengthy delays and the positive influence etc have a familiar ring to Andrew Chan's execution case in Indonesia. "God works in mysterious ways",

The justice wont bring back those whom Joshua Bishop and Mark Braxley killed.

Still sorry for the victims relatives even way back then. Tragic.

[neverdie]

Don't you just love how these a.holes find God and become so Saint like after they're sentenced to death.

Hopefully this low life grub has entered a tomb of never ending fire and suffering.

Rott in hell !

[smotherb]

And this process only took 22 years.

Yes, because the death penalty allows all appeals to prove innocence or faulty trail. If the appeals cannot change the verdict, the convicted is put to death.

Seems rather a reasonable, if expensive, way to ensure the conviction has been legal and justified.

[smotherb]

Should have done it in 1994 .

Ah, but then he would have been denied his right of appeal.

[Ulic]

And this process only took 22 years.

And a couple of million dollars in court/legal bills.

[F4UCorsair]

'Fatally beating another man to death' !!!

Journalist Kate Brumback should brush up on her journalistic skills.

How else could a fatal beating end other than death??

[hawker9000]

And this process only took 22 years.

Yes, because the death penalty allows all appeals to prove innocence or faulty trail. If the appeals cannot change the verdict, the convicted is put to death.

Seems rather a reasonable, if expensive, way to ensure the conviction has been legal and justified.

I don't get why those who sympathize with these creatures over their victims always try and hold up the long period of "waiting" as part of the "cruel & unusual" when it's DUE to the extensive appeals process. The process is there to give the convicted predator every possible, imaginable, conceivable, conjecturable scintilla of a chance to find any technicality that might save his life, not because the state added it to his death sentence! Possible/imaginable/conceivable/conjecturable takes time! I know some appeals are mandatory, but the convicted & condemned doesn't really HAVE to keep himself waiting 22 years if he doesn't want to...

[seadog57]

And this process only took 22 years.

And a couple of million dollars in court/legal bills.

question to ask as i know the answer in the uk would be the tax payer pays is it the same system in the USA?

[i claudius]

Should have done it in 1994 .

Ah, but then he would have been denied his right of appeal.

sorry your right ,1995

[crankshaft]

And this process only took 22 years.

And a couple of million dollars in court/legal bills.

And the lawyers win big time.....

[Basil B]

Do you not think those who smuggle and sell drugs are also also responsible for the crimes of their users???

[Goong Ying]

Don't you just love how these a.holes find God and become so Saint like after they're sentenced to death.

Hopefully this low life grub has entered a tomb of never ending fire and suffering.

Rott in hell

I asked a godly guy about this and he said; Google John chapter 3 verse16 (and some paragraphs before that.)

That's probably what these criminals are on about.

I noticed Andrew Chan was not so much Saint like, more like not afraid to die.

Shot by firing squad. Ghastly. The Georgia USA killer got it easy with an injection.

Funnily enough your nick name "never die" gets a mention in one verse there.

The Bali nine probably caused havoc in lives if they had previously got away with supplying drugs to others.

They aint now eh.

[neverdie]

Don't you just love how these a.holes find God and become so Saint like after they're sentenced to death.

Hopefully this low life grub has entered a tomb of never ending fire and suffering.

Rott in hell

I asked a godly guy about this and he said; Google John chapter 3 verse16 (and some paragraphs before that.)

That's probably what these criminals are on about.

I noticed Andrew Chan was not so much Saint like, more like not afraid to die.

Shot by firing squad. Ghastly. The Georgia USA killer got it easy with an injection.

Funnily enough your nick name "never die" gets a mention in one verse there.

The Bali nine probably caused havoc in lives if they had previously got away with supplying drugs to others.

They aint now eh.

It was a good day those little scum bags took one to the heart. Good riddance. Can't believe how Australians rallied around these two a.holes. All the participants in that heavy drug game are murders imo.

[hawker9000]

Do you not think those who smuggle and sell drugs are also also responsible for the crimes of their users???

They seem to commit enough crimes of their own, thank you very much ...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-staggering-death-toll-of-mexicos-drug-war/

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2012/03/drug-war-related-homicides-us-average-least-1100-year

If you wanted to propose the death penalty for drug smugglers & traffickers, I'd support it. They're vicious predators, too. Yes, yes, yes - I know I know - now you're going to preach to us about the mules who do it because they're "needy". Know what? If you're going to dance with the devil, you should expect to get burnt. (If I hand you a grenade and offer you $10K to throw it into a crowd, are you off the hook because you "needed the money"?)