AP - Florida Prepares for Thursday Execution
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Steve Hall
Nov 13, 2014, 12:31:35 PM11/13/14
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http://www.theledger.com/article/20141112/NEWS/141119801/1374?Title=Executio
n-Set-Today-for-Man-Who-Killed-Wife-Stepdaughter
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at 10:33 p.m. | via Lakeland Ledger
Execution Set Today for Man Who Killed Wife, Stepdaughter
20th death warrant to be served under Governor Rick Scott
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE | A Florida Panhandle man is set to be executed today for raping
and murdering his 10-year-old stepdaughter 22 years ago, just minutes after
he killed her mother.
Enlarge |
Chadwick Banks, 43, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in
Starke for the 1992 slaying of Melody Cooper, who was found on her knees,
naked from the waist down, and her body slumped on her bed at a Gadsden
County home. The body of her mother, Cassandra Banks, was nearby.
Banks, who was 21 at the time, is serving a life sentence for his wife's
murder. It would be the 20th execution carried out since Gov. Rick Scott
took office in 2011, one fewer than under Jeb Bush, who presided over the
most executions since capital punishment was reinstated in the state in
1979. Bush was governor for two terms, while Scott, who was re-elected last
week, is finishing his first.
"Maybe the most solemn duty is capital punishment. I take it very
seriously," Scott said. "I think about the victims. I think about their
families. It's what I think about. I'm going to continue to do the job that
I committed to do."
Most of the 19 people executed have been the perpetrators of some of the
most horrific cases Florida's seen, and many of them left no doubt that the
condemned committed the crime. That includes David Alan Gore, a serial
killer who raped and dismembered his victims and was caught with the body of
a teenage girl in his car trunk and a live girl bound in his parents' attic.
Like Gore, Banks admitted to his crime.
Banks' attorneys have asked the federal courts to intervene, arguing that
Florida's lethal injection process violates the ban on cruel and unusual
punishment and that he received ineffective legal counsel. His lawyer, Terri
Backhus, didn't return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young was an officer with the Quincy Police
Department in 1992 when he got word of a double murder a few blocks outside
the city line.
He and others responded to the trailer where the bodies of Cassandra Banks
and Melody were found, both killed by gunshot wounds to the head.
"It was one of those gruesome things that happened in the community that had
everyone in shock. It was a small town and a huge case," Young said this
week.
Banks was drinking and playing pool at a neighborhood bar the night of the
slayings. His wife left the bar and went to their home late that night.
Banks left less than an hour later and went into their trailer and found his
wife asleep. Without waking her, he shot her point-blank in the head, then
went to his stepdaughter's room.
After his arrest, he told investigators he had "spanked" Melody and molested
her for about 20 minutes, but she didn't resist or try to get away. Evidence
showed the assault was much more violent. Banks' blood was found under
Melody's fingernails and on her pillow, and she had a bruise and cut on her
face. She had been sodomized, and Banks' DNA was found inside her.
Forensic experts testified that given the position of her body, and that it
had not moved after the shot was fired, Banks had to pull her head far back
in order to fire the gun through the top of her skull.
Young spoke with Chadwick Banks' father, Dennis, and Cassandra Banks' mother
on Monday. He said both families accept the execution.
"As sheriff, now I stand with both sides of the family," said Young, who
added he has known Banks' parents for years. Dennis Banks was a longtime
corrections officer and ran a security company.
"He and his wife are true believers in God, and they've turned this over to
him," Young said, adding that the Bankses have visited their son in prison
and have prayed with him. "Their son turned his life over to God."
/ / / / /
Steve Hall
The StandDown Texas Project
PO Box 13475
Austin, TX 78711
512.879.1675 (o
512.627.3011 (m
Skype: shall78711
www.StandDown.org
sh...@standdown.org
@standdown_tx
@steve_hall
n-Set-Today-for-Man-Who-Killed-Wife-Stepdaughter
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at 10:33 p.m. | via Lakeland Ledger
Execution Set Today for Man Who Killed Wife, Stepdaughter
20th death warrant to be served under Governor Rick Scott
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE | A Florida Panhandle man is set to be executed today for raping
and murdering his 10-year-old stepdaughter 22 years ago, just minutes after
he killed her mother.
Enlarge |
Chadwick Banks, 43, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in
Starke for the 1992 slaying of Melody Cooper, who was found on her knees,
naked from the waist down, and her body slumped on her bed at a Gadsden
County home. The body of her mother, Cassandra Banks, was nearby.
Banks, who was 21 at the time, is serving a life sentence for his wife's
murder. It would be the 20th execution carried out since Gov. Rick Scott
took office in 2011, one fewer than under Jeb Bush, who presided over the
most executions since capital punishment was reinstated in the state in
1979. Bush was governor for two terms, while Scott, who was re-elected last
week, is finishing his first.
"Maybe the most solemn duty is capital punishment. I take it very
seriously," Scott said. "I think about the victims. I think about their
families. It's what I think about. I'm going to continue to do the job that
I committed to do."
Most of the 19 people executed have been the perpetrators of some of the
most horrific cases Florida's seen, and many of them left no doubt that the
condemned committed the crime. That includes David Alan Gore, a serial
killer who raped and dismembered his victims and was caught with the body of
a teenage girl in his car trunk and a live girl bound in his parents' attic.
Like Gore, Banks admitted to his crime.
Banks' attorneys have asked the federal courts to intervene, arguing that
Florida's lethal injection process violates the ban on cruel and unusual
punishment and that he received ineffective legal counsel. His lawyer, Terri
Backhus, didn't return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young was an officer with the Quincy Police
Department in 1992 when he got word of a double murder a few blocks outside
the city line.
He and others responded to the trailer where the bodies of Cassandra Banks
and Melody were found, both killed by gunshot wounds to the head.
"It was one of those gruesome things that happened in the community that had
everyone in shock. It was a small town and a huge case," Young said this
week.
Banks was drinking and playing pool at a neighborhood bar the night of the
slayings. His wife left the bar and went to their home late that night.
Banks left less than an hour later and went into their trailer and found his
wife asleep. Without waking her, he shot her point-blank in the head, then
went to his stepdaughter's room.
After his arrest, he told investigators he had "spanked" Melody and molested
her for about 20 minutes, but she didn't resist or try to get away. Evidence
showed the assault was much more violent. Banks' blood was found under
Melody's fingernails and on her pillow, and she had a bruise and cut on her
face. She had been sodomized, and Banks' DNA was found inside her.
Forensic experts testified that given the position of her body, and that it
had not moved after the shot was fired, Banks had to pull her head far back
in order to fire the gun through the top of her skull.
Young spoke with Chadwick Banks' father, Dennis, and Cassandra Banks' mother
on Monday. He said both families accept the execution.
"As sheriff, now I stand with both sides of the family," said Young, who
added he has known Banks' parents for years. Dennis Banks was a longtime
corrections officer and ran a security company.
"He and his wife are true believers in God, and they've turned this over to
him," Young said, adding that the Bankses have visited their son in prison
and have prayed with him. "Their son turned his life over to God."
/ / / / /
Steve Hall
The StandDown Texas Project
PO Box 13475
Austin, TX 78711
512.879.1675 (o
512.627.3011 (m
Skype: shall78711
www.StandDown.org
sh...@standdown.org
@standdown_tx
@steve_hall
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