Texas, Utah Execute Killers
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Texas, Utah Execute Killers
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A man who nicknamed himself ``Animal'' was
executed by
injection Thursday for the rape and slaying of an 18-year-old high
school
cheerleader, one of three people killed during a daylong murder spree in
1986.
Jerry McFadden, 51, made no final statement.
The mother of victim Suzanne Denise Harrison burst into tears as she
entered
the death chamber, crying, ``He looked at me.'' She turned away and
said, ``He
took our children.''
The victim's brother, Craig Harrison, got as close to the window as he
could to
see McFadden gasp and sputter twice. ``He's gutless,'' Harrison said of
McFadden.
The discovery of the three victims from Hawkins, about 100 miles east of
Dallas, and subsequent arrest of McFadden, on parole after three rape
convictions, made the former telephone cable installer one of the
region's most
notorious criminals.
The long-haired, tattoo-covered McFadden enhanced the reputation when he
broke
out of the Upshur County Jail before his capital murder trial. He took a
female
jailer hostage and for three days evaded one of the most intense
manhunts in
Texas history. A dragnet involved some 1,200 officers before McFadden
was
caught.
The jailer managed to escape unhurt from a railroad boxcar.
McFadden was condemned for raping and beating Ms. Harrison, then
strangling her
with her own underwear. Two friends who accompanied her on May 4, 1986,
for a
Sunday drive were shot to death.
McFadden never was charged with the other killings.
In Utah early Friday, 35-year-old Joseph Mitchell Parsons was executed
by
injection for fatally stabbing Richard Ernest in 1987.
Prosecutors said Ernest was killed and robbed hours after he picked up a
hitchhiking Parsons.
The suspect said he stabbed Ernest in self-defense after the other man
made a
homosexual advance, but prosecutors said the wounds appeared to have
been
inflicted while Ernest was sleeping.
AP-NY-10-15-99
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of yesterday's Associated Press news
wire:
Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999
`Animal' McFadden executed for one of three East Texas murders
By Michael Graczyk
Associated Press
HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Convicted killer Jerry McFadden was executed
Thursday for
the rape-slaying of an 18-year-old northeast Texas woman, one of three
people
killed during a daylong murder spree in 1986.
McFadden, who nicknamed himself "Animal," made no final statement. He
was
pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m., eight minutes after the flow of lethal
drugs
began.
One of needles in McFadden's right arm was placed just above a large
tattoo of
a satanic face.
The mother of victim Suzanne Denise Harrison burst into tears as she
entered
the death chamber, crying out, "He looked at me." Then she turned away
and
said, "He took our children."
The victim's brother, Craig Harrison, got as close to the window as he
could to
see McFadden gasp and sputter twice. Then he remarked, "He's gutless,"
and
called him an obscenity.
Immediately after McFadden stopped breathing, Harrison said, "It's done.
I'm
ready to go home."
"We settled the bill today," Harrison told reporters later. "And he has
paid
for it with his life. . . . It was way overdue."
T.J. Harrison, the victim's father, said, "The punishment has fit the
crime. It
is not revenge, it is not retaliation, it is not feeling but a just
payment."
With other members of his family wiping away tears, T.J. Harrison said
he
thought of his daughter every day, but missed most the prospect of
"holding her
babies in my arms . . . (and) all the Father's Days without her
planning."
The discovery of the three victims from Hawkins, in Wood County about
100 miles
east of Dallas, and subsequent arrest of McFadden, on parole after three
rape
convictions, made the former telephone cable installer one of the
region's most
notorious criminals.
The burly, long-haired, tattoo-covered McFadden enhanced the reputation
when he
broke out of the Upshur County Jail before his capital murder trial. He
took a
female jailer hostage and for three days evaded one of the most intense
manhunts in Texas history. A dragnet involved some 1,200 officers before
McFadden was caught.
"He was a very intimidating presence, a very large man, tattoos, a scary
presence," said Stephen Tokoly, a special prosecutor appointed by
then-Gov.
Bill Clements to handle the murder case.
Tokoly, then in private practice, was a former assistant district
attorney in
Dallas County, where for 11 years he handled some 50 murder cases, 13 of
them
capital crimes.
"He was one of the most . . . serious individuals I ever prosecuted,"
Tokoly
said. "I'm not happy when a person is or is going to be executed. I
don't
relish that in any way, form or manner. But I feel this case was so
serious
that I'm glad it's going to reach a closing."
McFadden's lethal injection was the second in three days in Texas and
the
second of four set for this month. His death brings to 27 the number of
convicted killers executed in Texas this year.
In his last appeals, McFadden, 51, contended prospective jurors
improperly were
dismissed from consideration for his trial panel because they opposed
the death
penalty.
McFadden was condemned for raping and beating Ms. Harrison, a high
school
cheerleader, then strangling her with her own underwear. Two friends who
accompanied her on May 4, 1986, for a Sunday drive around Lake Hawkins
in Wood
County were shot to death.
Ms. Harrison's body was discovered the next day on a mountaintop
roadside park
east of Gilmer in neighboring Upshur County. The decomposing bodies of
her
friends, Gina Turner, 20, and Bryan Boone, 19, were found five days
later in a
ditch off a farm road near Ore City about 15 miles to the northeast. All
were
from Hawkins, where Ms. Turner had been her high school class
valedictorian and
Boone captain of the football team.
McFadden, who failed to get beyond the seventh grade, never was charged
with
the other killings, although evidence related to their deaths was
introduced at
his trial for Ms. Harrison's murder. He was arrested in Wood County on
May 6
after witnesses told police they saw one of the victims riding in
McFadden's
truck the evening of the murders.
"They were wonderful kids from wonderful families," said Bell County
District
Attorney Arthur Eads, who worked with Tokoly on the case.
The trial was moved to Bell County, where a jury deliberated only 35
minutes
before returning the death sentence.
"While the evidence was to a large extent circumstantial, when it all
was
presented, it was overwhelming," Tokoly said.
McFadden, whose upper body prominently featured tattoos of winged
creatures and
ghoulish figures, was on parole after a third rape conviction and was
under
arrest for armed robbery when he was charged with Ms. Harrison's murder.
Among
his tattoos was an inscription over his right breast area: "Death before
dishonor for the Lonesome Loser."
Defense attorneys contended McFadden's criminal past made him a likely
and
unfair target.
In 1972, he pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl in Denton. A
year
later, he pleaded guilty to raping a junior high school teacher in
Haskell,
where he grew up. In 1978, he went on a daylong rampage through West
Texas,
taking an 18-year-old secretary hostage and raping her. In each case he
was
released or paroled before serving his full term, with the last parole
in July
1985.
"That was very bothersome to me at the time," Tokoly said. "The parole
system
was different than it is now. It was much more lenient."
During his jailbreak, he held a female jailer hostage for 28 hours
before she
managed to escape unhurt from a railroad boxcar.
He did not testify at his trial and declined requests for interviews
while on
death row.
Distributed by The Associated Press (AP)
----------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 10/14/99 online edition of The
Dallas
Morning News newspaper:
Execution set tonight for Texan
Rapes, escape brought notoriety to 'Animal'
10/14/99
By Diane Jennings / The Dallas Morning News
Jerry "Animal" McFadden, whose trail of rape and murder helped spark the
anti-parole movement in Texas, was scheduled for execution Thursday
evening.
Mr. McFadden, 51, is one of the state's most infamous murderers and sex
offenders, a three-time rapist believed to have committed a triple
murder while
on parole in 1986. He gained national notoriety when he escaped while
awaiting
trial and took a jailer hostage, resulting in a huge manhunt.
"If there ever was a poster boy for a system gone wrong, McFadden is
it," said
Dianne Clements, president of Justice for All, a Houston-based victims'
rights
group. The McFadden case was "the beginning of people saying enough was
enough,
and if we had to build more prisons, then we don't care what it costs,"
she
said.
Mr. McFadden is scheduled to die by lethal injection in the state's
death
chamber in Huntsville after 6 p.m. Thursday. An appeal is pending before
the
U.S. Supreme Court.
He was sentenced to death in 1987 for the slaying of Suzanne Harrison,
18, of
Hawkins the year before. Ms. Harrison had gone swimming at Lake Hawkins
with
friends Gena Turner, 20, and Bryan Boone, 19, who were also killed.
Though he
was never tried for those deaths, Mr. McFadden was suspected of the
slayings.
"I want him dead," said Ms. Turner's father, Calvin, who was planning to
witness the execution. "And I've been wanting him dead for a long time.
. . .
Thirteen years, five months is too long."
Mary Ann Harrison Hester, mother of Suzanne Harrison, also plans to
watch the
execution. "My daughter didn't have a chance to live," she said, her
voice
breaking. "She didn't have a choice to have another day, so he needs to
pay."
The McFadden case was "a heinous crime," said Arthur "Cappy" Eads,
district
attorney in Bell County, where the trial was held on a change of venue.
"It was
one that greatly rattled an East Texas community [with] wonderful kids
that
were victims."
At the time of the slaying, Mr. McFadden was already a three-time
convict. The
former oilfield worker had pleaded guilty to the 1972 rape of a
14-year-old
girl in Denton, the 1973 rape of a teacher in Haskell and the 1978 rape
of a
secretary in Hamlin.
He was released from prison in 1985 to the Hawkins area, where he had
relatives. On May 4 of the following year, Ms. Harrison, Ms. Turner and
Mr.
Boone were reported missing. Ms. Harrison's body was found May 5; the
bodies of
the other two were found five days later.
Mr. McFadden was charged with the rape and slaying of Ms. Harrison.
The slayings and the discovery of Mr. McFadden's criminal record spurred
residents to petition the Legislature to pass laws keeping felons behind
bars
longer.
Helen Turner, mother of Gena Turner, remembers that strangers who helped
search
for the three victims scrawled notes to legislators on the back of the
missing-persons fliers.
The calls for harsher sentences intensified when Mr. McFadden escaped
from jail
before his trial, taking jailer Rosalie Williams hostage at gunpoint.
In a tape given to authorities, Ms. Williams quoted Mr. McFadden as
saying,
"Rosie, they're trying to give me the needle for something I didn't do.
I
didn't even know those three kids."
Ms. Williams escaped unharmed, and Mr. McFadden was recaptured two days
later.
He was charged with attempted capital murder, escape and aggravated
kidnapping
in connection with the escape attempt.
Mr. McFadden's defense attorney in the Harrison slaying, Vernard
Solomon, said
Wednesday that the state may "make a mistake" executing Mr. McFadden.
"Jerry has always denied any wrongdoing in regard to this event. He was
offered
a plea of guilty to life imprisonment and he rejected that. . . . He has
always
professed his innocence."
Jurors in Mr. McFadden's trial said they found the evidence - including
fingerprints, fiber and hair analysis - against him overwhelming and
took about
five minutes to find him guilty. The jury took about 35 minutes to
decide on
the death penalty.
Mr. McFadden's current attorney, Steven Losch, declined to comment.
After the McFadden case and crimes committed by other parolees, laws
ending
sentencing with mandatory early release were passed, as was legislation
increasing the rights of victims. For example, 13 years ago, victims'
families
were not able to witness executions.
Today "we do have a better system," Ms. Clements said. "We do take
public
safety into account and we built more prison beds to house offenders so
that
the revolving door won't take 'em in the front and let them out the
back."
Mrs. Turner, whose family left Hawkins shortly after the slayings
because of
painful reminders, said the hurt of losing her daughter will never go
away. But
she said she hoped the anxiety inflicted by Mr. McFadden's actions would
ease a
little after his execution.
"We will know that he will never be allowed to do this to anyone else,"
she
said.
Mr. McFadden had dubbed himself "Animal" and was known for the tattoos
that
decorate his upper body, including one stamped across his chest which
reads:
"Death before dishonor to the Lonesome Loser."
If the execution is held as scheduled, Mr. McFadden will be the 27th
inmate
executed in Texas this year. On Tuesday, the Death Penalty Information
Center
issued a report noting the record number of countries - 105 - that have
rejected the death penalty and the increasing number of international
pleas to
the U.S. to limit its use.
"By defying international agreements and turning a deaf ear to the
entreaties
of friends, the U.S. is increasingly positioning itself as a human
rights
violator," the organization said in a statement.