Sean Flanagan was executed by the State of Nevada for two murders that took place days apart
According to court documents Sean Flanagan decided it was his duty to get rid of all homosexuals so he killed two gay men days apart in Las Vegas Sean Flanagan said his own homosexuality was the root of his evil
Sean Flanagan would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Sean Flanagan would be executed by lethal injection on June 23 1989
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When was Sean Flanagan executed
Sean Flanagan was executed on June 23 1989
How was Sean Flanagan executed
Sean Flanagan was executed by lethal injection
Sean Flanagan Case
Sean P. Flanagan, a male prostitute who turned to killing homosexuals, was executed by lethal injection early Friday, mouthing his last words, ‘I love you,’ to the prosecutor who convicted him of two murders.
Flanagan, 28, a former Marine, sang church hymns and read the Bible before being led to the execution room at Nevada State Prison, where he died from lethal injection 12 minutes after the drugs were administered at 2 a.m. PDT.
In the front row of witnesses to the execution was Deputy District Attorney Dan Seaton, who had prosecuted Flanagan for the killing of two homosexual men in Las Vegas.
Flanagan was strapped to a table but lifted his head to mouth the words ‘You are a just man’ to Seaton.
‘I love you,’ he said to Seaton.
Seaton said that Flanagan had asked him not to come to the execution, but the deputy district attorney said it was his duty to ‘observe the ultimate effects of prosecution.’
The prosecutor said Flanagan, a self-proclaimed ‘born-again’ Christian, would ‘kill more homosexuals if he ever got out.’
Seaton has put 12 people on death row and said he was not surprised by Flanagan’s dying remarks to him.
‘Flanagan may think he’s a Christian in his own mind,’ Seaton said. ‘My first thought as he was dying is that society is safe from him.’
Flanagan had confessed to strangling pianist James Lewandowski in October 1987 after he allegedly made homosexual advances in a motel room. Flanagan then cut up the body and dumped the parts in a trash container near the motel. Several days later he strangled Albert Duggins, a chef, saying Duggins deserved to die because he was a ‘faggot.’
Flanagan, of Dowagiac, Mich., had refused to make any appeals to stay his execution. But the American Civil Liberties Union, without his knowledge, filed a petition 11 hours before the execution asking Gov. Robert Miller for a reprieve.
ACLU lawyers said they wanted time to prepare a request for clemency.
Miller said that he did not have the power to grant the petition, and would not do so if he could. He said Flanagan was free to appeal to courts for a stay of execution.
On his final day Flanagan met with his parents and sister and the prison chaplain, Rev. Al Fry, and then read the Bible and sang hymns.
He refused a last meal and instead sipped soft drinks through the night.
About an hour before his execution he was given a depressant to prevent any resistance while the lethal drug was being administered. He was led handcuffed into the execution chambers by five prison guards, who strapped him to the padded table.
Eight witnesses, 12 members of the news media and two prison officials attended the execution.
Flanagan’s was the second execution at the prison this week. Convicted killer William P. Thompson, 51, was executed by lethal injection in the same room Monday.
Flanagan was the 10th person to be executed in the United States this year and the 114th person put to death since the Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976.
During court hearings in Las Vegas, Flanagan acknowledged having sex with other men in order to get money after he went broke from gambling in Las Vegas. He also said he would kill again if anybody made a sexual advance at him while in prison.
After pleading guilty, Flanagan asked for the death penalty but later changed his mind, saying he wanted to live out his life for Jesus Christ. Then he flip-flopped and again asked to be sentenced to death
ACLU lawyers said there should have been a hearing before the state Board of Pardons for clemency based on the religious convictions of Flanagan, his remorse and his years without major convictions.
During the second penalty hearing, his sister, Kathleen Flanagan, testified about the physical and mental abuse that all the Flanagan children were subjected to at the hands of their alcoholic father. She also said Sean was sexually abused by an older brother.