David Dawson was executed by the State of Delaware for the murder of Madeline Kisner
According to court documents David Dawson had escaped from a Delaware prison and had broken into the home of Madeline Kisner. Once inside he would bound and gag Madeline Kisner before fatally stabbing her
David Dawson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
David Dawson would be executed by lethal injection on April 26 2001
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When Was David Dawson Executed
David Dawson was executed on April 26 2001
David Dawson Case
David F. Dawson was put to death early today for the 1986 murder of a Kenton woman. Dawson, 46, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 12:05 a.m. at Delaware Correctional Center. He spent his last hours sleeping, eating, reading, writing letters, talking to Department of Correction staff and visiting with his family and friends and his spiritual adviser and attorney. On April 17, Dawson admitted to stabbing Madeline M. Kisner to death after he and 3 other inmates escaped from DCC in December 1986. The confession came during an unsuccessful commutation bid before the Board of Pardons and followed 14 years of denials and appeals.
Dawson separated from his fellow escapees and entered Mrs. Kisner’s Kenton-area home, where he bound and gagged the 44-year-old bookkeeper before stabbing her 12 times in the chest and neck. When asked during the pardons hearing why he killed Mrs. Kisner, Dawson blamed drugs and alcohol. Using Mrs. Kisner’s car to flee, he spent that night drinking in 2 Milford-area bars. He was captured the next day near Lincoln after falling asleep in another stolen car. The other escapees – Mark McCoy, Richard Irwin and Larry Nave – were later arrested in St. George, Utah, and were not involved in murdering Mrs. Kisner.
The jury hearing the case in June 1988 spent three hours deliberating before finding Dawson guilty of 1st-degree murder. The 8 men and 4 women then took an hour and a half to unanimously recommend a death sentence. Calling Dawson a “depraved character,” Superior Court Judge Henry du Pont Ridgely followed that recommendation and originally sentenced him to die later that year. That date and 3 others -in 1993, 1994 and March -were postponed through a series of appeals. When Dawson and the 3 other inmates broke out of prison in 1986, he had 6 years left to serve on a 12-year sentence for theft and other charges. The escape from DCC was not Dawson’s 1st. He escaped 3 times from a maximum security juvenile facility before 1973. In July 1975, Dawson fled through a fence at the pretrial annex building near Prices Corner. In February 1983, he walked away from the Plummer Center in Wilmington, turning a one-day furlough into a 4-month excursion.
In his hearing with the Board of Pardons last week, Dawson said he had gone to school in Milford and Harrington. During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General John Williams said Dawson had an “extensive” criminal record. Mr. Williams said Dawson was jailed for burglary at age 11. He was committed to Ferris School at 13 in 1968, his 1st of 5 trips to the school. Before he was an adult, Dawson was charged with 3 escapes and 2 attempted escapes. His adult record, according to Mr. Williams, included 14 felony convictions and adult escapes.
There are 15 men on death row in Delaware. Dawson becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Delaware and the 12th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in1992. Dawson becomes the 27th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 710th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
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