Dwayne Weeks was executed by the State of Delaware for a double murder
According to court documents Dwayne Weeks and an accomplice would go to the home where his estrange wife was staying and would murder her and her boyfriend: Gwendolyn Weeks and Craig Williams
Dwayne Weeks would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Dwayne Weeks would be executed by lethal injection on November 17 2000
Dwayne Weeks Photos
Dwayne Weeks FAQ
Dwayne Weeks Case
Dwayne Weeks died 1230 a.m. Friday from lethal injection in the Delaware Correctional Center. Weeks was convicted of murdering his estranged wife Gwendolyn Weeks and her boyfriend Craig Williams in 1992.
Before midnight on Friday, about 100 protesters gathered outside the prison gates, praying, waving signs and ringing bells to show they disagreed with capital punishment. “It think it is important that each time we kill in the name of justice, we kill in the name of all the citizens in our state,” said Kevin O’Connell of Delaware Citizens Opposed to the Death Penalty. “Our presence shows a number of citizens don’t believe in what’s going to happen tonight.” Meanwhile, inside the prison walls, print and broadcast media, prison officials and other witnesses gathered in Building 26, recently built by the Delaware Correctional Center for the sole purpose of housing executions. Weeks’ death was the first to take place in the building. Witnesses peered through glass panes separating them from the white-clad body on the gurney. They waited for Dwayne Weeks to die. Rena Mack stood among the witnesses. Mack, the sister of Gwendolyn Weeks, watched as her sister’s killer spoke his final words. Weeks glanced at the crowd through the windows on his left and right. Then he fixed his eyes on the ceiling. “Over eight years ago, I asked the Lord into my life and make me a new creature in here,” he said. “I say to all who hear my voice: I hope and pray that you, too, ask the Lord to come into your heart and that you are saved.” Moments after Weeks made his statement, he gasped audibly. Ninety-two seconds later, his diaphragm stilled and his eyes narrowed. Two minutes and 32 seconds later, the curtains were pulled and Dwayne Weeks was pronounced dead. Outside, the protesters, who had not yet received word of Weeks’ death, continued with their demonstrations for another half an hour.
Around 12:45 a.m., a representative from the Delaware Department of Corrections arrived to inform the crowd that Weeks had been put to death. The protesters remained outside the prison. Standing in the rain, the crowd sang hymns of hope and mourning for the life that had ended during their vigil. Weeks was the 11th person executed in Delaware since 1992, when convicted serial killer Steven Pennell received lethal injection. In 1986, the General Assembly passed a statute making lethal injection the only legal method of capital punishment. Before Pennell, no one had received the death penalty in the state of Delaware since 1946. Weeks received the death penalty for breaking into his wife’s Wilmington apartment and fatally shooting her and Williams through the head while she made a 911 call. Weeks’ attorneys had appealed his sentence to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. They claimed Weeks had ineffective assistance of counsel. He claimed he pleaded guilty believing he would receive a lighter sentence. However, he said, his lawyers had failed to inform him that he could still receive the death penalty. After considering the aggravating circumstances of the crime, the jury recommended and the judge sentenced Weeks to receive the death penalty. Weeks’ lawyers also appealed because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the jury must unanimously vote to seek death in a capital case. In Delaware, the decision for capital punishment does not have to be unanimous. In a statement to the media after the execution, Mack said she felt a sense of closure. “This has been a long eight years for my family,” she said. “A lot of unnecessary pain.”
http://www.review.udel.edu/archive/2000_Issues/11.21.00/index.php3?section=1&article=2
