Earl Bramblett was executed by the State of Virginia for the murders of the Hodges Family
According to court documents Earl Bramblett was living with the Hodges family when he would shoot and kill three members: Blaine Hodges, 41, and his daughters, Winter, 11, and Anah, 3, and would strangle Teresa, 37, before setting the house on fire. Prosecutors believe that Bramblett was obsessed with eleven year old Winter Hodges and that would lead to the murders
Earl Bramblett would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Earl Bramblett was execute by way of the electric chair on April 9 2003
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When Was Earl Bramblett Executed
Earl Bramblett was executed on April 9 2003
Earl Bramblett Case
A man who murdered a family of four was put to death in Virginia’s electric chair Wednesday, maintaining his innocence to the end. Earl C. Bramblett, 61, was pronounced dead at 9:09 p.m. EDT after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeals and Gov. Mark R. Warner denied his request for clemency. Bramblett was only the third Virginia inmate to die in the electric chair since condemned prisoners were given the option of electrocution or lethal injection in 1995.
Bramblett was led into the execution chamber at 8:54 p.m. and strapped into the oak electric chair built by inmates. “I didn’t murder the Hodges family,” Bramblett said firmly in his final statement. “I’ve never murdered anybody. I’m going to my death with a clear conscience,” Bramblett said. “I am going to my death having had a great life because of my two great sons,” who visited Bramblett earlier in the day along with his ex-wife.
A Department of Corrections official then turned a key switch in the wall behind the electric chair, activating the system. An executioner sitting behind a one-way glass immediately pressed a button labeled “execute” and 1,800 volts surged through Bramblett’s body, causing him to go rigid and throwing him against the back of the chair. Bramblett’s head and right leg were shaved to allow skintight attachments of two electrodes. During the execution, a puff of smoke rose from the electrode on his right leg. After waiting five minutes, Dr. Alvin Harris, a corrections physicians, walked into the death chamber and placed his stethoscope against Bramblett’s chest. “This man has expired,” Harris announced.
Lawyers for Bramblett unsuccessfully challenged the Virginia law that gives condemned inmates the choice between the electric chair and lethal injection. “We believe it is barbaric,” said attorney Jennifer Givens.
Blaine Hodges, 41, and his daughters Winter, 11, and Anah, 3, were each shot once in the head and Teresa Hodges, 37, was strangled. They were found in their burning Vinton home on Aug. 29, 1994. Authorities immediately suspected Bramblett, a family friend who had been living with the Hodges, after questioning him and discovering he knew things about the crime scene that had previously not been reported, Roanoke County Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Leach said.
Prosecutors also tied Bramblett to the scene using .22-caliber bullet casings they said matched cartridges found in his truck and pubic hair belonging to Bramblett that was found in the girls’ bed. Prosecutors theorized that Bramblett murdered the family because he was sexually obsessed with Winter, and that Blaine Hodges was using the girl to entrap him in a sex crime. Tapes played at Bramblett’s trial depicted his sexual attraction toward the eldest daughter.
But Bramblett said all the circumstantial evidence used against him had either been planted or fabricated. He said his pubic hair sample was taken before authorities located the hair on the girls’ bed, and that his tape recordings had been altered to give the impression he was attracted to Winter. Bramblett told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he chose the electric chair over lethal injection to protest what he considers his wrongful conviction. “I’m not going to lay down on a gurney and have them stick a needle in my arm and make it look like an antiseptic execution taking place as a result of a fair trial,” Bramblett said in a telephone interview from the Greensville prison. Bramblett’s attorneys said in their clemency petition that the recanted testimony of a jailhouse snitch who linked Bramblett to the murders also should be enough to warrant a new trial.
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