Eddie Crawford was executed by the State of Georgia for the murder of two year old Leslie English
According to court documents following an argument with his sister in law Eddie Crawford would kidnap twenty nine month old Leslie English who would be sexually assaulted and murdered
Eddie Crawford would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Eddie Crawford would be executed by lethal injection on July 19 2004
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When Was Eddie Crawford Executed
Eddie Crawford was executed on July 19 2004
Eddie Crawford Case
Eddie Albert Crawford was executed by injection Monday for kidnapping, raping and murdering his 2-year-old niece in 1983. Crawford, 57, was pronounced dead at 7:49 p.m. after 20 years on death row, two trials and a seven-month delay since his execution was originally scheduled for December.
Prosecutors argued at trial he sneaked into the house and kidnapped the girl, Leslie Michelle English, after her mother, his sister-in-law, refused to have sex with him. Crawford claims he blacked out after heavy drinking and doesn’t remember what happened.
The U.S. Supreme Court wouldn’t stop the execution earlier Monday, although three of the court’s more liberal members supported giving Crawford a stay to conduct DNA testing of hairs found on the girl’s body. An application for a stay of execution and petition for rehearing was denied by the court at 6:59 p.m., just before the scheduled time of the execution. Another request for a stay was denied on a 5-4 vote at 7:35 p.m.
Crawford, lying on a gurney, mumbled a final statement before the fatal injection was administered. “There hasn’t been a time in the last 21 years I wouldn’t have laid down my life for little Leslie. I don’t remember anything. If this will give them peace it was well worth it.” After the injection, Crawford took a deep breath, gulped and yawned. His breathing grew progressively shallow before he died. More than 20 members of the victim’s family and their friends were on the prison grounds. Many clapped their hands and cheered as officers removed the body.
Crawford, a Vietnam veteran, was spared execution in December while the Georgia Supreme Court considered appeals asking for additional DNA testing of hairs. The court later allowed the execution to go forward. Danny English, Leslie’s uncle said, “I’m just proud as I can be. Proud the man had to pay the price. He committed the crime. It wasn’t about DNA. They just wanted to buy him a little more time.”
About 15 death penalty protesters also were present. They held signs with wording such as “No killing in my name” and “Stop executions now.” One protester, Mugambi Jouet, said, “the fact that DNA testing was refused in this case shows how much we as a country value human life.” Crawford was linked to the crime by hair and carpet fibers found on the girl’s body, as well as her blood found in his car. Several courts had ruled that additional testing of hairs would not clear Crawford’s name even if it found the hairs didn’t belong to him.
Crawford’s lawyers hoped DNA testing of the new hairs would point to one of three men convicted or accused of child molestation, including some family members, who may have had access to the girl that night. The hairs will be tested in the coming weeks by the Georgia Innocence Project, even though the execution went forward, said Aimee Maxwell, the project’s executive director.
Earlier in the day, Crawford was served a last meal: a standard institutional tray of barbecue pork, black-eyed peas, a vegetable medley, cole slaw, a roll, peach cobbler and a grape drink. He did not eat any of it, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Peggy Chapman.
The execution was the second in Georgia this month and the state’s 36th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=41920
