Eugene Perry was executed by the State of Arkansas for a double murder
According to court documents Eugene Perry would rob a jewelry store and in the process shoot and kill the owner and his daughter: Kenneth Staton and his daughter Suzanne Staton Ware
Eugene Perry would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Eugene Perry would be executed by lethal injection on August 6 1997
Eugene Perry Case
Eugene Wallace Perry, convicted of two 1980 murders, has been executed by lethal injection at the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction at Varner, Ark. The 53-year-old Perry, whose last-minute appeal was denied Wednesday afternoon by the Supreme Court, was pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m. EDT.
Perry was convicted of the murders of Kenneth Staton and his daughter Suzanne Ware during a 1980 robbery of a Van Buren, Ark., jewelry store. Perry was later captured in Florida with some jewelry believed taken from the store, while an accomplice was arrested in Canada. Five relatives of Staton and Ware were on hand to watch Arkansas’ first-ever, closed-circuit telecast of an execution for victims’ families.
Witnesses also included Perry’s spiritual advisor, Anna Cox, and his attorney, Craig Lambert. An avowed Buddhist, Perry had an unusual final statement, much of which was spoken as a chant. Perry said, ‘I am innocent of this crime. I take refuge in the Buddha Dharma and the Sangha. Om mani padme hung.’ Correction Department Director Larry North said Perry once translated the chant as, ‘The jewel has just left the lotus.’
Perry was served a last meal of a large pizza, banana pudding with meringue topping, root beer and peanut M&Ms at 5:16 p.m. EDT. Five protesters outside the facility, including two daughters and a girlfriend, were protesting that Perry was innocent. In his application to the high court, Perry said another inmate, already under a death sentence for another Arkansas murder, had confessed to the murders with the help of an accomplice.
