Leo Edwards was executed by the State of Mississippi for a murder that took place during a robbery
According to court documents Leo Edwards would rob a convenience store and would shoot and kill the store clerk
Leo Edwards would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Leo Edwards would be executed by way of the gas chamber on June 21 1989
Leo Edwards would also be convicted of two other murders, both involving robberies and store clerks
Leo Edwards Photos
Leo Edwards FAQ
When was Leo Edwards executed
Leo Edwards was executed on June 21 1989
How was Leo Edwards executed
Leo Edwards was executed by way of the gas chamber
Leo Edwards Case
A groggy Leo Edwards Jr., heavily sedated at his own request, died quietly in Mississippi’s gas chamber early Wednesday for the murder of a convenience store clerk during a crime spree that followed his escape from prison.
Edwards, 36, made no comment before his death at 12:15 a.m. CDT, 14 minutes after he was strapped into the chair.
Prison officials said Edwards had requested a sedative and he was heavily sedated with valium as he entered the gas chamber, clad in a red prison jump suit and white sneakers.
‘He was pretty much relaxed,’ said Dr. Bennie Wright, the attending physician. ‘He was fairly sedated at his own request.’
Edwards’s 15-year-old daughter, Latareaha Edwards of New Orleans; his mother; former wife; and other family members visited with him several hours before the execution. They left the prison just before he was sedated. It was the first time Edwards had seen his daughter in nine years
About a dozen anti-death penalty demonstrators held a candlelight vigil outside the prison.
Gov. Ray Mabus and the Supreme Court both refused last-ditch pleas for a stay of execution.
The high court turned down Edwards in a one-sentence order but Mabus was more explicit. He called Edwards a cold-blooded mass murderer whose case had been decided by 16 different courts.
Edwards, a four-time killer from New Orleans, became the 113th person executed in the United States and the fourth in Mississippi since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976.
Defense attorney Clive A. Stafford Smith of Atlanta said the key issue in trying to get a stay for Edwards was ‘what Governor Mabus is going to do with the racism.’ He said, ‘Edwards doesn’t have a lot of faith in the judicial system after what he’s been through.’
Edwards, who is black, repeatedly claimed his death sentence should be overturned because of the racial makeup of his jury. He has charged prosecutors intentionally struck potential black jurors from the all-white panel that convicted and sentenced him to die.
‘We had a very interesting conversation Monday about what it is like to be a black man in Mississippi and to see this incredible racism going on and to feel so helpless about it and to have no one to really take it seriously,’ Smith said. ‘It’s a real tragedy, and Leo is nonplused.
‘He just doesn’t understand why no one has taken this issue of racism seriously as it should be taken.’ added Smith.
But Mabus said Edwards was not a victim of ‘casual justice.’
‘The facts are that Leo Edwards is a mass murderer who killed in cold blood. This is not casual justice. The full weight of the American judicial system was brought to bear and every single time the courts reached the same conclusion: Edwards’ conviction and sentence should stand.’
Edwards ordered a last meal of round steak with gravy, creamed potatoes, french bread, salad, strawberry shortcake, chocolate ice cream and lemonade.
Edwards was convicted in 1981 and sentenced to die for the 1980 slaying of Jackson convenience store clerk Linzey Don Dixon, 26, during a $111 robbery.
At the time, Edwards was on the run from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola where he was serving time for murder. During a five-day crime spree through Mississippi, he killed Dixon; a Jackson bar owner; a Canton convenience store clerk; and critically wounded another person.
An accomplice, Mikel White, testified he and Edwards were riding around Jackson on June 13, 1980, drinking. Edwards ordered him to stop the car near a convenience store, saying he was going to get money from his girlfriend.
Dixon was talking on the telephone when Edwards walked up behind him and shot him in the head. He dragged the body to a back room, rifled the cash register and fled the building with a brown paper bag full of money
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/06/21/Edwards-executed-for-convenience-store-murder/6284614404800/