Willie Brown was executed by the State of North Carolina for the murder of Vallerie Ann Dixon
According to court documents Willie Brown would enter a store where he would rob the cash register and kidnap the clerk Vallerie Ann Dixon who was later fatally shot
Willie Brown would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Willie Brown would be executed by lethal injection on April 20 2006
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When Was Willie Brown Executed
Willie Brown was executed on April 20 2006
Willie Brown Case
Convicted killer Willie Brown Jr. was executed about 2 a.m. today for the 1983 slaying of a Williamston convenience store clerk.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Brown’s lawyers that the state’s lethal injection procedures put him at risk for a painful execution. Not long after, Gov. Mike Easley denied clemency. The state uses a three-drug cocktail to execute death row inmates: one drug to put them to sleep, a second to paralyze them and a third to stop their hearts. Citing eyewitness accounts and toxicology evidence, Brown’s lawyers argued that there was a possibility that inmates were not fully sedated before the second and third drugs were injected and therefore could be awake to experience agonizing deaths.
Without comment Thursday afternoon, two federal appeals court judges on the three-judge panel affirmed U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm J. Howard’s ruling that the state has proposed adequate measures to ensure Brown is unconscious before the final two drugs are injected. The state planned to have a doctor and a nurse watch a bispectral index, or BIS, monitor, that measures brain waves and ranks Brown’s level of consciousness from a scale of zero to 100. The state’s expert said once Brown’s consciousness level dropped below 60, there was little risk that he would be conscious. Brown is thought to be the first inmate to have the BIS monitor used in his execution.
Experts had criticized the state’s proposal because it requires medical professionals to participate in executions in violation of their professional ethics and their roles as caregivers. Brown’s lawyers argued that the state was misusing the BIS monitor, which the manufacturer said was not intended to be used alone but rather as one piece of information among many considered by an anesthesiologist to determine whether a patient is adequately anesthetized. It was unknown, they said, whether the doctor and nurse are adequately trained to use the machine.
In a dissent, federal appeals court Judge M. Blane Michael wrote, “Brown presents an impressive array of evidence that although a BIS monitor may be helpful in assessing the effectiveness of anesthesia, it is not suitable as the state intends to use it.” He concludes, “The clear weight of evidence … reveals that the state’s use of the BIS monitor will not adequately ensure that Brown will remain unconscious throughout his execution.”
Brown was sentenced to death for the 1983 killing of Vallerie Ann Roberson Dixon, a clerk at the Zip Mart in Williamston. Dixon was taken from the store and found the same day as the robbery lying facedown along a logging road after being shot six times. Brown, who maintains his innocence, was convicted of murder and armed robbery.
For his last meal, Brown ate a well-done T-bone steak, rice, four rolls with butter and a piece of German chocolate cake.
