Prayer For A Killer

Posted Oct 25, 2006 by Mary Shedden

Updated Oct 25, 2006 at 05:36 PM

5:28 p.m.  - A steady stream of spectators and protesters is arriving at Florida State Prison in Starke.
A busload of 45 death penalty opponents rode in on a charter bus to stand vigil and pray during tonight’s execution. Father Fred Ruse said the group from the Orlando Diocese attends all executions. The grisly nature of the crimes doesn’t stop their opposition, he said.. “There’s certainly an appreciation of the horrible crimes that were committed. But the commitment of all us here is the same.”
Across the field, Gainesville resident Denise Fox disagreed: “Lethal injection is too good for him,’’ she said of Rolling.

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No Krause In The Death House

Posted Oct 25, 2006 by Thomas W. Krause

Updated Oct 25, 2006 at 05:10 PM

5 p.m. - The van arrived and several reporters boarded for their trip inside the death chamber. They will witness the execution and report back for the rest of us.

  I asked prison spokesman Robbie Cunningham if anyone had bowed out - or if there was enough room in a corner for me to stand.

  “There is no space for alternates today,” he said.

  Then he smiled.

  “Maybe next time.”

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Enter The Protestors

Posted Oct 25, 2006 by Thomas W. Krause

Updated Oct 25, 2006 at 05:05 PM

4:45 p.m. The first of the protestors have arrived.

  About a dozen or so members of Amnesty International and Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty held signs begging for leniency. Regardless of Rolling’s crimes, killing should not be punished with more killing, they said.

  “The first thing I noticed about death row was 90 percent of people on death row couldn’t afford a lawyer,” said Mark Elliott, the spokesman for FADP and the Florida death penalty abolitionist for Amnesty, “That, to me, is not the American I love and where I was born.”

  In the entire history of Florida, since before it was a state, Elliott said, no white person has ever been executed for killing a black person.

  Asked what he would say to the families of Rolling’s victims - those who have waited for 16 years for this day - Elliott thought quietly.

  He said he has had a loved one who was murdered, although he declined to discuss the specifics.

  “Everyone grieves differently,” he said. “I wouldn’t choose to tell anyone how they should grieve.”

  Across a grassy field and past a thatch of small trees, about 30 people came to support Rolling’s execution.

  Johnnie Fellabaum, a slight 74-year-old woman wearing a blue and orange University of Florida jogging suit, drove to the prison with her daughter. Both are Florida Gator fans and remember Rolling’s crimes.

  “We wanted to be sure he gets his reward today,” Fellabaum said. “We hope he is executed at 6 p.m. today so his victims can get some rest, finally.”

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Soon, The Valium Drips

Posted Oct 25, 2006 by Thomas W. Krause

Updated Oct 25, 2006 at 04:12 PM

3:25 p.m. FLORIDA STATE PRISON, STARKE - The 3 p.m. press briefing, which started at 3:10, revealed that Danny Rolling is calm and cooperative with prison staff.
  Robbie Cunningham, the prison spokesman, said Rolling met with his brother, spoke with his spiritual adviser and enjoyed his lobster tail lunch.
  “He ate every bite,” Cunningham said.
  Although family members of Rolling’s victims will witness the execution, Rolling’s family member cannot, per state policy. Rolling and his brother were granted some time to meet face to face but by 3 p.m., the meeting was finished.
  At 4 p.m. Rolling’s spiritual adviser will have to leave and the execution procedure will begin in earnest. Shortly before he is executed, prison staffers will offer Rolling a Valium. He has not said whether or not he will take it, Cunningham said.
  So far, Cunningham said, Rolling has not indicated whether he will make a last statement.
  Although Rolling’s lawyer, Baya Harrison, is at the prison, the two have not had a meeting today, Cunningham said. Harrison still waits for word from the U.S. Supreme Court.
  The press area outside the prison is teeming with reporters. The area set aside for protesters remained empty, except for several small enclaves of security officers.
  Everyone is waiting.

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The Victims Gather

Posted Oct 25, 2006 by Howard Altman

Updated Oct 25, 2006 at 03:21 PM

The families of Danny Rolling’s victims headed to Starke in a funeral procession of sorts, 20 vehicles of families and friends led by a police escort.
Sixty-two relatives of the five victims gathered for lunch at a Gainesville hotel. Guests included investigators and prosecutors, including former gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith, who was state attorney at the time of Rolling’s trial.
Smith wore a lapel pin with the birth stones of each of the five victims, given to him and all the other prosecutors at the time of the sentencing.
As the families tried to gather for a quiet lunch, several tv crews approached people in the hotel parking lot but were escorted off by management.
Stay tuned to tbo.com, WFLA-TV News Channel 8 and The Tampa Tribune for an inside view of the luncheon.

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