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Va. killer dies as he requested: by electric chair

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 21, 2006

JARRATT, Va. - A man convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman was executed Thursday, becoming the first person in the United States to die in the electric chair in more than two years.

Brandon Hedrick, 27, was pronounced dead at the Greensville Correctional Center at 9:12 p.m. after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeals and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine denied his request for clemency.

"I pray for the people that are unsaved," Hedrick said in his final words. "I'm ready to go and be free."

Hedrick chose the electric chair because he was reportedly unnerved by the prospect of lethal injection. Virginia inmates have the option of choosing to die by injection or electrocution. Three other Virginia inmates have opted for the electric chair over injection since the state began giving inmates the choice in 1995.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that death row inmates can challenge lethal injection as a civil rights issue.

Hedrick was condemned to die for the 1997 murder of Lisa Crider, who was abducted, robbed, raped and killed with a shotgun blast to the face.

Texas executes child's killer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A child sex offender apologized in a voice choking with emotion before he was executed Thursday for abducting and killing a 5-year-old girl in Amarillo 14 years ago.

"I am sorry for the pain I have caused you," Robert Anderson told the grandmother of his victim. "I have regretted this for a long time. I am sorry."

Anderson also apologized to his family.

As the lethal drugs began taking effect, Anderson muttered a prayer. Eight minutes later at 6:19 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Anderson, 40, had acknowledged the horrific slaying of Audra Reeves and asked that no new appeals be filed to try to block his execution, the 16th this year in Texas and the second in as many days.

According to court records and Anderson's confession, he forced the girl to accompany him into the house and tried to rape her, then choked her and beat her with a footstool. When he discovered she still was alive, he drowned her in a bathtub. He stuffed her body into a large foam cooler, pushed the cooler along the street in a grocery cart and dumped it in a trash bin.

[Last modified July 20, 2006, 23:56:36]