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Old Sparky
Old Sparky is the nickname of the electric chairs in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Old Smokey was the nickname of the electric chairs used in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. "Old Sparky" is sometimes used to refer to electric chairs in general, and not one of a specific state. Connecticut Connecticut legislated lethal injection as its sole method of execution in 1995. The last person executed by electrocution was Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky in May 1960. Connecticut's "Old Sparky" has not been tested since it was moved from Wethersfield to the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers in 1962, and prison officials claim the prison's electrical system cannot handle it. Florida The electric chair was the sole means of execution in Florida from 1924 until 2000, when the Florida State Legislature, under pressure from the U.S. Supreme Court, signed lethal inj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Sparky
Old Sparky is the nickname of the electric chairs in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Old Smokey was the nickname of the electric chairs used in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. "Old Sparky" is sometimes used to refer to electric chairs in general, and not one of a specific state. Connecticut Connecticut legislated lethal injection as its sole method of execution in 1995. The last person executed by electrocution was Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky in May 1960. Connecticut's "Old Sparky" has not been tested since it was moved from Wethersfield to the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers in 1962, and prison officials claim the prison's electrical system cannot handle it. Florida The electric chair was the sole means of execution in Florida from 1924 until 2000, when the Florida State Legislature, under pressure from the U.S. Supreme Court, signed lethal inj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Smokey
Old Smokey is a euphemistic name given to the state prison electric chair in New Jersey, which is on display at the New Jersey State Police Museum. The chair's most notorious victim was Richard Hauptmann, the man behind the Lindbergh kidnapping. It was also the name given to Pennsylvania's, as well as Tennessee‘s electric chair. Executions New Jersey's chair was used in the electrocution of 159 men between 1907 and 1963. The Pennsylvania electric chair was used in the electrocution of 348 men and two women between 1915 and 1962. New Jersey abolished capital punishment in 2007, but had abandoned electrocution in favor of lethal injection in 1983. Pennsylvania abolished electrocution in favor of lethal injection in 1990. See also * '' Old Sparky'', the nickname given to several states' electric chairs * ''Gruesome Gertie'', the nickname given to Louisiana's electric chair * ''Yellow Mama'', the nickname given to Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allen Lee Davis
Allen Lee Davis (July 20, 1944 – July 8, 1999) was an American murderer who was executed for the May 11, 1982, murder of Nancy Weiler, who was three months pregnant, in Jacksonville, Florida. According to reports, Nancy Weiler was "beaten almost beyond recognition" by Davis with a .357 Magnum, and hit more than 25 times in the face and head. He was additionally convicted of killing Nancy Weiler's two daughters, Kristina, age 9, who was shot twice in the face, and Katherine, age 5, who was shot as she tried to run away and then had her skull beaten in with the gun. Davis, who had a lengthy criminal history, was on parole for armed robbery at the time of the murders. He later admitted that his initial motive was to rape and murder Kristina, kill her sister and mother, and then ransack the house. Davis was executed on July 8, 1999, via electrocution. His execution was alleged to have been botched, with witnesses reporting that Davis was still alive after the power to Old Sparky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedro Medina
Pedro Luis Medina (October 5, 1957 – March 25, 1997) was a Cuban refugee who was executed in Florida for the murder of a 52-year-old woman in Orlando. The circumstances of his execution elevated objections to the use of electrocution as a means of capital punishment. During his execution, Medina's head burst into flames, filling the death chamber with smoke. An autopsy later revealed that the current had destroyed Medina's brain, killing him instantly. Crime Medina was among nearly 125,000 Cubans who were sent to the United States during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. He eventually lived with his half-sister in Orlando. His victim, Dorothy James, an elementary school gym teacher, lived in an apartment next door. James befriended Medina. Dorothy James was found dead in her apartment on April 4, 1982. She had been gagged, stabbed multiple times, and left to die. Early in the morning of April 8, 1982, Medina was found asleep in James' automobile at a rest area on Interstate 10 near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jesse Tafero
Jesse Joseph Tafero (October 12, 1946 – May 4, 1990) was convicted of murder and executed via electric chair in the U.S. state of Florida for the murders of 39-year-old Florida Highway Patrol officer Phillip A. Black (who served 9 years with Florida Highway Patrol) and 39-year-old Ontario Provincial Police Corporal Donald Irwin (who served 18 years with Ontario Provincial Police), a visiting Canadian constable and friend of Black. The officers were killed during a traffic stop where Tafero, his wife Sunny Jacobs and their children were passengers. Tafero's execution was botched; his head burst into flames during the execution by electric chair. After Tafero's execution, the driver, Walter Rhodes, confessed to shooting the officers, but later retracted his testimony. 1967 crimes At the time of the murders, Tafero was on parole for attempted rape, holding two women hostage. Murders, trial, and execution On the morning of February 20, 1976, Black and Irwin approached a car pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starke, Florida
Starke is a city in and the county seat of Bradford County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,796 at the 2020 census. The origin of the city's name is disputed. Starke may have been named in honor of local landowner George W. Cole's fiancée's family or in honor of Madison Starke Perry, fourth governor of Florida. History Founding and 19th century Prior to 1857, the area that is today Starke was sparsely settled. The announcement of the Fernandina to Cedar Key railroad, which would connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico, brought the first known settlement to the community. In November 1857, the first post office in the area was established by George W. Cole. In 1859, Cole obtained 40 acres of land around the post office, which were described in his documents as the "Original Town of Starke." In 1858, the railroad reached Starke, bringing new residents to the community. The early 1870s brought on incorporation to the city, and in 1875, Bradford County re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florida State Prison
Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporated Bradford County, Florida. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida (now known as Union Correctional Institution). The facility, a part of the Florida Department of Corrections, is located on State Road 16 right across the border from Union County. The institution opened in 1961, even though construction was not completed until 1968. With a maximum population of over 1,400 inmates, FSP is one of the largest prisons in the state. FSP houses one of the state's three death row cell blocks, and the state's execution chamber. Union Correctional Institution also houses male death row inmates while Lowell Annex houses female death row inmates. Lethal injection became the standard method of execution in 2000. The electric chair can still be used by request of the inmate. FSP sits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florida State Legislature
The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Constitution, adopted in 1968, defines the role of the legislature and how it is to be constituted. The legislature is composed of 160 state legislators (120 in the House and 40 in the Senate). The primary purpose of the legislature is to enact new laws and amend or repeal existing laws. It meets in the Florida State Capitol building in Tallahassee. Titles Members of the Senate are referred to as senators and members of the House of Representatives are referred to as representatives. Because this shadows the terminology used to describe members of Congress, constituents and the news media, using '' The Associated Press Stylebook'', often refer to legislators as state senators or state representatives to avoid confusion with their federal count ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somers, Connecticut
Somers is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut. The population was 10,255 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP). In 2007, ''Money Magazine'' listed Somers 53rd on its "100 Best Places to Live", based on "economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do and a real sense of community." Bordering Massachusetts, Somers is considered part of the city of Springfield, Massachusetts NECTA. Somers is southeast of Springfield and considered more oriented toward it than the city of Hartford, which lies to the southwest. History Somers was originally part of the Agawam Plantation in the 17th century. Agawam Plantation became Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1641 and in 1682, the Enfield Parish broke off from the Springfield settlement. In 1689, the first settler, Benjamin Jones, came to Somers in what was then East Enfield about a half mile from the current town center, it was only a summer house and in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Correctional Institution
Northern Correctional Institution (NCI) was a high-security state prison in Somers, in the northern part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. Until its closure, the prison housed the state's male convicts serving long sentences for violent crimes; previously, it had also housed the death row for inmates before the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut. It was the designated restrictive housing facility for the Connecticut Department of Correction, managing those inmates who had demonstrated a serious inability to adjust to confinement, particularly those that posed a threat to the safety and security of the community, staff, and other inmates. The institution Group Safety Threat Member program was relocated from the Garner Correctional Institution in order to centralize restrictive housing functions. In response to this, and with a commensurate increase in the number of young offenders, the facility more than doubled the size of its educational staff in order to serve thos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky
Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky (March 23, 1924 – May 17, 1960) was a serial killer who was sentenced to death after a string of robberies and murders in Connecticut during the 1950s. Six people were killed during these events, which became known as the "Mad Dog Killings." A number of others were shot, beaten, or pistol-whipped but survived. Taborsky earned his nickname due to the savagery of the killings that condemned him to death. In 1957, Connecticut package store hours were modified to close from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. due in part as a response to the crimes of Taborsky and his partner Arthur "Meatball" Culombe. He was executed by electric chair at the age of 36. His execution in 1960 was the last in Connecticut (and in New England) until that of Michael Bruce Ross in 2005. Taborsky donated his body to Yale School of Medicine, and his ashes were later buried in the garden of Christ Church Cathedral. First time on death row Taborsky is an anomaly in Connecticut dea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lethal Injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broader sense to include euthanasia and other forms of suicide. The drugs cause the person to become unconscious, stops their breathing, and causes a heart arrhythmia, in that order. First developed in the United States, it has become a legal means of execution in Mainland China, Thailand (since 2003), Guatemala, Taiwan, the Maldives, Nigeria, and Vietnam, though Guatemala abolished the death penalty in civil cases in 2017 and has not conducted an execution since 2000 and the Maldives has never carried out an execution since its independence. Although Taiwan permits lethal injection as an execution method, no executions have been carried out in this manner; the same is true for Nigeria. Lethal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
