Barry Lee Fairchild (March 5, 1954 in
Little Rock,
Arkansas – August 31, 1995) was an American convicted kidnapper, rapist, and murderer.
Case
Fairchild was arrested for the February 26, 1983 kidnapping, rape, and murder of Marjorie "Greta" Mason, a 22-year-old
United States Air Force nurse, after police received information from a confidential informant implicating Fairchild and his brother.
["Barry Lee Fairchild (Trial and Execution of)"]
Encyclopedia of Arkansas, accessed April 14, 2010. At trial, he recanted his two
videotaped confessions, claiming that
Pulaski County Sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
Tommy F. Robinson
Tommy Franklin Robinson (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman, lobbyist, and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1985 to 1991. He is a member of the Republican Party. Before he was elected to Congress, Robinson ...
and
Chief Deputy Larry Dill had
beaten and threatened to kill him unless he confessed, then rehearsed him before the second confession was taped. His
attorneys claimed that Fairchild was
mentally retarded
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...
and did not have the capacity to know right from wrong.
["Arkansas Executes Man Who Argued He Was Retarded"]
'' The New York Times'', September 1, 1995."Execution of Retarded Man Is Fought"
''The New York Times'', August 30, 1995. He was convicted on August 2, 1983, and sentenced to death.
In 1993, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas ruled the state had failed to prove that Fairchild had killed Mason, and ordered his sentence commuted to life without parole.[ The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the District Court in 1994. In 1995 a federal judge found that Fairchild had not been the shooter, but he was executed on August 31 at the Varner Unit near Grady after the United States Supreme Court refused to hear a final appeal, because of "abuse of the writ", since Fairchild had already petitioned for habeas corpus. Fairchild was executed by ]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 puni ...
on August 31, 1995.[
]
See also
* Capital punishment in Arkansas
* Capital punishment in the United States
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 s ...
* List of people executed in Arkansas
The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Arkansas since 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in the United States.
31 people have been executed in Arkansas since 1976: 30 males and 1 female (Christin ...
Notes
Death Penalty Information Center
References
External links
Opinion of U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals re: Fairchild's Writ of Habeas Corpus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairchild, Barry Lee
1954 births
1995 deaths
1983 murders in the United States
American people executed for murder
People from Little Rock, Arkansas
People convicted of murder by Arkansas
People executed by Arkansas by lethal injection
Executed people from Arkansas
20th-century executions by Arkansas
20th-century executions of American people