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GEORGIA (USA). MAN ON DEATH ROW 33 YEARS IS EXECUTED
September 16, 2008: a man who had been on Georgia's death row for 33 years was executed by lethal injection for killing his wife in 1974.
Jack Alderman, 57, was pronounced dead at 7:25 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson.
He was calm throughout the 14-minute procedure. Outside the prison, about 20 death penalty opponents gathered quietly with signs.
Alderman was sentenced to die for killing his wife, Barbara. He and an accomplice beat her with a crescent wrench and choked her at their home near Savannah before dumping her body in a creek. Prosecutors alleged he wanted to collect $20,000 in life insurance money.
Alderman was the state's longest-serving death row inmate.
Earlier the same day, Alderman lost his bid for clemency before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. His father was among those who asked the five-member board to spare his life. The Georgia Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court each declined to issue an 11th-hour stay. Those seeking clemency argued that Alderman has been a model prisoner and mentor in his more than three decades behind bars. They also noted that his accomplice, John Arthur Brown, was paroled after 12 years in prison.
But David Lock, an assistant district attorney in Chatham County, said Alderman instigated the crime.
``He was more culpable, without him, the crime would not have taken place,'' Lock said. (Sources: Ap, 16/09/2008)
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