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| Killer Who Penned Prison Poetry Executed in California |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 02/11/2002 |
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The state of California last week executed Stephen Wayne Anderson, a convicted killer who became a prize-winning poet during his years on death row, for the 1980 murder of an 81-year-old retired schoolteacher. Anderson, 48, was put to death by lethal injection at 12:32 a.m. PST at San Quentin State Prison just hours after last-ditch legal moves to save his life failed, a prison spokesman said. Anderson fought an unsuccessful battle to stave off execution, saying California Gov. Gray Davis's stated opposition to leniency in death penalty cases meant that he could not receive a fair clemency hearing. His efforts were bolstered by supporters, including members of PEN, the international writers' group, who said that during his time in prison Anderson had reformed and become an accomplished author, poet and playwright. But a series of courts disagreed, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined late on Monday to stop the execution. Anderson's execution was the first in California since last March and the 10th since the nation's most-populous state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1992. Davis, who has denied that he is unfairly predisposed against granting clemency, said that he carefully reviewed Anderson's case and concluded there was no doubt about his guilt. 'There is no dispute that Mr. Anderson, with an IQ of 136, is an extremely intelligent man. But his intelligence, ironically, also makes the brutality and indifference of his crimes all the more reprehensible,' Anderson was serving time in Utah State Prison when he killed another inmate in 1977. He escaped two years later, and officials say they know he committed at least one 'murder for hire' while a fugitive. During his years on California's death row, Anderson studied and took to writing, eventually winning two awards from PEN for his poetry. His poems were used as the basis for the play 'Lament from Death Row,' which was produced off-Broadway in New York in the mid-1990s. Supporters said Anderson's literary talent -- which he has used to explore themes of prison, death and guilt -- was rare. |
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