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词条 James Terry Roach
释义

  1. The Murders

  2. General references

  3. See also

{{inline|date=November 2018}}{{Infobox criminal
| name = James Terry Roach
| image_name =
| image_size =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1960|2|18|mf=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1986|1|10|1960|2|18|mf=y}}
| death_place = Central Correction Institute, Columbia, South Carolina
| conviction = One count of rape, Two counts of murder
| conviction_penalty = Death (December 16, 1977)
| conviction_status = Executed by electric chair
}}

James Terry Roach (February 18, 1960 – January 10, 1986) was the second person to be executed by the state of South Carolina following the 1976 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorizing the use of capital punishment by the states. He was electrocuted on January 10, 1986, nearly a year to the day following the electrocution of his accomplice, Joseph Carl Shaw on January 11, 1985, at the Central Correctional Institution in Columbia. He was executed at the age of 25 for a crime committed when he was 17 years old.

On December 13, 1977, Roach pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, and robbery.[1] He was convicted of the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and the murder of her seventeen-year-old boyfriend. Evidence presented at the trial showed that Roach was mentally handicapped, with an I.Q. between 75 and 80 and that he was probably suffering from Huntington's Chorea. Moreover, the sentencing judge found that Roach was under the influence of Shaw when the crimes were committed. Despite these mitigating factors, the sentencing judge declared that the death penalty was warranted in this case.

The sentence was upheld on appeal by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Several attempts to seek review of the case or to bring a petition of habeas corpus were unsuccessful. The US Supreme Court declined to grant him certiorari.

Pleas for legal reconsideration came from the United Nations,[2] international figures, and former president Jimmy Carter. Governor Richard Riley denied clemency.[3]

On 10 January 1986, Roach, age 25, was strapped into the electric chair and gave his last words: "To my family and friends, there is only three words to say: I love you." He then gave a thumbs-up sign, reportedly to signal he was ready to die.[4] He was pronounced dead at 5:16 AM. [5]

The case of James Terry Roach was brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which found by five votes to one that the United States Government had violated Article I (Right to Life) and Article II (right to equality before the law) of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man in executing James Terry Roach. This was the first time that the United States was found to be in violation with its human rights obligations under the said Declaration.[6][7]

The Murders

On October 29, 1977, Roach and accomplices Joseph Carl Shaw and Ronald Eugene Mahaffey spent the morning drinking beer and doing drugs. The three then spent the early afternoon driving around in an attempt to "find a girl to rape," according to Mahaffey.[8]

After pulling beside a parked car at a baseball field outside of Columbia, South Carolina, Roach aimed a .22 caliber rifle at the car's occupants, 14-year old Carlotta Hartness and 17-year old Thomas Taylor. Roach demanded they give them their money and Taylor obliged. Shaw and Mahaffey then got out of the car, took Taylor's keys, and forced Carlotta into the backseat of Shaw's car. Once back in the car, Shaw said to Roach "OK, now!" to which Roach fired the rifle into the parked car, killing Thomas Taylor.[9]

Carlotta was then driven to a dirt road not far away where they demanded she undress. She was forced to perform oral sex on Shaw and Mahaffey and was raped repeatedly by all three. Once they were finished, Shaw then asked who would kill her. Roach volunteered to be the one to shoot the girl. Shaw ordered Carlotta to lay face down on the ground, to which she initially refused and pled with them to spare her life. Eventually giving in to their demands, she put her face to the ground, and Roach shot her several times in the head. Shaw shot her in the head once more, then buried of the rifle, bullets, and wallet they had stolen from Taylor earlier. The three then returned to the baseball field to confirm that Taylor was dead.[10]

General references

1. ^757 F.2d 1463. Roach v. Martin. March 20, 1985. United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
2. ^Capital punishment for minors was at the time prohibited under the ICCPR (U.S. signed 1977, ratified 1992) and American Convention on Human Rights (U.S. signed 1977, never ratified)
3. ^{{cite news |date=1986-01-10 |title=Court Clears Execution Of South Carolina Man |work=The New York Times |agency=AP |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/10/us/around-the-nation-court-clears-execution-of-south-carolina-man.html |accessdate=2007-11-12}}
4. ^{{cite news |last=Phillips |first=Robert Anthony |date=2000-01-12 |title=Those Who Died for Juvenile Crimes |work=APBnews.com |url= http://www.apbnews.com/cjsystem/justicenews/2000/01/12/executions0112_01.html |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20020209215953/http://www.apbnews.com/cjsystem/justicenews/2000/01/12/executions0112_01.html |archivedate=2002-02-09}}
5. ^{{cite news |title=SOUTH CAROLINA EXECUTES KILLER: AGE STIRS PROTEST |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/11/us/south-carolina-executes-killer-age-stirs-protest.html |accessdate=18 March 2019 |agency=The New York Times |date=11 January 1986}}
6. ^{{cite |title= United States 9647 |date=1987-09-22 |docket=James Terry Roach & Jay Pinkerton v United States |issue=9647 |volume=3 |series=87 |work=OAS – Inter-American Commission on Human Rights |url=http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/86.87eng/EUU9647.htm |accessdate=2010-07-20}}
7. ^{{cite journal |editor-last=Shelton |editor-first=Dinah |editor-link=Dinah Shelton |title=Note— Decision by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights |year=1987 |issue=8 |pages=345–361 |journal=Human Rights Law Journal }}
8. ^757 F.2d 1463. Roach v. Martin. March 20, 1985. United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
9. ^757 F.2d 1463. Roach v. Martin. March 20, 1985. United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
10. ^757 F.2d 1463. Roach v. Martin. March 20, 1985. United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
  • U.S. Executions Since 1976, at The Office of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney . Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  • James Terry Roach, on Murderpedia. Retrieved on 2017-01-14.
  • {{cite book |last=Shuler |first=Rita Y |title=Carolina Crimes: Case Files of a Forensic Photographer |date=2006-08-01 |publisher=The History Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1614233357 |accessdate=2018-01-14 |isbn=9781596291669}}
  • {{cite court |litigants=Roach v. Martin |vol=757 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=1463 |court=4th Cir. |date=1985-03-20}}

See also

  • Roper v Simmons, 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the execution of those under 18 (at the time of committing the capital crime) is Unconstitutional.
  • Thompson v Oklahoma: 1988 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the execution of those who committed their crime when 16 is Unconstitutional.
  • Capital punishment for juveniles in the United States
  • List of individuals executed in South Carolina
  • Capital punishment in South Carolina
  • Capital punishment in the United States
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roach, James Terry}}

12 : 1986 deaths|Minors convicted of murder|American people convicted of murder|People executed for murder|People from Columbia, South Carolina|20th-century executions by South Carolina|People executed by South Carolina by electric chair|20th-century executions of American people|Place of birth missing|People convicted of murder by South Carolina|Juvenile offenders executed by the United States|1960 births

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