A man was hanged Friday for slitting the throats of two women and a child in a revenge slaying that led to new laws protecting victims and witnesses. In Texas, a police killer was executed by injection.
Charles Rodman Campbell, 39, was put to death in Walla Walla just after midnight in the nation's second hanging in nearly two decades. He was strapped to a board to keep him upright because he was too weak to stand, officials said.He offered no final words and was pronounced dead six minutes after he was dropped through a trap door.
Two hours earlier, Stephen Nethery, 33, went to his death in Huntsville, Texas.
In a final statement, Nethery asked that others pray for his family and the family of his victim. He then recited a short prayer himself, concluding, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Amen."
Campbell and Nethery were the 241st and 242nd inmates put to death in the United States since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Since then, Washington has executed two inmates, Texas 77.
Campbell was convicted of killing Renae Wicklund, her 8-year-old daughter, Shannah, and neighbor Barbara Hendrickson at Wicklund's home in 1982. He slashed the throats of all three, nearly beheading the child.
After the slayings, Washington enacted laws granting violent-crime victims the right to be notified when their attackers are released and requiring that victims and witnesses be told the outcome of cases.
Condemned inmates in Washington can choose lethal injection instead of hanging, but Campbell had said choosing would violate his religious principles.
Nethery was convicted of shooting to death Dallas police Officer John McCarthy in 1981 after McCarthy discovered him having sex with a woman in a car at a lake. The woman said she was raped, but Nethery was never prosecuted for rape.
The Supreme Court refused in an 8-1 vote late Thursday to halt Nethery's execution.