254:"I used to be his case manager. So, I've been knowing him for a while," Epps said. "He's pretty serious now. He's not grinning like he was in October." Epps said he stood in front Berry's cell this afternoon and said, "Inmate Berry do you have any remorse for what you did to Mrs. Bounds?" "He said he had no remorse and felt that after 21 years he had paid for it," Epps continued. "He understood the question and that was the answer he gave."
200:. Berry admitted to the killing, and the confession was used against him at trial. He had admitted that he intended to commit rape but had changed his mind. He also changed his mind after telling her she would be freed and drove her to a second wooded location and used his fists to beat her to death. The victim died as a result of repeated blows to the head.
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Though the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied Berry's request to stop his execution (citing exceeded time limits to challenge the constitutionality of lethal injection), the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a stay of execution minutes prior to Berry's scheduled execution at the Mississippi
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Berry finished his last meal of
Barbecue pork chops, barbecue pork sausages, buttered toast, salad (heavy on the onion), mashed potatoes and gravy, pecan pie, and any juice about 4:35 p.m. and was given a sedative. He elected not to take his last shower and did not make any phone calls. His
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During early 1979, Berry was stopped in Maben, MS by then Chief of Police Jimmy McLemore for a traffic offense. During the stop, McLemore attempted to take Berry into custody. A fight ensued with Berry being shot in the stomach, arm and a ricochet to the back of the neck as he attempted to flee.
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Berry used his grandmother's car and later drove to her house, disposed of a pair of mismatched tennis shoes along the way, burned his bloodied clothes, and wiped the vehicle he had used of any blood stains with a towel, which he threw into a nearby pond. Berry's brother, who was at the house,
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Just hours before his execution, Mississippi
Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps described Berry as somber and serious, realizing his death was imminent and giving up hope that the U.S. Supreme Court was going to grant either of his last-minute appeals.
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Based on court testimony, Berry was a disturbed suicidal young man who reportedly attempted to swallow a razor blade at one time, and who had spent time in mental institutions for paranoid schizophrenia. His IQ was estimated to be well below average.
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State
Penitentiary in Parchman. This effectively delayed but did not commute Berry's sentence. The order to delay execution was due to a pending Kentucky case before the court regarding the constitutionality of lethal injection.
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Police found the tennis shoes that Berry had discarded and also recovered the bloodied towel from the pond. Berry was indicted for the murder and kidnapping of Mary Bounds, and as a habitual criminal on March 1, 1988.
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witnessed some of this suspicious behavior. On
December 5, 1987, he called investigators and told them what he had observed. The next day, Berry was arrested at his grandmother's home and soon confessed to the crime.
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noted that they would have denied the application to put off the execution which was scheduled for 6 pm. The Court's delay order came about 15 minutes before Berry was to be put to death by lethal injection.
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jury for the
November 29, 1987 murder of Mary Bounds. The victim was kidnapped and beaten to death after leaving her weekly church choir practice, and her body was found just off a Chickasaw County road near
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Berry's convictions between 1979 and 1981 included simple assault on a law enforcement officer, grand larceny, perjury, burglary and escape.
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with 64 others but was issued a stay of execution in
October 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court. He was ultimately executed on May 21, 2008.
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Prisoner temporarily spared death penalty by court – ABC News (Australian
Broadcasting Corporation)
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Convicted killer executed; family has ‘received justice’ | clarionledger.com | The
Clarion-Ledger
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mother, brother, sister-in-law and two friends visited him on the day of his execution.
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The U.S. Supreme Court denied both Berry's appeals of his execution on May 21, 2008.
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Supreme Court halts execution of Miss. man | clarionledger.com | The
Clarion-Ledger
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Murder, kidnapping, prosecution, convictions, death sentence, lack of remorse
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file://C:\Program Files\Offendertrak\Cache\0EDDMSB000EPI315 0JQ
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Berry had stated in 2007 that he has no remorse for the crime.
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Berry was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. on May 21, 2008.
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List of people executed in the United States in 2008
433:People executed by Mississippi by lethal injection
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191:Berry was convicted and sentenced to death by a
158:from the United States. He was on Mississippi's
234:Dissenting justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and
428:21st-century executions of American people
423:People convicted of murder by Mississippi
214:He was subsequently scheduled to die by
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160:death row
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149:convicted
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156:murderer
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