Name Jack Alderman Convictions Murder | ||
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Born 29 May 1951 ( 1951-05-29 ) Criminal status Executed by lethal injection Died September 16, 2008, Jackson, Georgia, United States | ||
Criminal penalty Capital punishment | ||
Jack Edward Alderman (29 May 1951 – 16 September 2008) was, at the time of his execution, the longest-serving death row prisoner in the United States who has been executed. He had remained on death row for over 33 years.
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History
Alderman was born 29 May 1951.
On 14 June 1975 he was convicted for his part in the killing of his wife Barbara Jean Alderman and given the death sentence by the Superior Court of Chatham County, Georgia. His wife was beaten to death with a crescent wrench and choked before being dumped into a creek.
On 1 April 1985, at a new sentencing trial, he was again sentenced to die.
A Timesonline article states: "Alderman’s co-defendant, John Brown, a drug addict and alcoholic, confessed to the murder, but then changed his story to implicate Alderman. Brown claimed that he and Alderman killed Mrs Alderman together, and that Alderman promised to pay him for his role in the killing. There was no forensic evidence and Alderman was convicted only as a result of statements provided by Brown."
The prosecutors, however, maintained that Jack Alderman attempted to defraud $20,000 from his wife's life insurance.
Marcel Berlins of The Guardian wrote: "Alderman had claimed from the start he was innocent, even refusing to enter into plea bargains that would have spared his life, because that would have meant admitting his culpability".
Alderman, Georgia Department of Corrections# 385463, was held at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia.
Constitutionality of lethal injection
On 19 September 2007, an execution date for Jack Alderman, there was a temporary stay while the Supreme Court decided on the constitutionality of lethal injection.
Legal action and campaigning
The Law Society, the Bar Council and the charity Reprieve, all organizations in Europe, called on the United Kingdom's then Foreign Secretary, to use diplomatic channels to stay the execution of American convict Alderman and end what they called the “gross injustice of 34 years”. They also sent letters to the Governor and Attorney-General of Georgia and its Board of Pardons and Paroles. Alderman was represented free-of-charge by the London law firm Clifford Chance.
Execution
He was executed by lethal injection by the US State of Georgia on 16 September 2008.
Jack Alderman was pronounced dead at 7:25 p.m. EDT at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison.