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BarefootcriticizescoverageHUNTSVILLE, Texas (UPI) -Thomas “Andy” Barefoot, likely the next Texas death row inmate to die by lethal injection, said the execution of Ronald Clark O’Bryan did not disturb him as much as the way the news media exploited the case.Barefoot, 91, who was 13 miles away from the death chamber when O’Bryan was executed March 31, said the scene resembled a “ dog and pony” show. He criticized reporters for defying O’Bryan’s wishes to leave his family out of the coverage.O’Bryan, 39, was executed Saturday for poisoning his 8-year-old son with Halloween candy in 1974 to collect insurance money.‘‘I was very much upset — not that he was lulled — but about the exploitation of what went down,” Barefoot said.‘“I’m feeling like I’m not going to be the next show pony,” said Barefoot, sentenced to die for the1978 shooting death of a central Texas policeman.Though no execution date has been set for Barefoot, the U.S. Supreme Court has already denied an appeal to his case, making him the next likely candidate to die by lethal injection in Texas.The condemned man said the execution did not bother him because he said as a Christian he is assured of eternal life.Barefoot said he would not grant extensive interviews prior to his scheduled execution to avoid news coverage similar to that surrounding O’Bryan’s death.Jay Kelly Pinkerton, 22, scheduled for execution May 31, has declined interviews because he said the news media treated O’Bryan unfairly in his final days.Pinkerton was convicted in the1979 slashing death of an Amarillo housewife during a robbery. Testimony showed Pinkerton sliced open the the women’s stomach, cut off her breasts, slashed her throat and sexually abused her before and after she died.Both Pinkerton and Barefoot said the news media did not give enough coverage to O’Bryan’s insistence that he was innocent.O’Bryan, dubbed “Candyman” by fellow inmates, was not well liked on death row. When he died at 12:45 a.m. Saturday, many death row inmates had already gone to sleep. Others reflected on his death silently.Following the Dec. 7, 1982, ex-euction of Charlie Brooks Jr, of Fort Worth, Texas, death row inmates rattled their cell bars and shouted in protest of the killing.Death row observed Texas’ second execution — James David Autry on March 14 - by turning off their television sets and paus-k* for a moment of silence.
Newspaper Details
Brownsville Herald
Brownsville, Texas, US
Thu, Apr 05, 1984
Page 43
Full Page
Clipped by
Jared T.
NA, NA 16 Jan 2024
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