Ernest Marvin Carter OK RIP

[toe]

Oklahoma Executes Man Despite Clemency Request
Tue December 17, 2002--(Reuters)

McALESTER, Oklahoma - An Oklahoma man convicted in the 1990 murder of a security guard during a robbery was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday despite a recommendation by the state's parole board that his death sentence be stayed. Ernest Marvin Carter, Jr., 36, was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. CST, three minutes after receiving an injection of fatal chemicals at a state prison, said Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie.

"I'll be with y'all on the other side," Carter said in his last words delivered to family members and friends, prison officials said. "I'm going home now."

The state's pardon and parole board this month unanimously recommended Carter's execution be stayed, citing a lack of direct evidence that Carter committed the crime. Carter has also maintained his innocence.

Despite the board's recommendation, Gov. Frank Keating denied a stay of execution after he reviewed the case. Keating has said in recent speeches that death sentences should have a higher standard for conviction, saying no one should be put to death without "moral certainty" that they committed the crime. The parole board often cited that phrase in their recommendation that Carter's execution be stayed.

Carter was convicted of the shooting death of Eugene Manowski, 35, a security guard for an automobile auction company. Police say Carter shot Manowski while stealing a tow truck from the auction house lot.

An accomplice, Charles L. Summers, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Carter's last requested meal was a deep-dish pizza, a soft drink and a slice of cherry cheesecake. Carter is the 55th person executed in the state since Oklahoma reinstated the death penalty in 1977 and resumed executions in 1990. He is the third person Oklahoma has executed this month.

[B-Ray]

Oklahoma executes seventh inmate this year
2002-12-17
By Jennifer L. Brown
Associated Press Writer


McALESTER, Okla. - A man convicted of firing a fatal shot into a night watchman's head so he could steal a $500 tow truck was executed Tuesday night in Oklahoma's death chamber.
Ernest Carter died at 6:14 p.m. for the 1990 murder of Eugene Manowski, a father of six who was working the graveyard shift at a northwest Oklahoma City auction.

Carter's attorneys failed at a last-ditch plea for his life after Gov. Frank Keating denied the convicted killer clemency. They sent the governor a letter Monday asking him to reconsider last month's unanimous recommendation from the state Pardon and Parole Board to spare Carter's life.

It was the first time in more than 50 years that the board voted unanimously to recommend clemency for a condemned inmate and the fourth time the board recommended clemency since Keating took office in 1995.

Keating has rejected all but one of those recommendations.

Carter, who had been fired from the auction for sleeping on the job, crawled through a hole in a fence, cut the lights to the guard shack and killed Manowski so he could steal a wrecker, court records say.

His co-defendant, Charles Summers, was sentenced to life in prison.

Summers' girlfriend testified that she drove with the men from Chandler to Oklahoma City the night of the murder and that Carter got out of the car near the auto auction. She claims he came to their home sometime in the middle of the night, saying he had killed a man and the tow truck he stole had broken down on the way back to Chandler.

Carter and Summers towed the truck, repainted it and eventually burned it.

Another trial witness, Larry Denson, told jurors Carter told him he "offed" a man so he could steal the wrecker. The governor had state agents interview Denson again before deciding against clemency Sunday.

Other evidence linking Carter to the murder included muddy footprints at the auto auction that were similar to boots he wore when he was arrested. Also, investigators found .38-caliber shells in Carter's trunk and the guard shack where Manowski was murdered.

Defense attorney Gary Chubbuck said the case against Carter was circumstantial and did not meet the governor's standard of "moral certainty."

Death penalty opponents asked Keating to reconsider at a rally Tuesday outside the governor's Capitol office.

"Mr. Carter is about to be killed by our hands and it shouldn't happen," said Rita Newton, director of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches.

Carter, 36, has maintained his innocence the last 12 years. He claims he found out about the stolen wrecker when he went to work at Summers' body shop the next morning.

His last appeal was denied at 3 p.m. At noon, prison guards served Carter, one of 106 Oklahoma death row inmates, his last meal, a deep-dish supreme pizza, 7-Up and one slice of cherry cheesecake.

He was the seventh and last inmate executed in Oklahoma this year. Two executions are scheduled in January

[Joy]

I am on a OCADP e-mail list and received this:

We have done all that can be done for Ernest Carter,
Jr.

His last legal appeal has been denied.
I just concluded a phone call with his attorney,
who was preparing to be taken inside the wall to
witness the 6pm execution.

The Press Conference this morning included: Myself,
speaking for ACLU; Rita Newton for the Oklahoma
Conferences of Churches; Stan Bassler, United
Methodist Director of Criminal Justice and Mercy
Ministries; Dr. Susan Sharp for Oklahoma Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty; Shirley Cox for Catholic
Charities; Ann Fowler as a mother of an executed
inmate (Mark Fowler); Martha Holmes, President of the
National Social Workers Assoc., Ok. Chapter; Rex
Friend on behalf of the Quakers; Bill Martin on behalf
of Pardon and Parole Reform; Nathaniel Batchelder on
behalf of the Peace House and Cheryl Hill on behalf of
United Methodist Church, Skyline Ministries.

After the press conference we lined up at the
Governor's receptionist's desk and asked to see the
Governor. The line stretched through the reception
office and out into the hall. We were told the
Governor wouldn't see us. We informed her we would
wait. After a while the Governor sent his "legal
spokeswoman Judy" out. She said the Governor had
reviewed the case against Ernest Carter, Jr. and
decided he was guilty. We reminded her his role was
not to retry Mr. Carter -- but to decide if clemency
and mercy are called for .... or to grant a 30-day
stay. She said the Governor would not do either. It
was a done deal.

I did receive confirmation that Governor Ryan would
attempt to reach Gov. Keating this afternoon -- to
attempt to change his mind about clemency. Gov Ryan
(Illinois) usually does not get involved in the death
penalty affairs of other states but he thought the 4-0
vote by the Pardon and Parole Board spoke volumes. I
haven't heard if he's made the call. I am quite sure
if he does, Gov. Keating will treat him with less
respect than he did the Pope -- when he informed the
Pope he was wrong about the death penalty.

At 5pm we will gather in front of the Governor's
Mansion to protest the killing of a possible innocent
man, Ernest Carter, Jr.

Thank you for trying.

Joann Bell

[Joy]

This is another E-mail that I have received... just passing it on for anyone that wishes to respond:

I have just returned home from attending the Ernest Carter Execution Protest - Vigil in front of the Governor's mansion.

Ernest Carter left this life (officially) at 6:14 PM, Oklahoma Time on this day, December 17, 2002. May he rest in peace!

In the event that anyone may want to contact Ernest's mother, here is the information:

Gloria Wallace
P.O. Box 362
Wellston, OK 74881
USA

Let is all be in prayer for Ernest's family members as well as for the members of the victim's family.

Love and prayers,

Bob Lambert, Director
Harvest Ministry of OK

[SSK]

here we go again...

again...

again tears in my eyes
again that question...why?!
again the fear knowing that one day my dear friend is next..
again...again...why???

[jodiamond]

I was a penfriend of Ernest Carter for a couple of years and he was a lovely man. I got to know him well through his letters, he was intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive. What a waste of a life.

I feel sympathy for the victim's family, because no-one should go through the pain of losing a loved one in such a callous, brutal way, but I don't feel the evidence was strong enough to convict Ernest. Certainly the Pardon and Parole board felt the same way as me. I feel that Gov. Keating ordered Ernest's execution for political reasons.

Ernest deserved to live.

Jodi

[Keltria]

To be honest in most cases they all deserve to live. they make mistakes, and they pay for them 1000's of times over before their execution.

[jodiamond]

Originally Posted by Keltria

To be honest in most cases they all deserve to live. they make mistakes, and they pay for them 1000's of times over before their execution.

Yes, they all deserve to live, it's wrong for the state to take a life. If the state takes a life, it denies that a person can be rehabilitated. The death penalty suggests that only revenge can bring closure, but where then is justice?

Jodi

[J.J]

I am really sorry to hear this. My condolences and thoughts go out to his family and friends.