Darden Put to Death, Still Claiming He Was Innocent

Convicted murderer Willie Jasper Darden, who maintained his innocence through 14 years on death row and became the focus of an international debate on capital punishment, was executed today in Florida’s electric chair.

Darden, 54, was convicted of fatally shooting Lakeland businessman James C. Turman while robbing his wife of $15 in September, 1973.

“I was not guilty for the charge for which I was arrested and this morning I tell you I am not guilty of the charge for which I am about to be executed,” Darden said in a final statement to 30 witnesses in the death chamber.

“I go this morning with a clear conscience. I bear no guilt. I’m at peace with myself, with the world, with each of you. God bless you.”

Darden winked and nodded at one of his attorneys just before the hood was put over his head. He was declared dead at 7:12 a.m. after 2,000 volts of electricity flowed through his body for two minutes. Two puffs of smoke rose from his right leg where one of the electrodes was attached.

Darden’s case attracted worldwide attention, including pleas for clemency from Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei D. Sakharov, Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, actress Margot Kidder and others. They said Darden was railroaded because he was black and the victim was white.

Darden refused his last meal this morning. By 6 a.m., he had showered, and his head and lower right leg were shaved to facilitate the flow of electricity.

Darden’s last hope had been a reprieve from Gov. Bob Martinez, who signed Darden’s seventh black-bordered death warrant last week and said Monday that he had no plans to issue a stay.

“I think of the victim at a moment like this and the family which was destroyed,” Martinez said.

“The governor’s hands are now stained with the blood of a man from whom justice was withheld,” Amnesty International said in a statement from New York.