Michael Thompson Is Executed By Lethal Injection For Killing Masie Gray (posted 3/30/03)

Storm clouds gather over Alabama's death row at Holman Correctional Facility near Atmore on the evening of Thursday, March 13th 2003.

At around 5:40 CST, March 13th, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court denied without opinion a final appeal to stop the execution for Michael Eugene Thompson.

It marked the second failure by his attorneys to convince the Alabama and U.S. Supreme Courts that Thompson was denied a fair clemency trial. Other appeals of his capital murder crimes were also unsuccessful. Thompson was convicted of kidnapping and murdering elderly convenience store clerk, Masie Gray, in Blount County in 1984. After spending 17 years on Alabama's death row, Thompson was to be put to death on March 13th, 2003. Thompson chose lethal injection over the electric chair as his method of execution. At around 6:33 pm, supporters of Mrs. Gray, including family members of his three children, were led to one of the state's two execution witness rooms. Media witnesses and supporters of Thompson were led to another. The following is an account of the execution ...

Supporters of Michael Thompson and his victim, Masie Gray were seated in two separate rooms, each lit by a faint red fluorescent light. Each room faces a large, curtained window that looks into the execution chamber. Once prison officials were ready, the curtain was drawn away from the window, revealing Thompson, dressed in white, arms outstretched, securely strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm. Thompson declined to make any final statements, and avoided eye contact with several member's of Gray's family, including her three children. The prison chaplain knelt down beside him, took his hand and they began to pray. As they prayed, the IV started pumping the first of seven injections that would end his life. The chaplain prayed until the first injection rendered Thompson unconscious. His head slumped to the side and he appeared to be asleep, breathing gently, twitching slightly. Two minutes later the breathing stops. Two more minutes pass, and his lips and face began to lose color. In another six minutes, Thompson's eyes appear slightly open, but show no life. Six minutes later, the curtain is drawn shut as doctors check Thompson's vital signs. He is declared dead at 7:00 pm.

Thompson is the second Alabama inmate to die by lethal injection. Prison officials say they are satisfied with the procedure.

Brett Tannehill, representing Alabama Public Radio and Druid City Online served as one of three media witness to Thompson's execution. Also witnessing were Dave Bryant of the Alabama Association Press and Patricia Dedrick of the Birmingham News.

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