Ga. executes Jack Alderman, on death row 34 years--20th man executed in Georgia by Lethal Injection

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008:

GEORGIA----execution

Alderman's death by lethal injection took 14 minutes

The 20th man executed in Georgia by lethal injection took 14 minutes to die Tuesday night...

Adlerman, pronounced dead at 7:25 p.m. Tuesday, has been on death row almost 35 years -- longer than any of the 109 death row inmates in Georgia. He was convicted of the 1974 Chatham County murder of wife Barbara Alderman...

When that conviction was overturned by a federal appeals court, he was convicted in a 2nd trial in 1984.

An accomplice in the murder, John Arthur Brown--Brown was paroled in 1987 and died a free man in New York in 2000.

Alderman's attorney, Michael Seiml, said Tuesday night — after he had exhausted his last appeals to the Georgia parole board for clemency and to the U.S. Supreme Court -- that Alderman, 57, was a model prisoner who deserved to have his death sentence reduced to life. "...the same board that refused clemency for Alderman this morning offered Brown parole," Seiml said. He [Alderman] has been the model prison for 34 years. If that's not enough to get clemency, it's hard to imagine what is."

...No members of Alderman's family witnessed the execution, said Georgia Department of Corrections spokesman Paul Czachowski. 2 members of Barbara Alderman's family were at the prison but did not witness the execution.

Alderman made a recorded statement earlier in the day "thanking everyone who made his life better, considering the circumstances," said Czachowski, paraphrasing the condemned man’s comment.

Alderman declined a final comment. A chaplain prayed for him, saying at one point "Jack, may Christ … free you from excruciating pain." Alderman was administered the lethal injection with needles in each arm while he was strapped down.

Alderman did not make a special last meal request. Instead, at 4 p.m. Tuesday he was given the regular prison meal.

"He barely touched it," said Czachowski.

Alderman becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Georgia and the 43rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983.

 Alderman becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1120th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

(Excerpt from Atlanta Journal-Constitution & Rick Halperin)