John Spenkelink

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = John Arthur Spenkelink


image_size =
image_caption = FDOC Mugshot
date_of_birth = March 29, 1949
place_of_birth = Le Mars, Iowa, U.S.
date_of_death = May 25, 1979
place_of_death = Florida State Prison, Raiford, U.S.
charge = Murder
penalty = death
status = executed in the electric chair
occupation = felon, escapee
spouse =
parents =
children =

John Arthur Spenkelink (born March 29, 1949 in Le Mars, Iowa — died May 25, 1979 in Starke, Florida) was the first person executed in Florida and the second nationwide since the reintroduction of the death penalty in the United States in 1976. Unlike the first nationwide since the reintroduction (Gary Gilmore), Spenkelink fought his execution until the very end. The last person executed in Florida before the reintroduction of the death penalty had been in 1964 and the last one nationwide had been in Colorado in 1967.

After serving in a California prison for petty crimes he travelled to Florida with another prison inmate. He was condemned to death in 1973 for murdering a traveling companion (named Joseph J. Szymankiewicz) who, Spenkelink alleged, had offered him homosexual relations and forced him to play Russian roulette in a Tallahassee motel.

Spenkelink's case raised some controversy because he claimed he shot the victim in self-defense. According to Spenkelink's attorney, there was a good chance the sentence would be commuted. Spenkelink was offered a chance to admit to second-degree murder and receive a life sentence, but he refused.

In 1977 Governor Reubin O'Donovan Askew signed his first death warrant, but the court stayed execution. In 1979 the new governor, Bob Graham, signed the second and, despite Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who issued a stay, this was the final death warrant.

After the execution, rumors spread that the fighting, shouting Spenkelink was dragged to the electric chair, gagged, beaten, and had his neck broken. The rumors caused Spenkelink's body to be exhumed for an autopsy and the State further decided to perform autopsies on all executed inmates. Some witnesses believe Spenkelink was already dead when placed in the electric chair.

He is known for his last words "Capital punishment: them without the capital get the punishment." [ [http://crime.about.com/od/history/qt/lstwrds_spnklk.htm About.com John Spenkelink's last words] ]

Later in that spring of 1979, Ted Bundy would occupy the same cell at Florida State Prison as Spenkelink had occupied. [cite web|title="The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy" excerpt by Stephen Michaud|work=CrimeLibrary.com|url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/witness/2.html|accessdate=2007-08-11]

See also

* Capital punishment in the United States

References

* [http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/deathrow/execlist.html Execution List - Florida Department of Corrections]
* [http://www.prosecutor.co.clark.in.us/html/death/US/spenkelink002.htm John Arthur Spenkelink - Clark County (IN) Prosecutor]

External links

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946245-1,00.html Long article on Spenkelink - TIME Magazine]
* [http://www.sptimes.com/News/92599/news_pf/State/The_story_of_Old_Spar.shtml Article on Spenkelink and others - St. Petersburg Times]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_4_60/ai_63257720 Article on Spenkelink and others - The Humanist]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10829460 Spenkelink at Findagrave.com]