STARKE, Fla. -- James Dupree Henry, a black man convicted of killing a civil rights activist in a robbery, died trembling in the electric chair today insisting 'I am innocent.'
Henry, 34, died at 7:09 a.m. EDT, the 25th man executed in the United States since the Supreme Court lifted the death penalty ban in 1976 and the ninth in Florida.
'My final words are: I am innocent,' the slender, tattooed black man said before the death hood was dropped over his face.
Henry was pulled into the death chamber at exactly 7 a.m., the moment his 24-hour stay of execution expired. He was to have died Wednesday morning, but the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta granted the temporary reprieve while it considered his case.
The court rejected his appeal and refused to extend the stay, and the Supreme court concurred.
A tight-lipped grimace on his face, Henry appeared to hang back and had to be tugged into the death chamber by guards.
His final words were barely audible in the witness room because the microphone placed in front of him didn't work, and his small frame was dwarfed by the hulking, three-legged oaken chair. He appeared to wink several times at his attorney, Richard Jordanby, and when the hood was dropped over his face he began to tremble.
He clenched his fists several times before the switch was thrown at 7:05 a.m. public defender from West Palm Beach.
Henry ordered a dozen oysters for his last meal because he had never eaten one.
'He ate them all,' said Department of Corrections spokesman Vern Bradford. 'He said he enjoyed them but he didn't want any more.'
Bradford said prison officials had brought an extra serving of oysters, with hot sauce and crackers, in case Henry wanted seconds. He also had half a cantaloupe and grapefruit juice.
Henry was awakened around 4:30 a.m. EDT for breakfast and then was taken for a shower and to have his head shaved in preparation for the electric chair.
'He was rather somber,' said Bradford. 'He said he was ready to go either way the court hold him.'
Late Wednesday night, Henry was visited by his mother, Dora Mae Bradwell of Quincy, Fla., four sisters, two brothers, a woman friend, Flora Talley of Patterson, N.J., and two lawyers.
Henry, who began a life of crime at age 15 when he stole a bicycle, said he didn't know the identity of his mother until recently when she visited him twice at the prison. He had been shuttled among relatives during his youth.
'In my time of need, she was there,' he said in his final interview Tuesday. 'Five years ago, when my first (death) warrant was signed, I didn't really ... need her. But I do now.'
Henry died for the March 24, 1974, murder of Z.R. Riley, his next door neighbor and distinguished Orlando civil rights worker.
Riley, 81, was gagged, tied to a chair and beaten with a pistol. His throat was slit with a razor, but police said he died from strangling on the gag.
Florida had scheduled a double execution for Henry and Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr., 26, condemned for killing an 8-year-old Ocala girl in 1978. But the 11th Circuit court granted Adams an indefinite stay and the Supreme Court refused Florida's request to lift it.
Henry, in his final interview, bitterly accused state officials of using his death to reassure the public that Florida's legal system is working.
'I am a piece. I am a part of their puzzle to show society that the system is working. If I or anyone else is executed, then justice has not been served,' he said. 'It's not going to stop anything. Not the way they think it is.'
