JACKSON, Ga. (Reuters) - A Vietnam veteran who spent 20 years on death row for the rape and murder of his two-year-old niece was executed on Monday in Georgia after courts rejected his bid for DNA testing of new evidence.
Eddie Albert Crawford, 57, received a lethal injection at the state prison in Jackson, Georgia, about 50 miles south of Atlanta. He died at 7:49 p.m. EDT, Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Peggy Chapman said.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to block the execution.
Crawford, who claimed to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and blackouts after his return from military service in Vietnam, was sentenced to death in 1984 for killing Leslie English, his niece through marriage.
Posted by Webmaster at July 20, 2004 12:54 AM