Thursday, March 29, 1984/The Battalion/Page 5
iney Com
i Miss Souil
id Miss Wes;
Antonio
>eople from!
n San Am
during i| t |
pageant in
; all the moiij
said,
see tears
ou knowjuj
iP u
>
igif
United Press International
HUNTSVILLE — “Candy-
in” killer Ronald Clark
Bryan, nearing execution
Brday for poisoning his son
th Halloween candy, came
ace to face Wednesday with the
ifather of one of his intended
[ms and pleaded his inno-
Je.
h’ve stated from the begin-
|g that I had absolutely no-
at all to do with this, and I
itain that now,” O'Bryan
efense lawyer Will Gray late
Wednesday filed in Houston
ral court a writ of habeas
|us and a request for a stay of
^pending execution. Gray
noted that several jurors
been improperly disqual-
still pleading
if led from O’Bryan’s trial in
1974.
The Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals in Austin Wednesday
denied without explanation
O’Bryan’s request for a stay, re
moving one more hurdle be
tween the 39-year-old former
optician and death by lethal in
jection.
An attorney for the Houston
chapter of the American Civil
Liberties also filed suit Wednes
day in federal court asking for a
preliminary injunction because
he said the method of execution
was “cruel and unusual punish
ment.”
Attorney Stefan Presser
noted in his suit that the Food
and Drug Administration is re
quired by Congress to test all
drugs to make sure they are safe
and produce their intended use.
He said the testing had not been
done. He claimed the method of
execution was cruel because it
took death row inmate James
Autry 15 minutes to die after the
injection was administered to
him earlier this month.
A jury convicted O’Bryan of
feeding his 8-year-old son
Timothy a cyanide-laced Giant
Pixy Stix on a stormy Halloween
night in 1974 to collect $31,000
insurance money. Prosecutors
said O’Bryan gave Timothy
Kool-aid to wash down the
poison.
O’Bryan’s daughter, Eli
zabeth, who was six then, and
three neighbor children — in
cluding Whitney Parker — also
received the candy. Only
Timothy ate it.
his innocence to media
The Parker boy’s stepfather,
Charles Hudgins, publisher of a
weekly community newspaper,
was one of two dozen reporters
who spoke with O’Bryan in an
interview area off death row.
Hudgins had a private five-
minute conversation with
O’Bryan and afterward said he
pressed the inmate for a final
explanation.
“I asked him why he has not
cried out loudly about author
ities not catching the right per
son — if he is not that person,”
Hudgins said. “The only thing
he said is that he’s written let
ters.”
It was the first meeting be
tween the former neighbors
since Timothy’s funeral two
days before O’Bryan was
charged in his son’s death.
“I also asked him if he thinks
he is innocent, why has he not
corresponded with us and the
Bates family, and tried to con
vince us of this,” Hudgins said.
“Again, the only thing I got from
him was that he didn’t know
what to say to us.”
Mark and Kim Bates, chil
dren of another former
O’Bryan neighbor, Jimmy
Bates, also received poisoned
candy. Bates, who trick or tre
ated with O’Bryan and the kids,
has told United Press Interna
tional he has no doubt about
O’Bryan’s guilt.
Hudgins traveled 100 miles
from Pasadena, where he pub
lishes the weekly Free News En
terprise, to speak to O’Bryan for
“various” reasons. He declined
to characterize the meeting due
to his position as a workingjour-
nalist.
Prior the private meeting,
O’Bryan took questions from re
porters including a television
crew from the Phil Donahue
Show.
When asked if he was fearful
of dying by an overdose of
drugs, he said, “No. I’ve always
associated fear with guilt, and
guilt with fear. Because I have
no guilt and because I know I
didn’t do it, and the people close
to me know I could not have
done it, and because the Lord
knows I didn’t do it. I’ve got no
thing to be scared about.”
O’Bryan claims the evidence
which convicted him “had no
basis in fact.” He said it was “100
percent circumstantial” and that
he was a scapegoat for a panic-
stricken neighborhood.
O’Bryan said he does not
know who the killer might be
and that he is tortured by the
thought of so many people hat
ing him. Fellow death row in
mates call him “Candyman.”
“When I die,” O’Bryan said,
“I know where I’m going. They
can lock up my body but not my
mind or my spirit.”
He said that in the last week
he has filled out paper work
necessary for the execution and
that officials have reviewed the
procedure with him.
If executed, O’Bryan will be
the third Texas inmate to be put
to death since the U.S. Supreme
Court reinstated the Texas
death penalty in the early 1970s.
shocked.!
issian onli
o the audiel
lincing. HtiJ
s in Russian
d a strongi
the progd
wore they
irm.
I it would (a
Russian ol
to discuss
When the ij
of Russia
antes fromh
Agency, the
is of the
a presentai
iolemn march marks
>rd anniversary of TMI
United Press International
[MIDDLETOWN, Pa. —
ige cooling towers looming
pre them, about 150 people
Iched solemnly Wednesday
Three Mile Island nuclear
it and cheered Jesse Jack-
call for a permanent clos-
lof the facility.
Ill is time to close this plant
, #/\l« ver > ^e Democratic pres-
u Cl Vidal candidate told marchers
^ ^ lithe fifth anniversary of the
It accident in U.S. commer-
al nuclear power history,
lere must be a better way,
I we oppose the restart of
MI Unit 1.”
>1 Hill, SenM
aders explckson is the only Democra-
:agan’s eititforesidential hopeful to come
)r El Salvai
out against the plant reopening
and nuclear power.
March organizers said 1984 is a
crucial year in their fight to get
TMI’s damaged Unit 2 cleaned
up and to keep the undamaged
Unit 1 from being restarted.
The candlelight vigil began at
3:30 a.m. EST with a half-mile
procession in a steady rain to the
gates of the southcentral Penn
sylvania plant, followed by five
minutes of silence at 4 a.m.
The plant began to lose cool
ing water and its Unit 2 reactor
overheated at 4 a.m. on March
28, 1979.
Golorado Sen. Gary Hart,
another Democratic presiden
tial hopeful, got a mixed reac
tion in nearby Harrisburg last
week when he said the undam
aged unit should not be res
tarted until it is proven safe and
area residents’ opinions have
been heard.
The marchers carried blue
and orange globed candles and
displayed signs reading, “The
Public Will Shut TMI,” and
“Keep TMI Shut.” They sang
traditional protest and folk
songs before ending the observ
ance.
The Nuclear Regulatory Com
mission has scheduled a June
vote on whether to allow the un
damaged reactor back into ser
vice. Unit 1 was shut down for
refueling at the time of the acci
dent.
♦MIAMI
\ 'a 'I'.R
■ttffBin
\ -
2§,
h
L
HALF
price:
BOOKS
-4L
3828 TEXAS AVENUE • BRYAN
846-2738
RECORDS
MAGAZINES
COMICS!!
i a vote Tki
Speaker T.l
e doesnoiJ
i aid to El»
xt montlrsl
cratic Polk
-al Amend
:d by Sen.
-vaii, metfaj
nesday.
, Inouyekl
ertainTel
$61.7 mil
military aid
rite movest
unedy of
to redutf
fe
s
nicide ine
Arledge pn
:rve timet
e his Texas
m concurret
e term.
ssee, he m
role until 21)1
Id be eligiblf
is indicteil
s told autlii
>ld theinab
as, who is st
mces inaNa
e prison, Its
Arledge W
the killiai
special low prices on towels
-
ol
19
St.
33
30
2C% TO 50% OFF! FLUFFY
TOWELS IN PRINTS OR SOLIDS
3.99
Bath reg. ^8. Big, fluffy towels in geometric or floral
prints to mix and match with solid colors. A bright
idea for any bath! Hand towel, reg. $5.. .2.99
Washcloth, reg. 2.50. . . 199.
SPECIAL! SPRINGMAID AND
MARTEX® VELOUR TOWELS
5.99
Bath. Soft and cuddly cotton/polyester towels in
dainty florals and exciting geometries. Velvety ve
lour reverses to absorbent loop terry.
Hand towel... 3.99 Washcloth... 1.99.
SAVE 20% ON TOWELS FROM
MARTEX® AND J.P. STEVENS®
7.99
Bath, reg. 9.99. Inspiration “Pima" cotton towels by
Martex and Indulgence cotton towels from J;P.
Stevens... both in sensational solid colors. Hand
towel reg. 6.49. . . 5.49 Washcloth, reg. 2.79... 2.49.
shop Dillard's monday thru Saturday 10-9: post oak mall, college station
DILLARD'S WELCOMES THE AMERICAN EXPRESS* CARD