Steff Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Florida's campus killer calmly awaits execution POSTED: 5:46 p.m. EDT, October 24, 2006 GAINESVILLE, Florida (AP) -- Danny Harold Rolling, Florida's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, was "remarkably calm" as he awaited his execution for the grisly 1990 slayings of five college students in Gainesville, his attorney said Tuesday. Rolling's lawyers filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay of execution. The Florida attorney general asked the court to reject Rolling's application. Rolling, 52, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a reign of terror that paralyzed Gainesville as the University of Florida's fall semester was beginning 16 years ago. "He was remarkably calm. He is a lot calmer than his lawyers are," said Baya Harrison, his appeals lawyer. He said that Rolling told him: "I don't want to die, but it looks like I'm going to die." His execution is reopening old wounds for some of the victims' families. Several relatives plan to watch the execution at Florida State Prison in Starke, including Diana Hoyt, the stepmother of Christa Hoyt. "This is a tough thing, but is a necessary thing to go through," she said. "This is the final thing we can do for Christa and for my late husband and her dad, Gary." "It is very hard for us to see someone else die," she said. "But, he deserves it." Ricky Paules, the mother of victim Tracy Paules, will be joined by another daughter: "If you see us crying, it is not for Rolling, but for Tracy." The students' bodies, some mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted, were found over a three-day period in August and September 1990. The killing spree touched off a massive manhunt, causing students to cower in fear and purchase weapons as the killer remained unidentified. (Full story) Rolling was in jail for a supermarket robbery when investigators used DNA to link him to the killings months later. When he was finally scheduled to go on trial in 1994, he shocked the courtroom by pleading guilty to the five slayings. Rolling's remaining appeal contends that the chemicals used in Florida's execution process can cause severe pain. It is before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has turned down the same arguments in two other Florida executions this fall. Harrison does not believe he will be able to halt the execution. "It's tough, we are down to the last effort," Harrison said. "I'm not hopeful, to tell you the truth." Crowds are expected outside the prison Wednesday, with possibly the largest turnout since Bundy's execution. Bundy was suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women across the country. He was electrocuted January 24, 1989, in the same death chamber where Rolling will die by lethal injection. That case was still fresh in the minds of many when Rolling's killings began the next year in roughly the same area as some of Bundy's. Sonja Larson, 18, and Christina Powell, 17, were stabbed to death on a Sunday afternoon in 1990, in a townhouse just off the University of Florida campus. The 18-year-old Hoyt, who had been decapitated, was found the next morning in her isolated duplex; and Tracy Paules and Manny Taboada, both 23, were discovered dead a day later at Gatorwood Apartments. Authorities in Rolling's hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, investigating a triple slaying that they believe he committed, later suggested to a task force that it should check out the drifter and ex-con. The DNA left at the crime scenes in Gainesville matched genetic material police recovered from Rolling during some dental work. Throughout the years, Rolling has insisted he was not as atrocious as many thought. In a letter to The Associated Press in 2002, Rolling wrote, "I assure you I am not a salivating ogre. Granted ... time's past; the dark era of long ago -- Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde did strike up & down the corridors of insanety." Rolling claimed he had good and bad multiple personalities. He blamed the murders on abuse he suffered as a child from his police officer father and his treatment in prison. He said he killed one person for every year he was behind bars. He served a total of eight years in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi before the Florida killings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 The faster this guy dies the better this world will be. As I said in another post yesterday, a shot in the back of the head would be a more efficient way to go. Though with his crime I wouldn't mind seeing him tortured quite a bit before he's dead. I hope he rots in hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 09:07 AM) The faster this guy dies the better this world will be. As I said in another post yesterday, a shot in the back of the head would be a more efficient way to go. Though with his crime I wouldn't mind seeing him tortured quite a bit before he's dead. I hope he rots in hell. That's not how Jesus would feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NUKE_CLEVELAND Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 09:07 AM) The faster this guy dies the better this world will be. As I said in another post yesterday, a shot in the back of the head would be a more efficient way to go. Though with his crime I wouldn't mind seeing him tortured quite a bit before he's dead. I hope he rots in hell. There's no amount of pain that could be inflicted on him that would match the grotesque nature of this mans crimes. What gaul on his part too challenging the lethal injection as "cruel and unusual". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Tizzle Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 YES! I love threads devoted to executions because there's always several guaranteed actions: -Nuke cheering the execution of a man on death row for a horrendous crime. -Several posters criticizing Nuke for cheering the execution. -LCR posting a response which is half green, mostly criticizing Nuke and others for blood-lust while ignoring the absence of a deterrent effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NUKE_CLEVELAND Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 11:40 AM) YES! I love threads devoted to executions because there's always several guaranteed actions: -Nuke cheering the execution of a man on death row for a horrendous crime. -Several posters criticizing Nuke for cheering the execution. -LCR posting a response which is half green, mostly criticizing Nuke and others for blood-lust while ignoring the absence of a deterrent effect. You forgot the tired old arguments that the death penalty is racist, all the methods are "cruel and unusual", Jesus wouldn't want that and on and on and on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steff Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 11:40 AM) YES! I love threads devoted to executions because there's always several guaranteed actions: -Nuke cheering the execution of a man on death row for a horrendous crime. -Several posters criticizing Nuke for cheering the execution. -LCR posting a response which is half green, mostly criticizing Nuke and others for blood-lust while ignoring the absence of a deterrent effect. Maybe Nuke's cheerleading is morbid to some, but this guy... if there was a poster boy for the DP, this one is for sure it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Tizzle Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 11:43 AM) You forgot the tired old arguments that the death penalty is racist, all the methods are "cruel and unusual", Jesus wouldn't want that and on and on and on. Ah, yes. You also failed to mention Tookie. Or how this criminal would soon be with Tookie in hell. That always brings out a good argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Kickass Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 No, the Tookie dude doesn't post here anymore. You also forgot that in about ten posts from now, a moderator looks at the discussion shakes his/her head at how nasty it got so quickly and then closes it. Assuming the thread stays true to form, that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 11:54 AM) No, the Tookie dude doesn't post here anymore. You also forgot that in about ten posts from now, a moderator looks at the discussion shakes his/her head at how nasty it got so quickly and then closes it. Assuming the thread stays true to form, that is. Not to mention the thread crying about the original thread being closed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 10:01 AM) Not to mention the thread crying about the original thread being closed... Which is then closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 And how trusting some people are with our government. Iraq gets tough on crime and executes people for not following their laws and we have to invest billions of dollars and thousands of lives. The US executes people and that's a good thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sox4lifeinPA Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 11:01 AM) Not to mention the thread crying about the original thread being closed... or the post where southsider2k5 adds to his sizable post count while adding nothing to the actual conversation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NUKE_CLEVELAND Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 05:22 PM) or the post where southsider2k5 adds to his sizable post count while adding nothing to the actual conversation Thats nothing special. He does that with most any thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts