Woman executed in Texas for 1998 torture killing

[bananas]

Source: Associated Press

A woman convicted of torturing and killing a mentally impaired man she lured to Texas with the promise of marriage was put to death Wednesday evening in a rare execution of a female prisoner.

The lethal injection of Suzanne Basso, 59, made the New York native only the 14th woman executed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Almost 1,400 men have been put to death during that time.

<snip>

Basso was sentenced to die for the 1998 slaying of 59-year-old Louis "Buddy" Musso, whose battered and lacerated body, washed with bleach and scoured with a wire brush, was found in a ditch outside Houston. Prosecutors said Basso had made herself the beneficiary of Musso's insurance policies and took over his Social Security benefits after luring him from New Jersey.

<snip>

Among witnesses testifying at Basso's punishment trial was her daughter, who told of emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her mother.

<snip>

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/woman-set-be-executed-texas-1998-killing

[hoosierlib]

1. Good riddance!

It's cases like this that will always make me pro-death penalty.

[lostincalifornia]

4. and what about cases that aren't so black and white as this one appears to be?

[Major Nikon]

6. Then there's cases like this which demonstrate why the death penalty is ethically indefensible

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution#United_States

As if there weren't several other reasons like disparate impacts to minorities and zero benefit to society.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. So, you are OK with executing innocent people

as long as you can see people like this die?

[hoosierlib]

18. Of course not...

However, in certain instances where the guilt is certain and the individual is incapable of feeling empathy (and never will), the death penalty is most certainly warranted. Not everyone is a rationale, empathy feeling person capable of feeling remorse.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Given that if we have a death penalty

then, despite all claims of fairness and accuracy, we WILL execute innocent people, how many innocent people is it OK to kill in order to punish the "certainly warranted"?

[Kelvin Mace]

21. Oh, and there is this point

Basso became a suspect after reporting Musso missing following the discovery of his body. Five others also were convicted, including Basso's son, but prosecutors only sought the death penalty for Basso.

So, five other people were convicted of murder, yet only Masso was executed.

What about the others?

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/suzanne_basso/index.html

At testimony's end, the jury quickly convicted James O'Malley of capital murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

At the trial of Bernice Ahrens, 55, and her son, Craig, 26, each admitted in confessions read to the jury that they hit Musso, but both fingered Sue Basso as the primary culprit.

The jury convicted both of murder. The mother got 80 years, the son 60.

At his trial, Terence Singleton admitted that he kicked Musso and hit him with a baseball bat.

The jury judged Singleton equally responsible. It convicted him of capital murder and gave him life in prison.

Like that of Singleton, Hope Ahrens confession blamed Sue Basso and James OMalley for inflicting the deadly injuries.

Her murder trial ended in a hung jury. But that worked to the advantage of prosecutors, who dangled the possibility of a plea bargain in exchange for her testimony against Sue Basso, the final defendant.

So, the prosecutor wanted to make an example of Basso and so she cut a deal with one murderer to get her to tetify against Basso to get a death penalty conviction.

If six people murdered the man, why did only one die?

[Journeyman]

17. Cue the story of Robert Pierce, killed in San Quentin in 1956. . .

Support for the death penalty includes support for what was done to Pierce, for he was as guilty as they come (he admitted his crime), and was of the most reprehensible character.

Pierce was a contemporary of Caryl Chessman. They shared the Row together, but not a cell, and not even near each other, as Pierce was considered too dangerous to be kept with the other condemned prisoners; they kept him penned in a special section dubbed the "Iron Curtain."

Remember that phrase, hoosierlib: "too dangerous to be kept with the other condemned prisoners." He was the worst of the worse, and his death brought out the worst in the system, and those who support the death penalty by default support what was done to Robert Pierce.

I'll let Evan S. Connell explain:

Robert Pierce, awaiting execution at San Quentin prison,
contrived to slash his throat with a shard of glass,
precipitating a frantic quarrel among the authorities:
some insisted that he be executed before he bled to death
while others thought he should be taken to the hospital.
Presently, with gouts of blood bubbling from his neck,
he was carried into the gas chamber. Witnesses screamed,
vomited and several fainted. The decision had been reached,
officials later explained, because at the time of death
the prisoner probably would still be alive and therefore
conscious not only of his crime but of the retributions
justly demanded by the Sovereign State of California.

Evan S. Connell, Points for a Compass Rose, 1973

[lostincalifornia]

2. It would be news if Texas didn't execute someone.

[Jefferson23]

8. That was my thought too. n/t

[lostincalifornia]

12. I guess great minds think alike /nt

[iandhr]

3. Though I am against the death penalty...

… I won't loose sleep over this.

[7962]

5. Cases like this is what the DP should be reserved for. NO DOUBT as to her guilt.

The only problem is that it took 16 yrs to be rid of her. My God, did you read the list of things done to that guy?

[840high]

10. Poor man. Glad she's gone.

[rpannier]

7. Not gonna miss her, nor will I shed a tear

That said, I still oppose the death penalty -- even for her

[bananas]

9. AFP: Texas executes woman who killed mentally disabled man

http://news.yahoo.com/texas-executes-murderer-14th-us-woman-die-since-005012214.html

Texas executes woman who killed mentally disabled man
AFP By Chantal Valery
1 hour ago

Washington (AFP) - Texas performed a rare execution of a woman, putting to death a prisoner convicted of the brutal murder of a mentally disabled man 15 years ago.

Suzanne Basso, 59, was only the 14th woman to be put to death in the United States in more than three decades, after losing a last-ditch appeal to the US Supreme Court.

<snip>

The wheelchair-bound killer, who weighed 350 pounds (160 kilograms) at the time of her arrest in September 1999, was sentenced to die for the horrific slaying of Louis "Buddy" Musso in 1998, whom she murdered in an attempt to benefit from his life insurance.

Musso was burned with cigarettes and beaten with belts, baseball bats and hobnailed boots by Basso and five accomplices.

<snip>

In a Supreme Court brief, Basso's lawyer Winston Cochran pointed to her "long history of delusional thinking and mental disorders," adding that prison doctors had diagnosed her with clinical depression.

"She had a horrible childhood. She's been delusional since way back then. She was molested, she grew up in poverty; all school records show she had mental health problems," Cochran said in an interview.

He said his client's death sentence should have been reversed years ago due to only "sporadic" evidence, suggesting the had been singled out for her physical appearance and her attitude.

"She was grossly obese, a sour personality, unattractive. Right from the beginning, they said we're gonna go with the theory that she's the ring leader," the attorney added.

And of the six defendants, Basso was the only one who got the death penalty despite lack of proof over how Musso was killed.

<snip>

[another_liberal]

13. Murdering someone for murdering someone?

I'm sure the Taliban would approve.

[Prophet 451]

14. No loss there

I'm pro-death penalty only when there is absolute proof of guilt. That's not an impossible demand, not these days. Advances in forensics means that it is now possible to establish absolute proof and, if law enforcement want the death penalty on a case, they should be willing to expend the time and money it takes to establish absolute guilt.

[MindMover]

15. texas again , can we let this state secede, please

[bluestateguy]

16. I don't support capital punishment, and would have preferred she get life in prison

But I'm not crying in my beer that she is gone either.

I have too many other things to worry about.

[leftynyc]

20. Not a supporter of the DP

but aint gonna cry over this one.