Joseph Paul Franklin Execution to be Carried Out Wed., Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution for Convicted Killer
Missouri inmate Joseph Paul Franklin's request for a stay of execution has been denied by the Missouri Supreme Court. Franklin's attorneys protested the use of a lethal drug from a compounding pharmacy instead of from its original source, which put him at risk of "an excruciatingly painful execution."
The Supreme Court, however, denied the request and the execution is scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20. It will be the first execution in three years in the state of Missouri and the first to use the drug, pentobarbital, which is becoming more and more common in lethal injections. Franklin was convicted of killing at least seven people and is believed to have killed even more throughout his reign of terror from 197 to 1980.
Franklin admitted that he had a problem with blacks and Jews after reading "Mein Kampf," by Adolf Hitler, when he was just a boy. He grew up to be a white supremacist and decided to target the two groups in his killings. Franklin bombed a synagogue in 1977, but thankfully no one was injured. However, Franklin continued on with his plan of killing people.
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He waited in the bushes at a bar mitzvah and killed Gerald Gordon, 42, which earned him the death sentence. Franklin continued shooting and was convicted of six other murders but has admitted to killing at least 13 other people. He was also responsible for firing the shot that paralyzed Larry Flynt, the publisher of "Hustler" magazine.
"I've got to think about this guy every day, every day that I get in this wheelchair," Flynt told the Associated Press. "It would be easy for me to say, 'Yeah, kill him. He shouldn't be on the Earth. But if you analyze that decision, it'll always come up short."
Franklin's lawyers insist that their client has "done a complete 180 as far as his views," attorney Jennifer Herndon told KMBC News. "He believes he should be kept alive so he could help other people overcome their racist views."
