Gary Lee Sampson

Gary Lee Sampson (born 1959) is a convicted murderer in Massachusetts, United States. He was raised in Abington, Massachusetts.

Before Sampson's conviction for murder he had served eight years imprisonment for robbing banks and had a criminal record some 25 years long.

Offences

In July 2001 Sampson "carjacked" and murdered three helpless people: Philip McCloskey (aged 69 of Taunton, Massachusetts), Jonathan Rizzo (aged 19 of Kingston, Massachusetts),and Robert Whitney (of Concord, New Hampshire). The murders took place over the course of a week.

Sampson told police that, after McCloskey picked him up hitchhiking, he forced him at knifepoint to drive to a secluded area, where he tied him up with his belt and stabbed him 24 times. He also forced Rizzo to a secluded area, tied him to a tree, gagged him, and killed him.

Arguments raised in mitigation

Whilst Sampson's offences were particularly brutal, matters were raised in mitigation.

The day before the first murder he attempted to surrender to police. Telephone records confirmed that Sampson had called the FBI. As a fugitive who was facing charges in North Carolina, Sampson could have been taken into custody. The call was accidentally disconnected by an FBI clerk, and no action was taken.

After the murders, Sampson surrendered in Vermont and confessed. He subsequently pleaded guilty.

Federal Case

Sampson was charged in a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, found guilty and on 23 December 2003 he was sentenced to death.

The jury deliberated for ten hours after hearing six weeks of evidence. Sampson had pleaded guilty, so the jury did not need to decide whether he killed McCloskey and Rizzo. But the jury heard the murders described in graphic detail during the sentencing phase of the trial. Prosecutors portrayed Sampson as a ruthless, calculating killer who preyed on Good Samaritans.

Massachusetts does not have the death penalty. Massachusetts abolished capital punishment in 1984. The last time the State used the penalty was in 1973. It is the first time anyone in Massachusetts has been sentenced to die under the federal death penalty law.

Federal law was changed in 1994 to allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty when a murder is committed during a carjacking.

Place of Planned Execution

Massachusetts had no-where to execute Sampson so U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf ordered Sampson to be imprisoned in a federal penitentiary in Indiana. He ordered that he be executed in New Hampshire, which has the death penalty. New Hampshire has no one on death row and has not executed anyone since 1939.

New Hampshire officials were caught off guard as to the execution order because a lethal injection bed had not even been installed. The gallows which New Hampshire only uses if lethal injection cannot be administered, had been turned into an office.

tates' Rights Protests

Death penalty opponents criticised the sentence, saying federal officials had ignored the will of Massachusetts' voters. State lawmakers have defeated attempts to reinstate the state death penalty. Protesters outside the courtroom were holding "No Death Penalty in Massachusetts" signs and one girl said that the Federal government had "stepped all over a State which has consistently refused the death penalty."

Appeal

Sampson’s lawyer, David Ruhnke, said he would appeal. :"I respect the verdict, but I disagree with it. These are terrible crimes; the victims have suffered terribly," he said. "Those are very difficult circumstances for any jury to look beyond."

It is expected that it could be six or seven years before Sampson exhausts all his appeals.

As of July 2006 Sampson remains on death row.

Autobiography

Sampson has worked on an autobiography with writer and evangelical minister, Deborah Murphy. The working title is "The DNA of a Killer: Society's Child, Gary Lee Sampson."

Murphy says the book is a warning to those with early mental illness of the warning signs.

Murphy hopes that the book may sway the families of the victims to forgive Sampson and perhaps even speak out against his execution. Relatives have not so far indictated that this is likely. Scott McCloskey said :"I will never forgive him, ... As far as I'm concerned, Gary Sampson is an evil man. And as far as the death penalty goes, he deserves it and I will be there when it happens."

External links

* [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=29&did=854 Death Penalty Information Centre]
* [http://www.seacoastonline.com/2003news/12242003/south_of/67100.htm Portsmouth Herald 24 Dec 03]
* [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/10/27/is_killers_life_story_best_left_untold/ Boston Globe 27 Oct 05]