FLORENCE - Robert Comer never flinched Tuesday morning as he was injected with a lethal cocktail of drugs that put him to death.
Comer took a picture of his daughter into the death chamber with him and seemed defiant as he smiled and maintained eye contact with his witnesses as drugs coursed through his body.
His last words were "Go Raiders!" and with that, his smile slowly faded until he passed out. His chest stopped moving after the third drug was given to him.
By 10:08 a.m. he was dead.
Just hours before his execution, Comer told prison workers "I am ready."
Comer's execution was not without controversy. Protesters moved on to prison grounds earlier in the morning to voice their objections over the planned execution. However, the Arizona Department of Corrections officials made sure they could not be seen from the main road.
A group of 17 people from Pax Christi USA drove from Phoenix, formed a circle and prayed the Hail Mary.
"You don't teach not killing by killing," Ruth Zemek said.
Wearing a hat that said "let us not become the evil we despise, abolish the death penalty," Margaret Snider said: "I don't think it accomplishes anything. The crime has been committed. It doesn't make anything well."
However, at least one man from East Valley drove to Florence to support Comer's execution.
"This man can never do it again after 10. He can never kill again. They will be safe from this man," said George Williams, the lone pro-death penalty protester. He held a sign saying "Coomer will never murder or kill again"
Williams said he supports the execution because "prisoners escape, murderers get released, people kill prison guards. But not this one."
Gabrielle Smith, manager of a drug store on Main Street, said she was opening the store at 10 a.m., the same time the execution was to start.
"You get used to it," the lifelong Florence resident said. "Prisoners escape. Schools get locked down. It's just part of Florence."
Death penalty opponents exhausted their efforts to halt Comer's death, with the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to order a stay of execution.
Comer was the first inmate to be put to death in Arizona since 2000.
Nearly 20 years ago Comer was sentenced to death for the brutal killing of a Florida man at a campsite at Apache Lake. He is also serving 339 years for rape and kidnapping.
His execution came after he waived his rights to further appeal.
"This is his day. This is what he's been waiting for since 2000," said Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux.
Comer was given his last meal of fried okra, buns, butter, salt, and banana bread at the dinner hour, Monday evening.
About 20 people witnessed Comer's execution. Among the witnesses, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, State Sen. Ron Gould, R-Havasu City, and officials from Phoenix police, Maricopa County Sheriff's and Pinal County Sheriff's departments.
Comer was given the opportunity to invite witnesses to watch his death. Those witnesses include his attorneys, Michael Kimerer, Holly Gieszl and Amy Byrd, a pen pal he met in prison.
'I made the decision'
This day is a welcome one for Comer, who has fought to be executed since 2000. Comer spent much of that time just proving he is competent to make that decision, saying he owes it to his victims, society and himself.
Comer was convicted in a 1987 crime spree in which he killed a fellow camper at Apache Lake east of Phoenix. He also was convicted of repeatedly raping a female camper the same night, once in front of her boyfriend.
"This is my life. I made the decision to pull my appeals," Comer said, according to transcripts from a 2002 competency hearing. "Remember I stuck a gun in the guy's ear and pulled the trigger, scrambled his brains, right? You sentenced me to die. You have that right in this state. I don't see where the big problem is."
It's hard to believe that the Comer requesting to be put to death is the same man who had to be subdued with a hose, beaten and dragged to his sentencing in 1988.
When he was brought into the courtroom strapped to a wheelchair, he was bloodied, barely conscious and naked except for a towel on his lap. His extensive tattoos, including a swastika, were exposed and his shaggy hair and beard were wild. Comer looked every bit the "monster" and "reincarnation of the devil" the prosecutor said he was.
After being sentenced to death, Comer spent the next 13 years making knives and shanks, fighting with prisoners and guards and setting fires in his own cell. He was cited 43 times between 1988 and 2001 for such infractions.
But since 2001, he hasn't been disciplined once. Guards, psychologists, lawyers and Comer himself say he has matured, mellowed and become more thoughtful during his prison time, particularly after his best friend in prison, Robert Vickers, was executed in 1999.
Comer's lawyer, Kimerer, described Comer as extremely insightful and wise about life. Kimerer said he and Comer have become close over the years and that he will be "extremely sad" to see him go.
K.C. Scull, who prosecuted Comer nearly 20 years ago, said it doesn't matter if Comer has changed.
"He's very cunning, he's very intelligent," Scull said. "I also know he was a very nasty guy, but that doesn't change anything ... Rehabilitation was never a factor in this case. You do things that are so bad, we don't care of you're rehabilitated."
Scull said Comer's case has haunted him, police officers and the surviving victims in the case.
"Everybody's entitled to closure here," especially the woman Comer raped repeatedly back in 1987, Scull said.
"She has to get up every day and think, That S.O.B. is still breathing somewhere and I wonder if he'd come and kill me if he had the chance,' " Scull said.
Comer was the first inmate to be put to death in the state since Donald Miller was executed on Nov. 8, 2000, for helping murder an 18-year-old woman.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0522comer0522-ON.html
Comer took a picture of his daughter into the death chamber with him and seemed defiant as he smiled and maintained eye contact with his witnesses as drugs coursed through his body.
His last words were "Go Raiders!" and with that, his smile slowly faded until he passed out. His chest stopped moving after the third drug was given to him.
By 10:08 a.m. he was dead.
Just hours before his execution, Comer told prison workers "I am ready."
Comer's execution was not without controversy. Protesters moved on to prison grounds earlier in the morning to voice their objections over the planned execution. However, the Arizona Department of Corrections officials made sure they could not be seen from the main road.
A group of 17 people from Pax Christi USA drove from Phoenix, formed a circle and prayed the Hail Mary.
"You don't teach not killing by killing," Ruth Zemek said.
Wearing a hat that said "let us not become the evil we despise, abolish the death penalty," Margaret Snider said: "I don't think it accomplishes anything. The crime has been committed. It doesn't make anything well."
However, at least one man from East Valley drove to Florence to support Comer's execution.
"This man can never do it again after 10. He can never kill again. They will be safe from this man," said George Williams, the lone pro-death penalty protester. He held a sign saying "Coomer will never murder or kill again"
Williams said he supports the execution because "prisoners escape, murderers get released, people kill prison guards. But not this one."
Gabrielle Smith, manager of a drug store on Main Street, said she was opening the store at 10 a.m., the same time the execution was to start.
"You get used to it," the lifelong Florence resident said. "Prisoners escape. Schools get locked down. It's just part of Florence."
Death penalty opponents exhausted their efforts to halt Comer's death, with the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to order a stay of execution.
Comer was the first inmate to be put to death in Arizona since 2000.
Nearly 20 years ago Comer was sentenced to death for the brutal killing of a Florida man at a campsite at Apache Lake. He is also serving 339 years for rape and kidnapping.
His execution came after he waived his rights to further appeal.
"This is his day. This is what he's been waiting for since 2000," said Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux.
Comer was given his last meal of fried okra, buns, butter, salt, and banana bread at the dinner hour, Monday evening.
About 20 people witnessed Comer's execution. Among the witnesses, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, State Sen. Ron Gould, R-Havasu City, and officials from Phoenix police, Maricopa County Sheriff's and Pinal County Sheriff's departments.
Comer was given the opportunity to invite witnesses to watch his death. Those witnesses include his attorneys, Michael Kimerer, Holly Gieszl and Amy Byrd, a pen pal he met in prison.
'I made the decision'
This day is a welcome one for Comer, who has fought to be executed since 2000. Comer spent much of that time just proving he is competent to make that decision, saying he owes it to his victims, society and himself.
Comer was convicted in a 1987 crime spree in which he killed a fellow camper at Apache Lake east of Phoenix. He also was convicted of repeatedly raping a female camper the same night, once in front of her boyfriend.
"This is my life. I made the decision to pull my appeals," Comer said, according to transcripts from a 2002 competency hearing. "Remember I stuck a gun in the guy's ear and pulled the trigger, scrambled his brains, right? You sentenced me to die. You have that right in this state. I don't see where the big problem is."
It's hard to believe that the Comer requesting to be put to death is the same man who had to be subdued with a hose, beaten and dragged to his sentencing in 1988.
When he was brought into the courtroom strapped to a wheelchair, he was bloodied, barely conscious and naked except for a towel on his lap. His extensive tattoos, including a swastika, were exposed and his shaggy hair and beard were wild. Comer looked every bit the "monster" and "reincarnation of the devil" the prosecutor said he was.
After being sentenced to death, Comer spent the next 13 years making knives and shanks, fighting with prisoners and guards and setting fires in his own cell. He was cited 43 times between 1988 and 2001 for such infractions.
But since 2001, he hasn't been disciplined once. Guards, psychologists, lawyers and Comer himself say he has matured, mellowed and become more thoughtful during his prison time, particularly after his best friend in prison, Robert Vickers, was executed in 1999.
Comer's lawyer, Kimerer, described Comer as extremely insightful and wise about life. Kimerer said he and Comer have become close over the years and that he will be "extremely sad" to see him go.
K.C. Scull, who prosecuted Comer nearly 20 years ago, said it doesn't matter if Comer has changed.
"He's very cunning, he's very intelligent," Scull said. "I also know he was a very nasty guy, but that doesn't change anything ... Rehabilitation was never a factor in this case. You do things that are so bad, we don't care of you're rehabilitated."
Scull said Comer's case has haunted him, police officers and the surviving victims in the case.
"Everybody's entitled to closure here," especially the woman Comer raped repeatedly back in 1987, Scull said.
"She has to get up every day and think, That S.O.B. is still breathing somewhere and I wonder if he'd come and kill me if he had the chance,' " Scull said.
Comer was the first inmate to be put to death in the state since Donald Miller was executed on Nov. 8, 2000, for helping murder an 18-year-old woman.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0522comer0522-ON.html
