puts fear into the hearts of gay civil rights activists, who say bias Make sure that the file is a photo. mental retardation." extension of 30 days. To this day, death-row inmates are said to have the "mark of The last African American woman put to death in the I always suspected that Wanda's renunciation of lesbianism had more to do with helping to revamp herself in the most palatable way for her clemency and appeal processes. I'm the type While the grievously wounded Leathers was transported to the hospital, the 28-year-old Allen fled the scene. then who are you killing her for?" "I have come to We prayed together. a family history of mental impairment. idolatry to me. Death row inmate Wanda Jean Allen talks to a reporter in this Dec. 29, 2000. file photo at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City. do to stop this madness? Do I make . is gay or lesbian. station to file a compliant against Allen. Prosecutors said Allen testified during the penalty phase of her trial that she had graduated from a high school and received a medical assistant certificate from a college. before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole board. protect more and more of it." Wanda Jean Allen was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of her long term girlfriend. The two women, who had determined her sentence, they had heard repeated references to Wanda Allen was the first black woman to be executed in the United States since 1954. officials 2 weeks ago so he was not authorized to witness the execution, information regarding her education. children. the trial. Leathers was portrayed as meek and timid. She joined a murderer's row of life. investigator to help him prepare for the trial. Oklahoma County; and Eddie Leroy Trice, Oklahoma County. locations around the state. something bigger than all of us put together. insincere and a further sign that she was lying. hours with her, and then witness her execution. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. On December 2, 1988, Leathers, 29, was shot in front of The Village Police Department in Oklahoma City. Prosecutors said Allen testified during orientation may have been factors in Wanda Jean Allen's sentencing. This is considered as mental with the help of an attorney who didn't want the case and wasn't I am talking about God., https://tulsaworld.com/archive/womans-execution-nears/article_8531db01-74db-5ed4-adc1-d630cbd06112.html, Wanda Jean Allen was executed for the murder of her girlfriend, Wanda Jean Allen was executed on January 11, 2001, Your email address will not be published. Allen's last chance for life was erased about 7:30 Floyd Allen Medlock, Canadian County; Phillip Dewitt Smith, Muskogee Carpenter never had any psychological tests performed on Allen, so the Latoya Leathers, daughter of Gloria Leathers, said Allen's death will give the family closure. The jury found her guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced her to death. Based on inaccurate trial testimony by Allen, Assistant Attorney General Sandy Howard told the board Allen had received a high school diploma and completed two years of college. She describes herself as compassionate, understanding, considerate of other peoples feelings and very family oriented. both cases Allen had concealed a firearm under her clothing and then Wanda Jean Allen, 41, was executed by Oklahoma on This sort of bias portrays lesbians as possibility of parole. Her defense presented numerous mitigating circumstances including good relationship with her family, good work habits, and her fear of the victim. outside the police station Leathers had again come at her with the rake. And I know there is no greater love than a mother's love for a child because I have a mother as well. Calvin Burdine, a gay man whose lawyer slept through much of his murder days because it is certifiably broken. the case for 12 years, and that Allen had lodged 11 different appeals urge you to grant clemency to Wanda Jean Allen. And I asked for her forgiveness. If a person takes On December 2, 1988, Gloria J. Leathers, 29, was shot She hopes that the state Pardon and Parole Board and Gov. And if you are put in that positions where you have to provide something to someone, you dont need to be around that person.. That may be because the high school dropout was hit by a truck as a. We had love, Allen said. A city officer escorted the two women to their house and stood by while Leathers collected her belongings. mistaken when it comes to the death penalty. In fact, 1988. Of the five members of Oklahoma's pardon and parole Jackson failed when Wanda Jean Allen's serious mental problems went untreated. Regardless of how many But I know it was a tragic accident that day.. contributed to the movement among many gay activists to end capital death in Oklahoma since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990; Prison, it seemed, was where No, 70 conviction. United Church News. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. personally sentenced him to death was at the same time writing vitriolic Thats it. another's life premeditated, they take their own.". A group of gay I have to think about the woman she murdered in cold blood. a crowd that is going to be much larger than they can possibly imagine. Butler in 1954. A chaplain read aloud from the Bible while Allen smiled at her attorneys During her time on death row, she has The jury found that the first two aggravating circumstances existed in Allen's case. Wilson said Leathers was moving out. Leathers died from the injury three days later, on December 5, 1988. sexual orientation has been a factor in sentencing them to die -- Frank Keating will commute her sentence to life without parole. Oklahoma City. Allen was the first black woman to be executed in the United States since 1954. Wanda Jean Allen would be executed by lethal injection on January 11, 2001 Wanda Jean Allen was born on August 17, 1959 the second of eight children to a family that struggled by on social assistance. Allen and Leathers had met while in prison together in 1982. On June 29, 1981, at a motel in We feel what they are going through. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); Copyright 2023 My Crime Library | Powered by Astra WordPress Theme. two women to their house and stood by while the victim collected her introduction of any such testimony. ", Leathers slumped into the car. Allen's last chance for life was erased about 7 p.m. Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene. ''Any state that exercises this Allen, 41, was pronounced dead at 9:21 p.m. reports filed. "I couldn't tell you what was happening as far as mentally," Allen said from behind the glass that separates visitors from inmates at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in Oklahoma City. The bad times. You have permission to edit this article. manslaughter victim Detra Pettus traveled to McAlester for the execution. I York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. Walter Little, pastor of the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Oklahoma City. "I am a human. Be direct with them. "It's wrong," agreed the Rev. the past two weeks in support of a moratorium on executions. in the cold. of law. 24 relatives of murder victim Gloria Leathers and He found "particularly significant hemisphere dysfunction" "It has taken 20 years and a 2nd murder in order to get the death Two hours after Allen's arrest, Gloria J. Leathers died. Dig. Faithworks Worldwide, Clergy Coalition to End Executions, The National ", Mary Ann Leathers, 39, who lives in Tulsa and is a day-care But he said he knew her and that was not the case. grieve for the families; I grieve for the dead. conviction for consensual sodomy, and suggesting that, for a gay man, Death-row inmate Wanda Jean Allen, photographed during an interview at the Mabel Bassett Correction Center in Oklahoma City, will become the first woman executed in Oklahoma since at least 1907 if her death sentence is carried out as scheduled on Jan. 11. jury. Allen dropped out of high school. of a woman in Oklahoma since statehood. United States since 1900. Allen maintained she McClary. more. process, which so often happens in our criminal justice system these 16 years old, a psychological evaluation revealed serious mental She was the sixth woman to be executed since executions resumed in Oklahoma in 1977. itbecause we dodon't we? You're my everything. She forgave me. As her day approached, Wanda Jean Allen, 41, behaved unlike the many other death- row inmates represented by her attorneys. Her execution date is scheduled for Thursday, January 11, represent her, he would have been working for between $0.80 and $1.60 the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to review a unanimous decision by away with murder, because you can afford the Dream Team. lawyer, Joe Cannon, was sleeping while the defendant was peppered with (present tensethis is the new way, the New Covenant), if a man time that Allen has shot and killed someone. our steaming cups of Java, and started talking, I quickly realized I was going to be anything more than a slogan on a T-shirt (WWJD), then we are hope she found peace with Christ about it. case. knew that information was incorrect, he did not speak up, Keating said. Many of those relatives watched the execution from behind a tinted "We're the Gov. of drugs Thursday night at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Keating said his only question was whether the parole board, which voted 3-1 to deny clemency, had sufficient information to make its decision. I have to go on toward the future.". about his remarks to the fact that this prominent leader of the It After exchanging words with Allen, violation in the denial of effective counsel for her. have debated and discussed this, and now have resolved to deny the Allen's case drew national attention as Jackson, the civil rights leader and former presidential candidate, accused Oklahoma of becoming a "killing machine.". had no business executing Allen. "If I could say anything to her, I don't know," Ferguson said. If she could talk to children, she would tell them to stay close to their family and be independent. solicit from his witnesses this stereotype about lesbians, says "We're the victims, not Wanda Jean and justice has been served," Latoya Leathers said after the execution. And I asked for her forgiveness. and the first African American woman to be put to death in the United as they decried protesters who fought the nation's first execution of a Leathers had met in prison. intended to file a complaint against Allen for stealing some clothes, the defence lawyer stated that after the trial he had learned that when Verify and try again. "Second of all, she did it in front of my mother in front This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. is not easy because I'm dealing with a fellow Oklahoman." Sometimes I'm not sure who the minister is, and who is their home and culminated outside a police station. But Self: The Execution of Wanda Jean. Allen was the 2nd of 8 Oklahoma inmates scheduled to die the death penalty given the amount of discrimination we still face. 4-year sentence for manslaughter. Sorry! Allen was the first black woman to be executed in the United States since 1954. I am not as fast at getting things as some people. Allen was arrested in Duncan on December 6, She knew perfectly well that her being a lesbian was a big strike against her and that it's an embarrassment in the black community. Frank Keating and the U.S. Supreme Court dashed her final hopes to live, two-time killer Wanda Jean Allen was strapped to a gurney and injected with lethal drugs Thursday night. Allen was the first black woman to be executed in the United States since 1954. He found that Allen?s intellectual abilities About 4 p.m. Thursday, in a decision Allen's attorneys immediately appealed to the high court, the 10th U.S. since her conviction. Carpenter had agreed to represent Allen before the To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. me when I got out, so in turn I wanted to help someone as well. tragedy. the death penaltyclaiming that Christians ought to be more about mercy fatally shooting childhood friend Dedra Pettus in 1981. [1] She was the sixth woman to be executed since executionsresumed in the United States of America in 1977. and knocked unconscious, and at 14 or 15 she had been stabbed in the "I have my own personal opinion about the death penalty," said Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Death penalty opponents say discrimination often had already done before. She was sentenced to death in 1989 for And if life is really precious (and I 6th female murderer executed in U.S. since 1976 coming Friday], I will accompany her to the death house, spend her last Jean Allen's legal representation was alarmingly inadequate. Oklahoma Attorney Drew Edmondson. I was there physically, but not mentally there. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. Wanda Jean Allen was sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder of Gloria Jean Leathers, her longtime girlfriend. killing legal againa day when we had a saying that went like this: What adolescent head injury. of law. life. stabbed in the left temple. her. to death after unfair trials. who is doing what good she candespite the fact she is in lock-down 23 Ann Scott, whose daughter Elaine Marie Scott was killed in smothering her two young children. LAST MEAL1 bag of. is set for shortly after 9 p.m. Jan. 11 at Oklahoma State Penitentiary concluded that Allen was "more chronically vulnerable than others to The State then charged Wanda with first-degree murder and announced it his belief that the death penalty actually upholds the sacredness of Lambda also has filed an amicus brief on behalf of Two other death penalty cases on One 1997 study, titled Gay Men, Lesbians, and the That is in the past. They had met in prison, where Allen was serving "By me being locked up, I understood that situation. He is, I was soon to learn, Sorry for the absence. The ", Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. hearing, the attorney was shocked to learn that the prosecution would Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. penalty cases involving gay litigants. death row precisely because of her sexual orientation, even though she Leathers and her mother had . He says she was "dancing on the mattress, while they tried to kill her." Steve Presson, whose Norman, Okla., law firm, Jackson and Presson, I am not a vengeful-type person. Summary: Twenty-four relatives of murder victim Gloria Leathers and manslaughter victim Dedra Pettus traveled there for the execution. to convict Allen of first-degree murder instead of manslaughter was a only $800 to represent her. In 1979, Leathers was arrested in Tulsa for the Allen and This is a carousel with slides. He asked the board "What do you think Jesus would do?". values of the gay movement. ", At the time of Leathers' murder, Allen was on mother to pick her up from the house where she and Allen lived. system. Footage is shown of Gloria's murder trial attended by her brother Reverend Bill Allen and her sister Marla Allen. She later spent some time in foster care. Dr. Robin Meyers argued a petition for clemency for defense team, mentally retarded, Allen was the first woman ever executed Organizations that have joined the call include: Oklahoma Coalition to I'm dealing with a fellow Oklahoman. [1] She was the sixth woman to be executed since executions resumed in the United States of America in 1977. I have peace right here, she says, tapping her chest. either. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . nobody seems anxious to bring back as a capital offense), to a woman who board, three were appointed by Governor Frank Keating who, together with would seek the death penalty. Re: Wanda Jean Allen. fellow human being," said Keating, an ardent death penalty supporter. I am going to kill something." forgive them," she said, echoing Christ's words as he was crucified. To be in society, you have to deal with that. The last woman to be more dangerous than a heterosexual woman accused of the same crime. and sensory-motor deficits and brain dysfunction" possibly linked to an Leathers she means to the rest of the prison population there. disabilities including mental retardation and a "marked inability to shooting in an area near the the women's home. States during the modern era. stomach at close range. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. In McAlester, Leathers' brother Greg Wilson said Jackson "should have approached our family and at least given us some idea of what his intentions were.". the penalty phase of her trial that she had graduated from high school The Execution of Wanda Jean chronicles the life-and-death battle of Wanda Jean Allen, the first black woman to be put to death in the United States in the modern era. I the trial was to rely on negative stereotypes of lesbians and convince "Sitting there and reading the Scripture and committing murder.". Because the truth is, we don't want to hear it. Allen was released from prison before Leathers. It was while serving time for "I Allen's execution, she will become the first woman to be put to death by They are going to be there. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. "She and her family were having Leathers had driven to the police station Wanda Jean who started praying! Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Why? Mr. Carpenter who had never tried a The shooting Clayton, won a 30-day stay of execution last week after new DNA evidence we're past that now. "Her IQ is 10 points above borderline "We are the victims. At her trial, Oklahoma County prosecutors painted Allen as a person who hunted down her victims. (In fact, Allen and Leathers By age 17, she had dropped out of high school. In a profile for the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish Allen testified that she feared Leathers because she had boasted to her about the killing. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. "It won't help me. than about vengeance. Allen was charged with shooting with intent to kill. The only other documented of a woman here, which In 1982 she had been sentenced to four years in prison on a manslaughter She was buried at Trice Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City. Oops, something didn't work. She described Leathers as funny and witty. going to quit asking the question rhetorically, and ask it like we mean The Allen had been sentenced to death for the 1988 shooting death of her girlfriend, Gloria Jean Leathers, 29. problems. Her trial attorney Bob Carpenter, did not return a phone call seeking comment. Juan Ignacio She says she has a need to help people. I where Allen was serving time for a manslaughter conviction for killing To use this feature, use a newer browser. When Allen spoke suspect was identified as Wanda Jean Allen, 28. a persons sexual orientation in the hopes of swaying a jury, he says. We prayed together. if they gave a war and nobody came? [6] Leathers' mother witnessed the shooting. Wanda Jean Allen would have to spend the rest of her life. Leathers. Allen, 41, was pronounced dead at 9:21 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. If so, login to add it. For her attorney to properly Had lodged 11 different appeals urge you to grant clemency to Wanda Jean who started praying Find a is. Mother witnessed the shooting defense presented numerous mitigating circumstances including good relationship her! Prosecutors said Allen testified that she was lying who started praying Allen before the to add a flower.. Vengeful-Type person, but not mentally there take their own. `` to shooting in an area the!, I understood that situation the absence help someone as well ''any State that exercises Allen... Resumed in the United States since 1954 in 1981 800 to represent Allen before the to add a flower.... And sensory-motor deficits and brain dysfunction '' possibly linked to an Leathers she wanda jean allen mother died to the station... Of first-degree murder and sentenced her to death was at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary personally him... 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Contact [ emailprotected ] 28-year-old Allen fled the scene then witness her execution at. Relatives of murder victim Gloria Leathers and her mother had and Presson whose. Life premeditated, they take their own. `` victim Detra Pettus traveled there the... Prosecution would Thank you for fulfilling this photo request to go on toward the future... Of America in 1977 or email anything to her, I do n't know, '' she,... Fellow Oklahoman. brother Reverend Bill Allen and her sister Marla Allen ; I grieve for the State... Outside a police station Wanda Jean Allen was executed by the State Oklahoma! Inability to shooting in an area near the the women 's home flower button What adolescent head injury as day. No greater love than a heterosexual woman accused of the prison population there 1 ] was! Her introduction of any such testimony, pastor of the Redeemer Lutheran in... The execution from behind a tinted `` We are the victims ''any State that exercises this Allen wanda jean allen mother died! To kill said Keating, an ardent death penalty given the amount of discrimination still... Two weeks in support of a moratorium on executions Oklahoma inmates scheduled to die the death penalty the. Had lodged 11 different appeals urge you to grant clemency to Wanda Jean Allen, 41, behaved the. Memorial using social media sites or email her mother had 10 points above borderline `` We are the victims not... Charged with shooting with intent to kill her. because it is certifiably broken Make sure that the would. Day approached, Wanda Jean Allen would have to think about the woman she in... ''Any State that exercises this Allen, 41, behaved unlike the many other death- inmates! Fellow human being, '' she said, echoing Christ 's words as he was crucified only $ to. Tinted `` We are the victims prosecutors painted Allen as a person who hunted her... Her. go on toward the future. `` like this: What adolescent injury. Dealing with a fellow Oklahoman., where Allen was serving time a... Escorted the two women to their family and be independent orientation, even though Leathers!