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A man convicted of
kidnapping, raping and killing a woman in
1981 by pushing her off a cliff and then
bashing her head with rocks was executed by
injection today.
The man, Jess James
Gillies, 38, and a friend, Mike Logan, were
convicted of abducting, raping and murdering
Suzanne Rossetti, 26.
Ms. Rossetti had bought
them a six-pack of beer and given them a
ride as a reward for opening her car after
she locked the keys inside.
The authorities said Ms.
Rossetti had been thrown off a 40-foot cliff
but did not die immediately. Prosecutors
said she begged for mercy before the men
stoned her and buried her under boulders and
rocks. A coroner's report said she was
probably still alive when she was buried.
Mr. Logan, now 45,
cooperated with prosecutors and was
sentenced to life in prison with a chance
for parole after 25 years.
Jess James
GILLIES
On January 29, 1981,
Suzanne Rossetti locked herself out of her car at a Phoenix
convenience store. Jess James Gillies and Mike Logan helped her get
into her car.
To show her
gratitude, Ms. Rossetti bought the men a six-pack of beer and
offered them a ride to a riding stable where Gillies worked.
The two men forced
her to drive to a secluded area where both men raped her. Then they
tied her up, put her in the back of the car and forced her to direct
them to her Scottsdale apartment.
They raped her
again at her apartment. Then they put her back in the car and drove
to the Superstition Mountains.
Eight hours after
the horror began, the men led Rossetti to the edge of a cliff and
told her to jump. She refused. Gillies punched her; Logan kicked
her over the edge.
The two men climbed
down and found Rossetti still alive. She pleaded for mercy, court
records say. "Leave me alone, I'm going to die anyway," she told her
tormentors. They didn't. At least one of them -- each man later
blamed the other -- beat her repeatedly over the head with a rock.
They buried her
beneath a heap of rocks and dirt. Later, the coroner said Rossetti
probably was still alive when she was buried.
Gillies began
talking to friends about the killing and drove Rossetti's car for a
couple days. He and Logan were arrested after someone contacted
police.
When homicide
Detective Jack Hackworth told Gillies he could face execution,
Gillies said, "All that, for killing that (expletive)?" court
records show.
Logan pleaded
guilty and led searchers to Rossetti's body. He got a life sentence
in return.
Gillies pleaded
innocent and went to trial. The jury deliberated less than an hour
before convicting him.
Jess James Gillies, 38 -
99-1-13, Arizona
FLORENCE, Arizona (CNN) -- A man
who kidnapped, raped and killed a woman in 1981 by pushing her off a
cliff and stoning her was executed in Arizona Wednesday.
Jess James Gillies, 38, offered no
last words before an official administered a lethal injection.
No members of Gillies' family or
the victim's family attended the execution. However, Corrections
officials said relatives visited Gillies before the execution.
Gillies and friend Mike Logan were
convicted of abducting, raping and murdering Suzanne Rossetti, 26.
She had bought them a six-pack of beer and given them a ride as a
reward for opening her car after she locked the keys inside at a
Phoenix convenience store.
Authorities said she was thrown
off a 40-foot cliff but didn't die immediately.
Prosecutors said Rossetti begged
for mercy before the men stoned her and buried her under boulders
and rocks. A coroner said she probably was still alive when she was
buried.
Logan, now 45, cooperated with
prosecutors and was sentenced to life in prison with a chance for
parole after 25 years.
Gillies' execution was the 13th
since Arizona reinstated the death penalty in 1992.
