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Tracy Alan HANSEN
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: To
avoid arrest
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
April 10,
1987
Date of arrest:
Next day
Date of birth:
May 25,
1963
Victim profile: David
Bruce Ladner, 33(Mississippi Highway Patrol Officer)
Method of murder:
Shooting
(.38 caliber pistol)
Location: Harrison County, Mississippi, USA
Status: Executed
by lethal injection in Mississippi on July 17,
2002
Summary:
On Friday, April 10, 1987, Mississippi Highway Patrol Officer David
Bruce Ladner, was patrolling on Interstate 10, when he pulled over a
Lincoln driven erratically and speeding.
Hansen was driving the Lincoln and his girlfriend, Anita Louise
Krecic was also in the vehicle. During the stop, Trooper Ladner
asked for permission to search, and both Hansen and Krecic consented,
giving fictitious names.
In the process, Ladner took the keys to the Continental and placed
them in his pocket. It is unclear exactly what happened next, but,
at some point, Hansen drew a .38 caliber pistol and shot at Trooper
Ladner. To avoid the fire, Ladner ran around the car and dropped to
the ground, in an apparent attempt to roll underneath.
Hansen
managed to get off two shots at close range, each striking Ladner in
the back. Still, Ladner managed to get up and make it to the median
strip, where a passing motorist took him to the hospital. He died
two days later.
Hansen had 10 prior felony convictions and had served time in
Florida. Krecic was also convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment.
Final Meal:
Broiled lobster, shrimp, scallops and crab meat served with
clarified butter and cocktail sauce, fried fish fillet and oysters
with tartar sauce, a Pepsi and chocolate morsels.
Final Words:
Hansen gave a rambling speech and prison officials finally removed
the microphone, beginning the lethal injection process even as he
continued speaking. "I don't mind dying if it gives you closure. I'm
guilty. I shot the guy. I panicked. I was running from the law. I
shouldn't have had a gun. I didn't want to kill him. I'm sorry, but
I know sorry doesn't mean much to some people."
ClarkProsecutor.org
Mississippi: First Execution Since 1989
The New York Times
July 18, 2002
Tracy Alan Hansen, convicted of gunning down a
state trooper in 1987, was put to death by injection in the state's
first execution in 13 years, and its first ever by lethal injection.
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove had denied clemency for Mr. Hansen, 39, saying
the sentence was justified.
Mr. Hansen was found guilty of killing Trooper
Bruce Ladner after the trooper pulled him over for speeding. Leo
Edwards, the last prisoner to be executed in the state, died in the
gas chamber on June 21, 1989. Lawmakers later made injection the
only execution option.
'I'm guilty ... I shot the guy ... I'm sorry'
By Jimmie E. Gates -
Jackson Clarion-Ledger.com
July 18, 2002
PARCHMAN — It took 15 years for Tracy Alan Hansen
to run out of legal appeals but only about 10 minutes for him to be
put to death Wednesday.
Fifteen years after he killed state Trooper
David Bruce Ladner by pumping one bullet in his shoulder and another
in his back, Hansen paid with his life by lethal injection at the
State Penitentiary at Parchman. "I don't mind dying if it gives you
closure," Hansen said to the Ladner family before the drugs were
pumped into the IVs in his arms.
State Pathologist Steven Hayne
pronounced Hansen dead at 6:32 p.m., about 10 minutes after the
lethal injection began, state Department of Corrections officials
and media witnesses said.
Media witnesses said Hansen gave a rambling
speech before he was put to death. Witnesses said prison officials
finally removed the microphone, beginning the lethal injection
process even as he continued speaking. " 'I'm guilty. I shot the guy.
I panicked. I was running from the law. I shouldn't have had a gun,'
" witnesses quoted Hansen as saying. " 'I didn't want to kill him.'
" He apologized to the Ladner family, saying: "I'm sorry, but I know
sorry doesn't mean much to some people," adding he hoped Ladner's
family would now be able put the tragedy behind them.
The execution appeared painless, with Hansen
exhaling once and closing his eyes, the eight media witnesses said.
"Justice was done," Herman Cox, a Gulfport attorney who acted as
spokesman for the Ladner family, said after the execution.
Ladner's
brother, Kirk, and the slain trooper's two sons witnessed the
execution, as did Cox. Cox, who prosecuted Hansen as an assistant
Harrison County district attorney in 1987, said Hansen died
painlessly. That wasn't the case for Ladner, who died 36 hours after
being shot in the back with Hansen's second bullet, he said. "May
God have mercy on Tracy Hansen," Cox said.
Hansen and his girlfriend Anita Krecic were
wanted in Florida at the time for a string of robberies stretching
from Fort Lauderdale to Gainesville. Convicted of capital murder,
Krecic is serving a life sentence at the Central Mississippi
Correctional Facility in Rankin County.
Sixty Ladner family members,
friends and law enforcement officers arrived by chartered bus from
Gulfport at the penitentiary at 3:40 p.m. The bus was escorted by
Mississippi Highway Patrol vehicles. Tracy Alan Hansen's body will
be cremated by the American Cremation Society of Memphis.
Hansen was talkative and appeared anxious
Wednesday before his execution, MDOC spokeswoman Jennifer Griffin
said. She said Hansen also mailed 23 letters, but her staff doesn't
know who they went to. Hansen's last meal consisted of broiled
lobster, shrimp, scallops and crab meat served with clarified butter
and cocktail sauce.
He also had fried fish fillet and oysters with
tartar sauce, a Pepsi and chocolate morsels. Hansen's attorneys,
Charles Press and Debra Sabah, who witnessed the execution, said
their client was "remorseful and wishes the best for the Ladner
family."
Hansen requested that none of his family witness
his execution, but the condemned inmate made calls Wednesday to his
father Lawrence Hansen of Orlando, Fla. Efforts by The Clarion-Ledger
to reach Hansen's family, including his father, were unsuccessful
Wednesday.
Other calls Hansen made Wednesday were to
longtime friend Rhea Abbott of Aberdeen, Wash., who operates a
prison ministry and lost a son and daughter-in-law to a violent
crime. Abbott said Hansen should have been punished, but not put to
death. "There were extenuating circumstances, and he has shown
nothing but remorse."
Numerous Hansen supporters, many from foreign
countries, sent letters to Gov. Ronnie Musgrove asking him to grant
clemency. Musgrove refused. In a statement after the execution, the
governor said: "There are too many other death penalty cases still
awaiting some type of resolution. Fifteen years is too long for the
families of the victims and the state of Mississippi to wait for
justice to be served."
Attorney General Mike Moore, who witnessed the
execution, said he hopes it will bring some closure for the Ladner
family. Moore said he gave the OK for the execution after his office
checked as late as 5:55 p.m. Wednesday to make sure no stays had
been granted. A small group of protesters gathered about 90 minutes
before Hansen's execution at the gates of the penitentiary. A
smaller group of supporters of victims stood nearby.
ProDeathPenalty.com
Cop killer Tracy Alan Hansen is scheduled to be
put to death July 17, which would make him the 1st inmate executed
in the state since 1989.
On Monday, the state Supreme Court set the
execution date. The date was set one week after the U.S. Supreme
Court denied Hansen's appeal. "No legal impediment exists to deter
the resetting of an execution date," the state's highest court said
in its order Monday, signed by Justice George C. Carlson Jr. Hansen
has exhausted his court appeals, said Assistant Attorney General
Marvin 'Sonny' White, who handles capital murder appeals for the
state.
The chances of Hansen's execution being carried
out July 17 are "highly likely now," White said. The execution is
set for 6 p.m., Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jennifer
Griffin said. Previous executions in the state occurred after
midnight. After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Hansen's appeal, the
state attorney general's office requested an execution date from the
state Supreme Court.
Hansen is sentenced to die for the April 10,
1987, shooting death of Mississippi Highway Patrolman Bruce Ladner.
Ladner died from gunshot wounds in the neck and back after he pulled
over Hansen's car on April 10, 1987, for speeding in Harrison County.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has said Hansen
shouldn't be executed because he was represented by an unqualified
and unprepared lawyer. Hansen would become the 1st person in the
state to die by lethal injection.
On July 1, 1998, state law made lethal injection
the form of execution for death row inmates. Hansen has been on
Mississippi's death row for almost 15 years for the April 10, 1987,
shooting death of Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Officer Bruce
Ladner. Mississippi's last execution was in 1989, when Leo Edwards,
36, was put to death in the gas chamber for killing a convenience
store clerk during a robbery in Jackson.
Brandon Ladner, who lost his father when he was
11 years old, hopes justice is near. "We have been told so many
times that it would be this year, then the next year but it would
drag on," said Ladner, 26, a deputy with the Harrison County
Sheriff's Department. "Our family is all pro-death penalty, of
course, and we are excited that there may be closure." Brandon
Ladner said the family has been afraid Hansen would escape before he
was ever executed.
Family members were told Hansen had planned to
escape from Unit 32 at the State Penitentiary on May 28, 2000, with
Roy Harper and John Woolard. Harper and Woolard got away but were
later recaptured. Hansen never escaped.
Ladner was killed after he
pulled over Hansen and his ex-girlfriend Anita Krecic during a
routine traffic stop on I-10 in Harrison County. Hansen and Krecic
were wanted in connection with a robbery in Florida. After Hansen
shot Ladner, he and Krecic stole the officer's gun and left the
scene in Ladner's patrol car.
They were captured a short time later
in Hancock County. Both were convicted of murder in Harrison County,
but Krecic did not receive the death penalty and remains in prison.
Hansen had an appeal denied by the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New
Orleans in November 2001.
At the time, Hansen claimed he was denied
effective legal assistance during the penalty phase of his case and
had key testimony in his defense excluded.
Condemned killer writes: 'I'd prefer if I could
say I don't remember'
By Jimmie E. Gates -
Jackson Clarion-Ledger.com
July 16, 2002
Facing death by lethal injection in less than 48
hours, Tracy Alan Hansen says he believes the death penalty is wrong
and his death will not bring peace to his victim's family.
Hansen, scheduled to die at a little after 6 p.m.
Wednesday for the 1987 shooting death of state Trooper Bruce Ladner,
responded to a letter from The Clarion-Ledger mailed to him at the
State Penitentiary at Parchman.
His five-page, single-spaced reply
typed on school notebook paper was dated July 9 and arrived Monday.
"I think the death penalty is wrong," Hansen said. "I have to
believe this while believing that I deserve to live." The thousands
of dollars state officials say are spent to house a person for one
year could be better spent, he writes, "to help children when they
first start showing problems and (to) have better care for those in
juvenile facilities." But "politicians find it easier to talk about
taking the streets back, how bad crime is, you're always in danger
... and I'll lock them up forever — in other words, do very little
to help the problem," Hansen wrote in a rambling letter that also
touched on inconsistencies in U.S. policies.
Hansen said he never meant to kill Ladner. He
said he had a history of stealing things, not of violence. Hansen
said he should have never had guns ... but ended up with one in his
hand when he shot Ladner, who had pulled him over on a routine
traffic stop on I-10 west of Gulfport. Ladner was shot once in the
shoulder and once in the back.
Hansen said he told the trooper to "'Hold
it right there,' and he panicked and went for his gun ... and I
panicked and shot ... and standing there with two loaded guns, there
was surely no intent to kill ... "Not that this really makes it
prettier ... but I suppose one who commits such an act always tries
to find something that makes them look less ... or more than the
person who could commit such an act. I think of having not slept
three days prior ... drinking a lot of wine coolers that day ... and
yet, I can remember it quite well ... I'd prefer if I could say that
I don't remember it ... that it never happened."
Ladner was helpless when he was shot in the
shoulder, said Herman Cox, then an assistant Harrison County
district attorney who helped prosecute Hansen. Cox said there was no
need to shoot him again, but Hansen shot Ladner again execution-style
in the back. Kirk Ladner of Gulfport, brother of the slain trooper,
said Monday that Hansen's letter is another indication of him "grasping
for straws" now. Kirk Ladner said his brother was a good man, who
year after year made it his goal to try to help others, including
the homeless.
Hansen, in his letter, also praised Bruce Ladner:
"I've talked with several officers who knew Bruce — seems everyone
knew him and had something to say about him, and nothing bad. Even
many prisoners knew him, and said he was a fair and honest man ... "Seems
I also heard how he was very active in his children's life, he
helped with Little League ... not just a do-gooder or something, but
someone who really had their heart in being considerate of other
people and helping where he could. ... but I do care about them. I
never forgot the anger and hurt I saw in the faces of his children
at my trial, and the fact they had to grow up with that ... changed
the rest of their life, and even now I can see ways they're still
hurting about it."
Ladner's two sons were ages 13 and 11 at the time
of his death. He also had a stepdaughter, who was 17 at the time.
But capital punishment does not give families closure, Hansen said.
"(I)f I had been sentenced to life, then it would have been far more
settled with the family in ways, but, now fifteen years later, it's
all (brought back) to (the) surface ... for the last time??? I don't
think so — I think whether it (is) revenge or hate or whatever
confusion, it will be part of them very often until the confusion is
overcome," he said.
Asked if there were anything he wants the Ladner
family to know, Hansen said he wishes he could tell them he loves
them. Their desire to see him die "takes from their life, and
there's something more and better for their hearts than whatever the
motive is in their desire for me to be killed," Hansen writes. "They
desire that I be killed, indeed killed, so I speak from experience
when I say that it's all wrong."
Rhea Abbott of Aberdeen, Wash., who operates a
prison ministry and has become a friend of Hansen, said Monday that
she believes Hansen is sincere in his remorse. Abbott lost a son and
daughter-in-law to violence. In the last five or six years, Hansen
said he's changed and become "an honest man — a man of very high
integrity, considerate of the feelings of others, truly caring about
and loving other people ... kind of makes Bruce seem like Jesus —
Bruce was out there even to protect the likes of me."
Hansen said he cannot sense the finality of his
execution. "I tend to feel that it's not here today, so I don't have
to worry about it today ... if there's no stay by the 17th, I can
worry enough that day." And if he dies on Wednesday, Hansen writes,
"I can appreciate finally being away from Parchman, where I've spent
fifteen years in a cell the size of your bathroom."
Parchman Staffers Prep for Execution
By Sherri Williams -
Jackson Clarion-Ledger.com
July 13, 2002
PARCHMAN — Six mock executions have been
performed at the State Penitentiary at Parchman to ensure Tracy Alan
Hansen will be put to death next week with no problems. During a
media briefing at the prison Friday, Mississippi Department of
Corrections' Deputy Commissioner of Institutions Chris Epps said 73
staff members have gone through the procedure that will be carried
out during what will be the state's first execution by lethal
injection unless Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, a death penalty supporter,
grants Hansen a reprieve.
Epps said he witnessed a lethal injection in
Texas in January to prepare for Hansen's execution. Another mock
execution will be performed before 6 p.m. Wednesday, when Hansen is
set to die. Hansen, 39, fatally shot Mississippi Highway Patrolman
Bruce Ladner in Harrison County in 1987 during a routine traffic
stop.
Hansen, of Florida, and his girlfriend Anita
Krecic went on a crime spree in Florida before killing Ladner in
Mississippi. Krecic, 43, is serving a life sentence at the Central
Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County. Hansen's
execution will mark the first in the state in 13 years. The last
execution was in 1989 of Leo Edwards for the fatal shooting of store
clerk Linzy Don Dixon in Jackson. Edwards was executed in the gas
chamber.
Hansen, one of 66 inmates on death row in Unit
32, will be transported to Unit 17 48 hours before the execution is
to be carried out. The 13 maximum security inmates usually housed
there will be removed. Two hours before the execution, Hansen will
be allowed to eat his last meal. He has requested a seafood entree,
Epps said. He will be allowed visits from his lawyers and clergy
before the execution.
Hansen will walk a few steps from the 54-square-foot
cell into the execution room, adjacent to the old gas chamber. The
execution room has three windows where 19 witnesses, including eight
members of the media chosen through a lottery, will view the
execution. Hansen cannot see clearly outside the room. Members of
Ladner's family and members of Hansen's family will also be allowed
to view the execution. Relatives of Ladner will be attending.
Jennifer Griffin, MDOC communications director, said none of
Hansen's relatives has requested to witness the execution.
Hansen will lie on a steel gurney with an inch-thick
black vinyl mat. His head, arms, feet and torso will be strapped.
The executioner will place an IV in each arm. After all witnesses
are in the witness rooms, white curtains will open revealing Hansen
strapped to the gurney. The superintendent will read the execution
order, then Hansen will be allowed to say his last words. A
microphone will be hovering over his head. Speakers are in the
witness and medical rooms. "He has said he will have some last words,"
Epps said.
After Hansen speaks, the lethal drugs will be
administered. Epps said it would take three minutes to administer
the drugs and five to 10 minutes for Hansen to die. First, sodium
thiopentol will put him to sleep. Pavulon will stop him from
breathing, and, lastly, potassium chloride will stop his heart. The
IV lines carrying the drugs are located near three phone lines that
could serve as his lifelines. Phones to the governor's office, the
attorney general's office and an open phone line are in the medical
room.
Musgrove met with Hansen's attorney, Merrida
Coxwell, in Jackson for an hour to discuss Coxwell's clemency
request submitted to the governor Wednesday. Lee Ann Mayo,
spokeswoman for Musgrove, said Musgrove will announce his decision
on the request Tuesday. Musgrove also Friday met with Bishop William
Houck of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, who pleaded with Musgrove
to commute Hansen's sentence to life in prison.
The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter
Thursday to Musgrove making the same request. In a series of court
filings seeking to forestall the execution, Hansen's attorneys have
asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to reconsider its dismissal of
the condemned man's appeal.
On Friday, Hansen and six other death row inmates
filed a motion and lawsuit in federal court requesting a temporary
restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop his execution.
They are asking the court to stop the execution so Hansen can
testify in the lawsuit. Prisoners claim they are being denied
medical treatment among other needs.
Griffin said Hansen's demeanor has changed since
his execution date was set. "He's a little quieter from what I
understand," she said. Regardless of his crime, death penalty
opponents want to spare his life. Sister Dorothy Gunn, a nun with
Catholic Charities in Jackson, has requested to hold a vigil for
Hansen, Griffin said. MDOC has also received a request to hold a
vigil for Ladner. Both vigils will be held on the prison grounds.
Execution Has to be Done, Slain
Trooper's Family Says
By Jimmie E. Gates -
Jackson Clarion-Ledger.com
July 14, 2002
GULFPORT — David Bruce Ladner's Mississippi
Highway Patrol tag number, K-34, and his photograph are fixed in the
marble marker at his grave. Flowers and an American flag flank the
flat gravestone and raised marble headstone.
"I don't want my two children to grow up in a
world with no justice," Damon Ladner said last week as his stood
beside the manicured grave site where the slain trooper is buried. "My
father gave his life so we could have freedom and justice." And
after 15 years, the Ladner family says justice will be done.
Ladner's killer, Tracy Alan Hansen, 39, has run out of appeals and,
barring a last-minute reprieve, will die Wednesday for his crime.
Bruce Ladner's family members say they take no joy in his execution,
but his death by lethal injection is justified.
Damon Ladner said he's not looking for vengeance.
Hansen should be put to death not only for what he did to Bruce
Ladner and law enforcement, Damon Ladner says, but because the
justice system has deemed it so.
Trooper Ladner was shot April 10, 1987, after
stopping a car driven by Hansen on I-10 west of Gulfport. The nine-year
veteran was shot once in the shoulder and once in the back. He died
two days later at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport. The slaying of
Ladner was a "cold-blooded crime," Gulfport lawyer Herman Cox, an
assistant Harrison County district attorney at the time, said last
week. Cox said Hansen's first shot hit the trooper in the shoulder.
Helpless, Ladner was then shot execution-style in the back, Cox said.
"There was no need to shoot him a second time," Cox said.
It's hard not to feel anger, said Damon Ladner,
the eldest son of the slain trooper. Before his visit to his
father's grave in the Lyman community near Gulfport, Damon Ladner
sat in his uncle's living room, trying to put into words the loss of
his father and what he feels as Hansen's execution nears.
Damon
Ladner, 13 at the time of his father's death, said he remembers his
father teaching him and his brother the right path in life. His
brother Brandon, now a Harrison County deputy, was 11 at the time.
"He was a good father, the kind anyone would want," said Damon
Ladner, who will celebrate his 29th birthday later this month.
Even
at 13, Damon Ladner, who works in his uncle's construction business
in Gulfport, could tell that his dad was a deeply religious man who
cared about people. He took great pride in being a Highway Patrol
officer, Damon Ladner said. Kirk Ladner, the slain trooper's brother,
said family members have done a lot of soul-searching over the years.
They continue to try to reconcile their religious beliefs with the
need to see justice carried out in Hansen's case.
Forgiveness could come, Kirk Ladner said, if
Hansen accepted responsibility for his crime and the punishment it
deserves. He said Hansen has shown no remorse, made no public
apology to the Ladner family, and for 15 years has been trying to
find a way out of the State Penitentiary at Parchman. The execution
"has to be done," Kirk Ladner said, even though it will cause grief
for both the Ladner and Hansen families. Kirk Ladner said he and
Bruce Ladner's two sons will witness the execution.
Although the Ladner family is only allotted two
seats for the execution, Kirk Ladner says Harrison County Sheriff's
Department officials plan to give up a seat for the Ladner family.
Hansen's execution won't bring closure for the Ladner family, Kirk
Ladner believes. But it will end a chapter in their lives.
Hansen, a Florida convict with an extensive
criminal record, and his girlfriend, Anita Krecic, were wanted at
the time of the killing in a string of robberies in Florida that
stretched from Fort Lauderdale to Gainesville, according to Florida
authorities. Both were charged with murder in Ladner's death.
Hansen's trial was moved to Hinds County because of pretrial
publicity. He was convicted in October 1987 and sentenced to death.
Krecic's trial was moved to Warren County; she was convicted in 1988
and sentenced to life in prison.
Krecic is eligible for a parole hearing in 2005,
but the Ladner family will continue to ask the Parole Board to deny
her request, Kirk Ladner said. Authorities believe Krecic handed the
gun to Hansen that was used to kill Bruce Ladner. "After 15 years,
it's time for this case to be brought to conclusion," said longtime
Harrison County District Attorney Cono Caranna. "The law and the
facts of the case call for the death penalty."
Joseph Gazzo Jr., a veteran trooper who was
Ladner's friend and partner, agrees there will be no celebration at
Hansen's execution. But it must be done, Gazzo insists, for the sake
of both closure and justice. Gazzo describes Ladner as a person his
friends admired. He was a good trooper, a good man, and a good
family man who was a regular at his children's soccer matches and
other activities, said Gazzo, now in public relations with the
Highway Patrol. Time hasn't dimmed the memory and the hurt. "It
strikes home," Gazzo said. "I could have been out there."
Hansen v. State
592 So. 2d 114 (Miss. 1991)
Tracy Alan Hansen was born in Florida on May 25,
1963, and then began the rest of his troubles. These included
substantial abuse through a troubled childhood, frequent encounters
with Florida's juvenile justice system and, between July, 1981, and
October, 1984, at least ten felony convictions--eight property
crimes and two escapes.
In the Spring of 1987, Hansen hooked up with
Anita Louise Krecic, four years and a day his senior. On Friday,
April 10, 1987, the two left Florida in a dark blue Lincoln
Continental, and by approximately 6:30 p.m. they had made
Mississippi and were traveling westward on Interstate Highway 10,
Hansen driving, approaching the western boundary of Harrison County.
This was the first week of Daylight Savings Time. The sun was
shining.
David Bruce Ladner, eighteen years an officer of
the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol (MHSP), was assigned to the
Gulf-port Substation. On this Friday afternoon, he was patrolling
I-10 in Harrison County when he encountered the dark blue Lincoln
Continental and observed erratic driving and speeding. Trooper
Ladner pulled in behind the vehicle and signaled to the driver to
pull over, which he did.
Apparently at the time, Trooper Ladner
foresaw nothing more serious than a traffic offense, at worst a
driving-while-intoxicated. Once he had the vehicle stopped--on the
north side of the road for westbound traffic--Trooper Ladner began
to suspect more and asked permission to search the car. Hansen and
Krecic signed a Consent to Search form, giving fictitious names,
Christopher Larci-nesse and Barbara Gilbert. In the process, Ladner
took the keys to the Continental and placed them in his pocket.
It is unclear exactly what happened next, but, at
some point, Hansen drew a .38 caliber pistol and shot at Trooper
Ladner. To avoid the fire, Ladner ran around the car and dropped to
the ground, in an apparent attempt to roll underneath.
Hansen
managed to get off two shots at close range, each striking Ladner in
the back. Still, Ladner managed to get up and make it to the median
strip, where Charles Shirley, fortuitously driving through at the
moment, picked him up and took him to the hospital. Ladner died some
thirty-one (31) hours later--on early Sunday morning, April 12,
1987--still in the hospital.
A number of motorists passing by the area
observed bits and pieces of what happened. These included William
Forrest Runnels, a sales representative from Sims, Alabama; Paul
Tibbetts, a pharmacist from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Donald Ray Meche,
district manager for Seacorp. Industries from Mobile; Steve Diaz, a
Gulf Coast resident; Sonya Burt, a seventeen-year old traveling with
her parents, Janet and Frank Burt; Maria Kelly, another sev-enteen-year
old; Jack Briar; Charles E. Childress; Debbie Butler, a legal
secretary in Biloxi; Amanda Davis, another seven-teen-year old;
Laura Migues; her traveling companion, Jack McDermott; and, of
course, Charles Shirley. Kathy Ann Roma-ny, a resident of Marguerite,
Florida, had been traveling west on I-10 at about the same time and
had noticed the blue town-car from about Pensacola on and identified
Hansen as the driver. Tibbets, Meche, and Diaz identified Hansen as
the man they had seen on the side of the road on Friday evening,
April 10, and Tibbetts and Meche said they saw Hansen shoot Trooper
Lad-ner.
Hansen and Krecic, having been relieved of the
keys to their car, fled the scene in Ladner's Highway Patrol car.
They took the first exit north off I-10 and immediately pulled over
a 1984 silver metallic Ford Ranger driven by Daisy Morgan, a deaf-mute.
Hansen and Krecic stele Morgan's vehicle, leaving Morgan and the
Patrol car on the side of the road. Morgan, who could see quite well,
later identified Han-sen as the man who stole her Ranger.
Over the next several hours, Hansen and Krecic
sought assistance from various Hancock County residents, presenting
assorted tales of woe, the bottom line in each instance being that
they wanted transportation to New Orleans.
After midnight, Hansen
and Krecic were still in Hancock County and made their way to the
home of Pat Ladner and his family on Rocky Hill Road, in the
apparent company of the Lad-ners' brother-in-law, Jody Wade, and
Char-lie Williams. Some thirty minutes later, Wade and Williams
agreed to take Hansen and Krecic to Waveland to find a motel room.
En route they were stopped by State Troopers Freddie Keel and Darryl
Deschamp, and Hansen and Krecic were taken into custody.
Hansen and Krecic were initially charged with two
counts of grand larceny, no doubt referring to the two vehicles they
had stolen, and Hansen was charged with aggravated assault on a law
enforcement officer. When Trooper Ladner died the next day, these
charges were elevated to capital murder.
On May 28, 1987, the grand jury of Harrison
County, Mississippi, returned an indictment charging Tracy Alan
Hansen with the capital murder of David Bruce Ladner, a peace
officer with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol who was acting in
his official capacity and that the killing occurred at a time when
Hansen knew of that capacity. Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-19(2)(a) (Supp.1987).
The indictment charged as well that Hansen was an habitual offender.
Miss.Code Ann. § 99-19-81 (Supp.1987). Extensive pre-trial
proceedings followed, and the Circuit Court, by reason of pre-trial
publicity, ordered venue changed to Hinds County.
On October 26, 1987, the Court called the case
for trial sitting in Jackson, Mississippi. In due course, the jury
returned a verdict that Hansen was guilty as charged. Thereafter,
the trial entered the penalty phase, and, in the end, the jury
returned a verdict providing, inter alia, We, the jury, unanimously
find that the aggravating circumstances of: 1. The capital offense
was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, and 2. The capital
offense was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing
lawful arrest, or effecting an escape from custody, are sufficient
to impose the death penalty, and we unanimously find beyond a
reasonable doubt, that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the
mitigating circumstances and we unanimously find beyond a reasonable
doubt that the defendant should suffer the penalty of death.
The victim
Trooper David Bruce Ladner
Mississippi
Department of Public Safety - Highway Patrol Mississippi
End of
Watch: Sunday, April 12, 1987 Cause: Gunfire
Biographical Info
Age:
33 Tour of Duty: 9 years Badge Number: K-34
Trooper Ladner was
shot and killed on I-10, in Harrison County, by a suspect who turned
out to be wanted in Florida. During the stop Trooper Ladner asked
the driver for consent to search the vehicle. The suspect then
produced a .38 caliber revolver and shot Trooper Ladner in the chest,
knocking him to the ground. He shot him a second time and then stole
his service weapon and patrol car.
Although mortally
wounded, Trooper Ladner was able to flag down a passing motorist,
who transported him to a local hospital. He succumbed to his wounds
two days later.
The suspect was
convicted of Trooper Ladner's murder and sentenced to death. He was
executed on July 17, 2002.
Trooper Ladner had
been with the agency for 9 years. He was survived by his wife and
three children.
A section of US
Highway 49, in Harrison County, was dedicated in Trooper Ladner's
memory.
