Inmate to be executed today

The State.com

Associated Press - Fri, Nov. 04, 2005

Hastings Wise is scheduled to go to the death chamber today to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. for killing four workers at an Aiken County plant in September 1997 as revenge for his firing several weeks earlier.

Wise, who tried to commit suicide in the plant after the shootings by drinking insecticide, has asked to die since his arrest. He refused to let his lawyers call any witnesses to ask the jury to spare his life and has brushed off any attempts to appeal since he was sent to Death Row. “At almost every opportunity, he has expressed his wish to die,” attorney Joseph Savitz said. “Once you get someone who’s convinced they want to die, it’s difficult to change their minds.”

Wise was sentenced to death for killing four workers during a shooting rampage he planned to coincide with a shift change at the R.E Phelon plant, which makes ignition parts for lawn mowers. All four people killed either had something to do with Wise getting fired or took jobs he wanted, prosecutors said.

As he stood before the judge to have his sentence formally read after his 2001 trial, Wise said he was ready to receive his punishment. “I do not wish to take advantage of the court as far as asking for mercy. It was a fair trial. I committed these crimes,” he said in a voice so soft few in the courtroom could hear.

Wise will be the sixth person put to death in South Carolina without using all their appeals since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Wise will be the 34th inmate put to death in South Carolina since 1976.

Hastings Wise a 'volunteer' for execution; his is scheduled this evening

By Jeffrey Collins - The Times and Democrat

Associated Press

COLUMBIA — They are called “volunteers” — inmates who choose to give up their appeals and be put to death. Whether they do it out of remorse, boredom or frustration the result is the same.

Hastings Wise appears to be one of them, heading to the death chamber Friday to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. for killing four workers at an Aiken County plant in September 1997 as revenge for his firing several weeks earlier.

Wise, who tried to commit suicide in the plant after the shootings by drinking insecticide, has asked to die since his arrest. He refused to let his lawyers call any witnesses to ask the jury to spare his life and has brushed off any attempts to appeal since he was sent to death row. “At almost every opportunity he has expressed his wish to die,” said attorney Joseph Savitz, who also has represented other volunteers. “Once you get someone whose convinced they want to die, it’s difficult to change their minds.”

Wise was sentenced to death for killing four workers during a shooting rampage he planned to coincide with shift change at the R.E Phelon plant, which makes ignition parts for lawnmowers. All four people killed either had something to do with Wise getting fired or took jobs he wanted, prosecutors said. As he stood before the judge to have his sentence formally read after his 2001 trial, Wise said he was ready to receive his punishment. “I do not wish to take advantage of the court as far as asking for mercy. It was a fair trial. I committed these crimes,” he said in a voice so soft few in the courtroom could hear.

Wise will be the sixth person put to death in South Carolina without using all their appeals since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. All have died by lethal injection instead of the electric chair, and Savitz said that’s not a coincidence. “Lethal injection has changed the dynamic of the whole thing,” Savitz said. “These guys are no longer scared to be put to death.”

Wise will be the 34th inmate put to death in South Carolina since 1976, meaning about 18 percent of the state’s executions have been volunteers. Nationwide, 117 of the 989 inmates, or nearly 12 percent, put to death since the death penalty was reinstated had appeals left, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

The numbers fluctuate from year to year. In 2004, 10 of the 59 executions were done on volunteers. In 2003, it was just four deaths out of 65, according to the center’s statistics. Many more inmates give up for a time, but change their minds, Dieter said. “They get discouraged, they lose, lose, lose and give up. But then after a while, they decide to go after at least one more appeal,” Dieter said.

The six volunteers in South Carolina don’t hold much in common other than giving up their appeals. Three of them were executed in 1996, shortly after the state made lethal injection an option, said Mark Plowden, a spokesman with the state attorney general’s office.

The rush of volunteers also coincided with the arrival of former Corrections Department chief Michael Moore, who moved death row from Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, where executions continue to be carried out, to Lieber Correctional Institution in the Lowcountry. Moore also used the move to make conditions harsher on death row, requiring inmates to stay in their cells 23 hours a day and have minimal contact with each other even outside of their cells.

The reasons the volunteers drop their appeals varies. Wise and the most recent volunteer, Michael Passaro, planned to commit suicide after their crimes. In Passaro’s case, he jumped from his burning van, but left his 2-year-old daughter — the subject of a bitter custody battle — strapped inside.

Doyle Cecil Lucas, put to death for killing a Rock Hill couple in a robbery, told his lawyer he was filled with remorse and hoped his death brought his victims’ family relief. And Michael Torrence, executed for killing two Midlands men in a robbery, asked to drop his appeals because he couldn’t see how spending 20 or 30 more years in prison was going to benefit him. “If I could start a euthanasia clinic in downtown Columbia, I’d have more clients than I could handle,” Savitz said. “Sometimes life is tough. I’ve witnessed lethal injection. It’s an easy way to die.”

Jurors decide death; Families, survivors express relief

By Greg Rickbaugh - The Augusta Chronicle

Friday, February 2, 2001

Aiken - Arthur Hastings Wise didn't want mercy, and he didn't get it. Twelve jurors, some of them weeping, returned a death sentence Thursday against Mr. Wise for a workplace rampage at R.E. Phelon Co. in Aiken. Four were killed and three were wounded in the attack Sept. 15, 1997.

The convicted killer closed his eyes and remained stone faced during the announcement. "I don't have much to say except that I did not wish to take advantage of the court as far as asking mercy,'' Mr. Wise said. "It's a fair trial. I committed the crimes.''

The verdicts brought shouts of joy from survivors of the attack and relatives of the dead. They cried and held hands in court. Outside, they gathered in groups and hugged. "Three years, four months and 17 days,'' said Robert Wise, a former Phelon employee who is not related to the defendant, referring to his long wait for justice. "He got what he deserved,'' said shooting victim Stan Vance, a former Phelon security guard. "That's what I wanted to hear - death. He didn't deserve to live.''

Jurors deliberated almost five hours, and former Phelon employee Bruce Mundy worried they were considering a life sentence. ``I was sweating,'' he said. "Life just wouldn't have been justice. I mean, he killed my friends. I believe when the time comes, he'll pay dearly.'' Janet Cooper, sister-in-law of victim Charles Griffeth, said she felt relief. ``We hated that it dragged out so long,'' she said, adding that other family members were too distraught to attend the trial.

Judge Cooper sentenced Mr. Wise, 46, to death four times for the murders of Sheryl Wood, David Moore, Leonard Filyaw and Mr. Griffeth. He also ordered 60 years in prison for the shootings of Stan Vance, Jerry Corley and John Mucha, all of whom survived. Concurrent jail time was given for burglary and possession of a gun during the commission of a violent crime. The judge set April 3 as the execution date, but that will be delayed because Mr. Wise gets an automatic appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court.

Defense attorneys Gregory Harlow and Carl B. Grant were crippled in their efforts to save their client from a death sentence when Mr. Wise ordered them Wednesday not to present witnesses on his behalf. The killer said he didn't want family or friends involved and didn't want to make his own plea to the jury.

Outside the courtroom, Mr. Grant said he was prepared to call Mr. Wise's family and friends and members of the North Augusta church he once attended. "There was no question we were hampered in this case by not being able to call those 13 witnesses. In this case, the jury did not get to know that man sitting in the jail suit,'' he said. The defense attorneys were left with only closing arguments to make a case for life.

Mr. Harlow told jurors that his client offered no excuses and no plea of insanity. He asked the jury to spare his client from death row so others could learn from him. "What causes a person to snap like this? ... Perhaps in the future, Mr. Wise may be studied,'' Mr. Harlow said.

Taking a different approach, Mr. Grant asked jurors to use their consciences and not be swayed by the opinion of another juror. He asked if they could look themselves in the mirror or sleep at night if they voted against their consciences. Mr. Grant argued for a life sentence, saying Mr. Wise still would die in prison. "The only way he's going to get out is in a coffin,'' he said. Finally, Mr. Grant asked for mercy, saying enough people had suffered already. "In the midst of misery, you have the opportunity to choose mercy,'' he said. "There's been enough killing. The question is when will the killing stop? When will the dying stop?''

The jury rejected the defense attorneys' arguments and agreed with 2nd Circuit Solicitor Barbara R. Morgan, who told jurors that Mr. Wise created the "ultimate, horrible terrorist act'' and deserved the ultimate sentence. "He didn't come to kill one or two,'' Ms. Morgan said. ``He came to maximize his hate.''

Ms. Morgan repeated the facts of the case, recalling how Mr. Wise returned to the plant after being fired. Mr. Wise had worked as a machine operator at Phelon, a company that manufactures ignitions for lawn equipment. He was fired in July 1997 after a confrontation with a supervisor. Mr. Wise returned to the plant and shot a security guard before killing Mr. Griffeth, the human resources director who had fired him.

He later walked to the tool and die area, where he fatally shot Mr. Moore and Mr. Filyaw, who worked in jobs Mr. Wise wanted. Ms. Woods was shot three times in the quality assurance division. Mr. Wise created terror for dozens of employees as they prepared for their shift change that day, Ms. Morgan said. ``Their innocence and safety at the workplace were shattered,'' she said. ``The facts of what happened in a small manufacturing plant in the county of Aiken demand the ultimate penalty.''

The verdicts wrapped up a two-week trial that began in Beaufort, S.C., where jury selection was held. Judge Cooper chose jurors there because of widespread publicity given the case in Aiken County.

Minutes after a jury returned four death sentences, Arthur Hastings Wise was given the chance to address the court. Here is what he said: "Well, I've been pretty much quiet up until now. I don't have much to say except that I did not wish to take advantage of the court as far as asking mercy. "It's a fair trial. I committed the crimes. Not once have I tried to evade my charges. As a matter of fact, from the very beginning - 40 months ago - I admitted to being at the scene of the crime, and I'm ready for my sentence.''

Key players in the Wise trial

By Greg Rickbaugh.

Sunday, January 21, 2001

The names and faces of the Arthur Hastings Wise trial

Defendant - Arthur Hastings Wise

Charged with killing four workers and injuring three others at R.E. Phelon Co. in Aiken on Sept. 15, 1997. Authorities say he had been fired from the plant two months earlier for being aggressive with a supervisor. He also had been turned down for several other positions he wanted in the plant. The North Augusta man, who stands well over 6 feet tall, spent time in prison for bank robbery and receiving stolen goods, but he earned a technical degree and found work after his release. He had worked at the Phelon plant five years before his termination.

2nd Circuit Solicitor - Barbara R. Morgan

Will argue the case to the jury, question the state's witnesses and cross-examine defense witnesses. Ms. Morgan has prosecuted five casesthat resulted in death sentences.

The victims

Sheryl Wood - Quality assurance employee

Ms. Wood was shot three times and died in the plant's rear parking lot. The 27-year-old from Bath was a 1988 graduate of Midland Valley High School, where she played basketball, volleyball and softball. She was survived by her mother and father, a brother, five sisters and her grandmother.

Charles Griffeth - Human resources director

Mr. Griffeth, 50, was the first person killed. He was in his office when he was shot twice. Mr. Griffeth, of Lexington, was responsible for firing and hiring at the company. Police say they believe he was targeted because the suspect had been fired two months before the shootings. Mr. Griffeth had worked at Phelon about six months.

Leonard Filyaw - Tool and die machinist

Mr. Filyaw, 30, was shot at his work station. The Warrenville man had been engaged for two weeks when he was killed. He was a 1985 graduate of Silver Bluff High School and liked to collect guns. He was survived by his parents, two sisters and his maternal grandparents.

David Moore - Tool and die machinist

Mr. Moore, 30, was shot twice at his work station. An Aiken resident, he had a fiancee when he was killed. He was a member of Holiness Church. He was survived by his parents, a brother and sister and his maternal grandparents.

4 killed in Aiken County shooting; suspect caught by SWAT team

By Kathy Steele.

September 16, 1997

AIKEN - Leila Duncan ran for her life when she saw a gunman Monday in the hallways of R.E. Phelon Co. "He said he would be back,'' Ms. Duncan said. "He passed me. I saw the gun. Thank God he didn't say anything to me, because he probably would have shot me, too.''

Four people were killed and three were wounded when the shooting broke out shortly after 3 p.m., just as shifts were changing at the plant. Three of the bodies were found in the tool and die and human resources departments. A fourth victim was found in the rear parking lot. "One of those shots could possibly have been for me,'' the assembly worker said. "I just ran for my life when I heard the shots. People were running as fast as they could, yelling `Get out! Get out!'''

The accused gunman, Arthur Hastings Wise, 43, of North Augusta, was listed in critical condition at Aiken Regional Medical Centers late Monday after ingesting an unknown substance, possibly a drug. Mr. Wise had been fired from the plant within the last few weeks, plant employees said.

Aiken County Coroner Sue Townsend identified the victims as David Moore, 30, of North Augusta; Esther Sheryl Wood, 27, of Bath; Charles Griffith, 50, of Columbia; and Ernest L. Filyaw, 31, of Warrenville. Ms. Wood's body was found in the parking lot, Ms. Townsend said. The killings came almost exactly one year after Mark David Hill opened fire in the South Carolina Department of Social Services office in North Augusta, leaving three people dead. "I thought, `My God! We did this same thing last year,''' Mrs. Townsend said.

Lt. Stan Vance, a 49-year-old security guard from Jackson, and John Mucha, 60, of Aiken, were listed in serious condition at Aiken Regional with gunshot wounds. Lucius Corley, 44, of Graniteville, was treated and released, authorities said. Five other employees were treated and released with minor injuries, hospital officials said.

Police were releasing only sketchy details late Monday as they worked to piece together the sequence of events. The 911 emergency call came in at 3:07 p.m. to the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. Within minutes, an army of law enforcement officers responded from the sheriff's office, the State Law Enforcement Division, the FBI, the Aiken and North Augusta public safety departments, Aiken County Emergency Medical Services and the Edgefield County Sheriff's Department. Helicopters hovered overhead at the plant and state agents brought in an armored car.

Employees at Phelon, which manufactures ignition systems and flywheels for lawn equipment, said they could have predicted the shooting spree. Margaret Drafts, who works in the plant's payroll department, said she had spoken with Mr. Wise frequently on the phone about payroll deductions.

"He had applied for several different positions in tool and die and quality assurance departments and he didn't get them,'' she said. "I never thought he would have done that. He was always pleasant to me.'' "When he was fired, he said this wasn't the end of it. Nobody paid it any attention,'' Angela Humphries said. Others heard the same thing. "He told them it wasn't over. He'd be back,'' Lisa Beck said.

Lt. Michael Frank, spokesman for the sheriff's office, confirmed that Mr. Wise was a former employee of Phelon. He wasn't aware of how long he had worked at the plant or the reasons for his dismissal. "We were told an individual showed up at the plant, walked inside and began shooting,'' Lt. Frank said. "We don't have information on whether it was a random shooting or if he had targets.''

The gunman drove to the plant, parked his red two-door Saturn and pointed a weapon at Lt. Vance, the sheriff's spokesman said. He shot and wounded the guard and headed for the main door. Mr. Wise cut the telephone lines before entering the building, Ms. Duncan said.

Eyewitnesses said they fled the plant, scrambling for doors as other workers and supervisors came through shouting, "There's a man with a gun.'' Two people were shot to death in the plant's tool and die area, one in the human resources department and one in the back parking lot, Lt. Frank said.

Carol Woody said she was walking toward the personnel office when Mr. Wise ran by. "He pushed me out of the way,'' Ms. Woody said. "He went in the human resources door. A gun was in his left hand. I could see the gun. I know the gun was black. He's a big man.''

A lot of employees said they felt lucky to get out alive. Bruce Mundy, who works in the flywheel department, was standing next to a woman who was shot. "He killed everybody,'' Mr. Mundy said as his mother held tightly to his arm. They were standing outside the Golden Pantry, milling around with a couple of hundred other employees and relatives looking for their loved ones after the shooting.

Vernelle Weaver heaved a sigh of relief when she found her husband, Jimmy, outside and safe. "When I came up I didn't see him,'' she said. "All kinds of things were going on in my head.''

Danny Goldston said the man next to him was shot. "I didn't know the guy,'' he said. "I heard popping sounds. I seen a flash from a pistol. Then I left.''

With most of the employees evacuated after the shooting, Lt. Frank said the sheriff's entry team and state agents' SWAT team began searching each section of the building for Mr. Wise. As the search proceeded, two men and a woman were hiding under desks on the first floor, communicating with a 911 dispatcher by portable telephone. They were found and evacuated. SLED Chief Robert Stewart said Mr. Wise was found on the second floor near the quality assurance office. The weapon, a handgun, was discovered nearby. "He said nothing,'' Chief Stewart said. "He was lying on the floor and there appeared to be something physically wrong with him.''

ProDeathPenalty.com

The state Supreme Court has set an execution date for a man convicted of killing four former co-workers at an Aiken County plant in 1997. The justices have set a November 4th execution date for 51-year-old Arthur Hastings Wise. Wise had asked to have his appeals dropped almost immediately after his 2001 conviction.

The attorney general's office says Wise had offered no defense during his trial. Wise was within weeks of dying by lethal injection in June 2004 when the state Supreme Court stopped his execution because his lawyer said he wanted to appeal and Wise wrote a letter to the court saying he wanted to die. Charles Griffeth, David Moore, Earnest Filyaw and Cheryl Wood died and three other people were hurt in the attack at the R.E. Phelon lawnmower ignition plant.

UPDATE:

Charles Griffeth was hired by R.E. Phelon to fill the management opening in human resources. Pam Morey, his assistant, said. "(Mr. Phelon) got the best man for the job when he hired Charles. Charles would walk through the plant and talk and joke with the workers. He treated people with tenderness. He made it worthwhile going to work."

But the good times ended violently Sept. 15 that year, when Hastings Arthur Wise, a former Phelon machine operator who had been fired two months earlier, returned with a gun, nearly 200 rounds of ammunition and a plan to make those he felt had wronged him pay in blood. At the end of the rampage, four were dead and three wounded.

The violence started at about 3 p.m. on that Monday eight years ago when security officer Stanley Vance took the first bullet from Wise's gun - in the chest at close range - and fell in the guard shack where he had been on duty. From there, Wise headed for the human resources department inside the main building. Pam Morey, whose last name at the time was Holley, was on the telephone at her desk in the outer office when Wise rushed in, searching for Charles Griffeth. "I saw the shadow just dart past me. I froze when I heard the noise (of gunfire)," she said. Charles Griffeth had also been on the phone when Wise entered. He tried to take cover when he spotted the gun, said his sister-in-law Janet Cooper. But there was no time to find safety. The well-loved manager died at his desk when he was shot twice in the back.

Returning to the outer office, Wise accosted Pam Morey. "He put the gun between my eyes," she said. He then ordered her off the phone and yanked it out of the wall. "I just started pleading and praying. I said, 'I have kids. I'm a single mother. Please don't kill me,'" Mrs. Morey said. The gunman was distracted by someone who entered the building, and he left the room. Terrified, Mrs. Morey said she hid under her desk "because I didn't want to see somebody get shot." When she eventually heard shots farther off, she jumped up and ran from the building. Wise continued his rampage, firing and reloading. He moved to the tool and dye area where he had wanted to work but had been denied. There, David Moore, Earnest Filyaw, Lucius Corley and John Mitchell were shot. David Moore and Earnest Filyaw both died.

After a frantic search, worker John Goad discovered his brother behind a work station and figured he was hiding from the gunman. Then he rolled his brother over. "I could see the blood on his chest. His eyes were still open. He was starting to turn purple," Mr. Goad told the jury in Wise's trial as tears streamed down his face. ``When I realized he was gone, I just started calling his name. I said, 'No, David, no!'" David Moore, his brother and co-worker, was gone. But the war-like atmosphere around Mr. Goad continued. "I could hear the shots, and I could hear people screaming,'' he said. "I knew I had to go. I knew I couldn't carry him out. So I ran out the way I came." An Aiken resident, Moore had a fiancee when he was killed. He was a member of Holiness Church. He was survived by his parents, a brother and sister and his maternal grandparents.

After the gunman walked out of the tool and die area toward the quality assurance division, employee David Langille said, Mr. Langille checked on co-worker Leonard Filyaw, who had been hit once with gunfire. "His eyes, there was a blank stare. I knew he was dead,'' Mr. Langille said. David Moore had the same lifeless stare, he said. But John Mucha was alive, begging and pleading for help for his gunshot wound. His co-workers came to his aid and carried him outside. Earnest Filyaw was from Warrenville and had been engaged for two weeks when he was killed. He was a 1985 graduate of Silver Bluff High School and liked to collect guns. He was survived by his parents, two sisters and his maternal grandparents.

After hearing gunfire from the shootings of Moore and Filyaw, other employees ran. Sheryl Wood almost made it out, but that wasn't Wise's plan. He shot the young woman who got the job he wanted. She fell, with bullets in her back and leg.

The gunman walked up to where she lay on the floor and shot her in the head. In the quality assurance office, she lay there, pleading with others not to leave her. Minutes later, die cast worker Bruce Mundy appeared. He had been outside but decided to return and help the wounded. He soon discovered Ms. Wood. "I yelled into the radio that I had found somebody and they were hurt,'' Mr. Mundy told the jury, fighting back tears. "I couldn't move her. She squeezed my hand, but as far as talking - no, she couldn't talk. ... She was gurgling, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she died.'' Still, Mr. Mundy and others lifted Ms. Wood onto a stretcher and carried her outside, just in time to meet arriving police and rescue personnel. Sheryl Wood was the last of seven victims. The 27-year-old from Bath was a 1988 graduate of Midland Valley High School, where she played basketball, volleyball and softball. She was survived by her mother and father, a brother, five sisters and her grandmother. Only Mr. Vance, Mr. Corley and Mr. Mitchell survived.

Aiken Public Safety Officer Bob Besley testified that he arrived at the plant and eventually found the body of human resources manager Charles Griffeth in the front office, a telephone still in his hand. The manager's eyes were fixed and dilated, and he had no pulse, Officer Besley said. Beth Griffeth, Charles Griffeth's widow, was too traumatized to attend any of the trial and will be out of the state, said her sister Mrs. Cooper. "She didn't want to face it," Mrs. Cooper said. "We're just so hoping that once this is over, it will give her some closure. She won't have to deal with it every time something else comes up." Pam Morey understands her pain. "She lost one of the best men God ever made. I felt like I lost my dad when I lost him," she said.

UPDATE:

Hastings Wise was put to death by lethal injection Friday night for killing four workers at an Aiken County plant in September 1997 out of revenge for being fired. Wise, 51, tried to die the day of the killings, drinking insecticide after the plant emptied. But it only made him violently ill. Wise refused to let witnesses testify for him as jurors chose between the death penalty and life in prison, then refused to appeal his conviction.

Prosecutors said Wise waited for afternoon shift change at the R.E. Phelon lawnmower ignition plant so he could make sure all of his targets were there. He only shot people who he thought led to his firing several weeks before or took jobs he wanted, authorities said. Wise made no final statement and never looked at the victims' families or other witnesses. Instead, he stared at the ceiling and took several deep breaths as the lethal mix of three chemicals went into his veins. His rapid blinking ended with his eyes wide open at about the same time his chest stopped rising. It was about two minutes after the curtain to the death chamber opened. The official time of death was 6:18 p.m.

"He didn't die a violent death. He died easy, went to sleep," said Tommy Thompson. Thompson's son David Moore was one of the four killed eight years ago. He wanted to be there to watch justice be served. "He's dead. He won't be able to commit crimes again, but you never get over the loss," said Thompson.

According to witnesses, Wise didn't look at anyone nor did he offer any words to the victims' families. "I was hoping he might have said, I'm sorry, but it just wasn't in him," said John Wood, whose daughter Sheryl was killed in the attack. Zach Bush was working at R.E. Phelon that fateful day, but Wise spared his life. He came to honor those who weren't as fortunate. "All of our family there at the R.E. Phelon company hope this will be a passing page in the chapter of the book of our lives," said Bush. "When it happens to you and your family, that's when it comes home and no one should ever have to go through that," said Thompson. And though the execution brings closure, victims say they'll never forget the loss.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Arthur Hastings Wise - South Carolina - November 4, 2005

Arthur Hastings Wise, a white man, is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 4, 2005 for the Sept. 15, 1997 shooting deaths of Charles Griffeth, David W. Moore, Earnest L. Filyaw, and Cheryl Wood in Greenville County.

Wise returned to work after being fired from his job as a machine operator and shot the four victims in addition to injuring many others. Wise tried to kill himself after the murders by swallowing insecticide; however he was taken to the hospital after being arrested and survived.

Wise has shown sorrow and a desire to pay the price for his actions. He has dropped his appeals and is “volunteering” to be executed. At the time of the crime there was evidence of LSD in Wise’s system. It is not the job of the state to assist its citizens in suicide. Yet that is exactly what the state of South Carolina would be doing if Wise is executed. Wise is clearly a troubled man and clearly the death penalty is an inappropriate sentence. Please write Gov. Mark Sanford requesting that he commute Wise’s sentence to life in prison.