Judy Bueanoano
March 30 —Florida’s “Black Widow” was electrocuted
early in the morning, after little public opposition from the death penalty
advocates who waged an international campaign to save pickax
killer Karla Faye Tucker. Judy Buenoaño had been on death
row since 1984 for poisoning her husband, drowning her paraplegic son and
blowing up her fiancé—all to collect
over $700,000 in life insurance payment.
Judy, barely walking and
being helped by guards on either side, was brought into the death
chamber at 7:02 a.m. Looking small and frail, she was strapped in and asked
if she had a final statement. “No, sir,” she answered weakly, squeezing
her eyes shut.
She leaned her head back once, opened her mouth widely,
and grimaced as they tightened the leather straps.
The power was turned on at 7:08 a.m. Smoke curled
up from her right leg throughout the 38-second electrocution. Her death,
at 7:13 a.m., was the first in Florida’s electric chair for a woman in
150 years.
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