Inmates tired of waiting to die

Press, 24 May 1985, Page 6

Inmates tired of waiting to die

NZPA-AP Houston A death row inmate in Texas set himself on fire and was severely burned because he was tired of waiting to be executed, another death row inmate in the State Prison, at Huntsville, who also wants to die, said yesterday. Raymond Riles, awaiting death for the robbery-slay-ing of a Houston used car dealer, remained in hospital in fair condition with 30 per cent of his body burned after a fire in his cell on Wednesday. Riles apparently surrounded himself with

papers, books and bibles and set himself ablaze, said officials of the Corrections Department. “He was fed up,” said James Smith, whose cell is next to Riles. "No one is taking us very seriously. If we were all so fed up to ask that our appeals be dropped, that shows we are serious.” Riles and Smith were among about 10 inmates who signed a petition earlier this year asking that their appeals be dropped and their executions carried out.

Smith said he contemplates suicide at any moment. “The system has

promised you something and they don’t follow through,” he said. “Death is far better than this situation.”

Other inmates said Riles had been acting peculiarly. “On Monday, he was eating grass in the recreation yard and rolling in the dirt to communicate with mother earth,” said an inmate, Jim Vanderbilt. Smith said he saw Riles with his arms raised and calling “Allah.”

Two inmates who face execution by injection next week said they were prepared to die. G. W. Green, aged 43,

convicted of the slaying in 1976 of a Montgomery County deputy sheriff during a robbery of the deputy’s home, is slated for death on May 29. Johnny Frank Garrett, aged 21, convicted of the 1981 rape-slaying of a nun, aged 76, in Amarillo, Texas, is scheduled to die on May 30.

“If they told me to drop all my appeals and I’ll get a life sentence, I’ll tell them to take me, kill me, because I’m already dead,” Green said. “I’ve been on death row for eight years.” Green said that if he had a choice, he would choose

firing squad over lethal injection. “I’d like to be tied to a post and look those suckers in the eye,” he said.

Garrett said he was not as afraid for himself as for his family and friends. He said he did not expect to get a stay even though, like Green, he was facing his first execution date. Garrett denied he was responsible for the death of Sister Tadea Benz, a nun at St Francis Convent, in Amarillo. He said a companion beat, raped and strangled the nun and threatened people he loved if he implicated the companion.