Matthew Waite/DN |
Ed Howard of The Associated Press speaks to reporters after witnessing John Joubert s execution. j
Behind him is Chuck Ashby of KFAB radio in Omaha, Gavin Williams of KHAS television in Hastings (
and Eugene Curtin of the Bellevue Leader. ]
witnesses say execution not wnat they expected
By Matthew Waite
Editor
As the sun rose on the Nebraska
State Penitentiary Wednesday morn
ing, evidence of the previous night
was quickly disappearing.
The fences and barricades were
coming down, the trash on the grounds
was blowing away.
As Lincolnites went about their
morning business, much of the con
versation around the coffee machines
and hallways was about the night be
fore.
The newscasts, the front pages and
the radio all had one top story: John
Joubert had been executed.
Joubert was put to death early
Wednesday morning for the 1983 ab
duction and murder of two Sarpy
County boys — 13-year-old Danny
Eberle and 12-year-old Christopher
Walden. Joubert was also convicted
in Maine for killing Richard Stetson,
and faced a life sentence there.
Warden Frank Hopkins said the
first jolt of electricity was adminis
tered at 12:14 a.m. and was ceased at
12:15 a.m. Joubert was pronounced
dead at 12:22 a.m.
Joubert was the second to die in
Nebraska’s electric chair in the last
two years, with Harold Lamont Otey ’ s
execution on Sept. 2, 1994 being the
first. Charles Starkweather’s execu
tion in 1959 marked the last since.
The collective memory of Otey’s
execution was marked by a state that
hadn’texecutedaman in 35 years and
an unruly crowd that chanted and
waved signs.
Joubert’s execution, however,
showed some stark contrasts as the
evening progressed:
— Death penalty opponents said
they had more trouble rallying people
for Joubert because his crime was
against children. Their ranks were
smaller than for Otey.
— Crowd control was improved at
the penitentiary to include more offic
ers on the scene and a wider separa
tion of proponent and opponent forces.
— The proponent crowd this time,
was smaller and better behaved. Some
still showed up with signs, some
chanted and others were drunk. But
only two arrests were made, one for
assault and one for disturbing the
peace.
Probably the greatest contrast was
the reactions of the media witnesses
to the execution. The group of five
reacted in the opposite fashion to the
media witnesses in Otey’s case.
Where Otey's media witnesses were
visibly shaken and pale, Joubert’s
media witnesses seemed hardly
moved.
Chuck Ashby, an assignment edi
tor at KFAB and one of the media
witnesses, said he was not as shaken
as he thought he would be.
“Am I shaken by it? No,” he said.
“Have I seen worse as a reporter? Yes.”
A total of ten people witnessed the
execution. Four witnesses — Rich
Pitre, one of Joubert’s high school
teachers in Maine; Theresa O’Brien,
Joubert’s pen pal from Ireland with
whom he developed a love interest;
Laurel Van Ham, Joubert’s psycholo
gist; and attorney Dale Baich — were
chosen by Joubert.
One witness, Fred Britten, associ
ate warden of the Nebraska State Peni
tentiary, was the state’s official wit
ness.
Two people were chosen to over
see Joubert’s treatment up to the point
of execution, but were not witnesses.
The two chosen were State Sen. Ernie
Chambers and Lincoln Rev. Donald
Coleman.
These witnesses were not avail
able for comment after the execution.
Those who were available are mem
bers of the media.
The state picked five media wit
nesses via lottery. The witnesses were
Ashby; Paul Hammel, an Omaha
World Herald reporter; Ed Howard, a
reporter with the Associated Press;
Gavin Williams, of Hastings TV sta
tion KHAS; and Eugene Curtin, a
reporter with the Bellevue Leader.
Media witnesses described the fol
lowing scene:
Witnesses were led into the view
ing room and after a short time, the
curtains were pulled open to reveal
Joubert, who had no hair on his face or
head, sitting in the electric chair.
Straps ran across his chest, waist,
elbows, wrists and legs. Joubert gave
a faint smile, looked at his witnesses
and mouthed “I love you.” Some of
the media witnesses said Joubert di
rected the words toward O’Brien.
After only a half a minute, the
curtains were closed. When they
opened again, Joubert was masked.
Joubert held up one finger on his
right hand. His hands were bound
tightly and they started to turn blue
from the tension in the straps.
He moved the finger back and forth,
in a waving motion. Then, his body
went stiff with the first jolt of electric
ity.
As the four jolts were administered,
a faint “thud” noise could be heard.
Joubert’s body would rise with the thuds
and fall back when the jolt left.
Smoke appeared on Joubert’s right
leg, but Howard, who witnessed both
Otey and Joubert's executions, said
the blistering appeared to be less se
vere than the burns Otey received
from the electrodes.
When the body went limp for the
last time, a penitentiary official walked
up to the body and checked a pulse in
the neck area. The official shook his
head and Joubert was pronounced
dead.
Joubert’s witnesses then moved to
console each other.
“They did what you would expect,”
Howard said. “They talked amongst
themselves. They hugged each other.
We tried not to intrude on their grief.”
As questions poured in from the
more than 40 members of the media
inside the penitentiary, each media
witness said they did not see what
they expected.
“I was struck by how quickly this
happened,” Hammel said. Williams
also said he did not see what he ex-,
pected.
“Maybe this was a brutal way for
this man to die, but it was not really
what I expected,” he said.