Wanda Jean Allen
Wanda Jean Allen | |
---|---|
First degree murder (April 18, 1989) | |
Criminal penalty | 4 years imprisonment (Pettus murder) Death (Leathers murder) |
Partner(s) | Gloria Jean Leathers |
Wanda Jean Allen (August 17, 1959 – January 11, 2001) was sentenced to death in 1989 for the
Background
Wanda Jean Allen was born on August 17, 1959, the second of eight children. Her mother was an
At the age of 12, Allen was hit by a truck and knocked
By age 17, she had dropped out of high school.
Death of Dedra Pettus
In 1981, Allen was sharing an apartment with Dedra Pettus, a childhood friend
Pettus was buried at Trice Hill Cemetery in
Gloria Jean Leathers
Seven years after the death of Dedra Pettus, Allen was living with her girlfriend Gloria Jean Leathers. The two met in prison and had a turbulent and violent relationship. On December 2, 1988, Leathers, 29, was shot in front of The Village Police Department in
Leathers was buried at Green Acres Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Sperry in Tulsa County, Oklahoma.
Trial
The state charged Allen with first-degree murder and announced that it would seek the death penalty. Evidence that Leathers had a history of violent conduct, and that she had stabbed a woman to death in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1979, was central to the self-defense argument at Allen's trial. Allen testified that she feared Leathers because she had boasted to her about the killing. The defense sought to corroborate this claim with testimony from Leathers' mother, whom Leathers had told about the stabbing. However, the prosecution objected, and the court prohibited the introduction of such testimony because it was considered hearsay. The prosecutor depicted Allen as a remorseless liar. The jury found her guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced her to death.
During the punishment phase the prosecutors argued that Allen should be sentenced to death because she had been previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence; that she was a continuing threat to society; and she committed the murder to avoid arrest or prosecution. The jury found that the first two aggravating circumstances existed in Allen's case. Her defense presented numerous
In the sentencing phase the prosecution presented testimony on the circumstances of the death of Dedra Pettus, and compared this previous crime to the death of Leathers.
In a 1991 affidavit, her
A psychologist conducted a comprehensive evaluation of Allen in 1995 and found clear and convincing evidence of cognitive and sensory-motor deficits and brain dysfunction possibly linked to an adolescent head injury.
Of the five members of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, three were appointed by Governor Frank Keating.[2]
Keating who considered giving Allen a stay based on the narrow issue of whether the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board had enough information regarding her education. Allen's attorneys have pointed to her score, a 69, on an IQ test she took in the 1970s, arguing she was in the range of intellectual disability. Prosecutors said Allen testified during the penalty phase of her trial that she had graduated from a high school and received a medical assistant certificate from a college, but they[clarification needed] said Allen dropped out of high school at 16 and never finished course work in the medical assistant program.
Execution
Allen spent 12 years on
While in prison, she became a
I always suspected that Wanda's renunciation of
lesbianismhad more to do with helping to revamp herself in the most palatable way for her clemency and appeal processes. She knew perfectly well that her being a lesbian was a big strike against her and that it's an embarrassment in the black community. She was going to play the best hand that she could play at the very end.
Allen was executed by
She was buried at Trice Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City.
See also
- Capital punishment in Oklahoma
- Capital punishment in the United States
- List of people executed in Oklahoma
- List of people executed in the United States in 2001
- List of women executed in the United States since 1976
Further reading
- Julie Salamon. The Execution of Wanda Jean (2002). The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- Dimitra Kessenides. The Execution of Wanda Jean. Salon.com (2002-03-18). Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- Adam Buckley Cohen. Who was Wanda Jean? - black woman executed in the United States. The Advocate (2001-03-13). Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- USA: Death penalty / Legal concern - Wanda Jean Allen. Amnesty International (2000-11-17). Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- Wanda Jean Allen put to death. USA Today (2001-01-12). Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- Wanda Jean Allen. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- Wanda Jean Allen v State of Oklahoma Direct Appeal Allen v. State, 871 P. 2d 79 - Okla: Court of Criminal Appeals 1994. Retrieved 2010-04-13
References
- ^ a b c "Wanda Jean Allen put to death". USA Today. January 12, 2001. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "Wanda Jean Allen". Clark Prosecutor. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ Allen v. State, 1994 OK CR 13, 871 P.2d 79
- ^ Allen v. State, 1994 OK CR 13, 871 P.2d 79
- ^ Allen v. State, 1994 OK CR 13, 871 P.2d 79
- ^ Allen v. State, 1994 OK CR 13, 871 P.2d 79
- ^ Hutchinson, Earl (January 13, 2001). "Hardest hit by the prison craze". Salon. Retrieved 21 March 2018.