USA - Ohio. William L. Garner was executed

William L. Garner was executed. Garner, 37, black, was convicted of 5 counts of aggravated murder after confessing he had set an apartment on fire on January 26, 1992. The fire snuffed out the lives of 5 children. The children, all of whom died of smoke inhalation, were: Deondra Freeman, 10; Richard Gaines, 11; Markeca and Mykkila Mason, 11 and 8, respectively; and Denitra Satterwhite, 12. On November 1992 he was sentenced to death. Garner, who has an IQ of 76 and was considered borderline retarded, maintained he never intended for the children to die, and was only trying to cover up the fact that he stole a television set, a VCR, a boom box and phone from the home. Rod Mack, 13 at the time, was able to escape by jumping out a window, and today witnessed the execution, Garner becomes the 6th condemned inmate to be executed in Ohio this year and the 39th overall since capital punishment resumed in 1999. Garner becomes the 31st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1219th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (see also Sept. 11, 2007)