KILLER OF 5 WOMEN EXECUTED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 19, 1993                   TAG: 9303190354
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JARRATT                                LENGTH: Medium
KILLER OF 5 WOMEN EXECUTED
Syvasky Poyner, who challenged electric chair executions as unconstitutional, was executed Thursday night for killing five women during a 1984 crime spree.
Poyner, 36, was pronounced dead at 11:13 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center, said Wayne Brown, the facility's operations officer.
Poyner appeared calm as he was led to the execution chamber and strapped in by five guards. A chaplain read a statement from Poyner: "I choose to forgive, and I ask to be forgiven."
Poyner spent the afternoon with a niece, nephew, chaplains and attorneys, said David Bass, a Department of Corrections regional manager. He ate his last meal at 4:15 p.m.
Poyner lost a final U.S. Supreme Court appeal earlier Thursday in which he sought a ruling that Virginia's method of carrying out capital sentences in the electric chair at Greensville Correctional Center violated the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Lawyers for the state contended that Poyner's appeal amounted to a delaying tactic.
Poyner was convicted of killing five women during an 11-day crime spree in 1984 in Hampton, Newport News and Williamsburg.
Poyner robbed his victims and told police he shot them because he didn't want to leave witnesses. He said he chose women because they were easily frightened.
The killings all occurred during daylight and left Peninsula residents terrorized.
"I am sorry for all the hurt and pain and sorrows and suffering that I caused," Poyner said Thursday in a statement released through his attorney, Alexander H. Slaughter. "Please forgive me. . . . I am going home to be with Jesus."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB