THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 20, 1995 TAG: 9510200541
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: JARRATT LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The state Thursday evening executed Mickey W. Davidson, who used a crowbar to beat his wife and two stepdaughters to death in 1990.
Davidson died at 9:41 p.m. from an injection of lethal drugs at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.
After pleading guilty to the murders, Davidson alternated between seeking his execution and fighting to block it. Davidson, 38, of Smyth County, said during the summer that he deserved to die for the murders and would abandon any effort to evade the death penalty.
In a notarized affidavit faxed to Gov. George Allen about 1 1/2 hours before the execution, Davidson wrote, ``I do want the execution to proceed as scheduled.''
He beat his wife, Doris J. Davidson, 36, and her daughters, Mamie D. Clatterbuck, 14, and Tammy L. Clatterbuck, 13, to death on June 13, 1990, because Doris Davidson had decided to return to her former husband.
``I just couldn't stand to see her go back. I just couldn't stand to see them go back. So . . . I just took a crowbar and killed them, Doris and the two kids,'' Davidson said in a statement to police a day after the three were killed at their home in Saltville.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal by a cousin of Davidson's at 9:22 p.m., said Ken Stroupe, an Allen spokesman. The governor temporarily halted the execution to give the court time to rule, Stroupe said.
All nine justices were involved in the decision. Although the court would not release a vote on its ruling, it noted that Justice John Paul Stevens wanted to stay the execution.
Two preachers, Bob and Sarah West of Heartbeat Prison Ministries in Roanoke, said they were Davidson's only visitors Thursday. They talked with Davidson and planned to give him communion.
``He's accepted it. He's ready to go,'' Sarah West said.
But the second cousin, Barry Davidson, sought a stay of execution Thursday on the grounds that Davidson was not competent to waive appeals.
U.S. District Court Judge James Spencer in Richmond denied the motion Thursday afternoon, and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond upheld Spencer's decision Thursday evening. The U.S. Supreme Court then rejected the appeal.
In his affidavit to Allen, Mickey Davidson said he wanted the appeals to be stopped and specified he had not authorized any lawyer to appeal on his behalf.
Davidson was the 28th person executed in Virginia and the 302nd executed in the country since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the states to resume using the death penalty.
He was the 45th person executed in the United States so far this year.
Davidson was almost executed in 1992 after asking his attorneys not to appeal his case. Three days before the execution date, he changed his mind and was granted a stay.
KEYWORDS: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT EXECUTION MURDER
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