James Terry Roach

rdf:langString James Terry Roach

rdf:langString James Terry Roach

rdf:langString James Terry Roach

rdf:langString Central Correctional Institution, Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.

rdf:langString Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.

rdf:langString Ronald Rusty Woomer – 1990

rdf:langString Joseph Carl Shaw – 1985

rdf:langString James Terry Roach (February 18, 1960 – January 10, 1986) was the second person to be executed by the state of South Carolina following the 1976 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorizing the use of capital punishment by the states. He was electrocuted on January 10, 1986, aged 25, nearly a year to the day following the electrocution of his accomplice, Joseph Carl Shaw, on January 11, 1985, at the Central Correctional Institution in Columbia. Roach was executed for a crime he committed at age 17. On December 13, 1977, upon the advice of his lawyer, Roach pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, and robbery. He was convicted of the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and the murder of her seventeen-year-old boyfriend. Evidence presented at the trial showed that Roach was mentally handicapped, with an I.Q. between 75 and 80 and that he was probably suffering from Huntington's Chorea. Moreover, the sentencing judge found that Roach was under the influence of Shaw when the crimes were committed. Despite these mitigating factors, the sentencing judge declared that the death penalty was warranted in this case. Shaw was executed by electrocution on January 10, 1986, at the Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, aged 25. Roach's sentence was upheld on appeal by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Several attempts to seek review of the case or to bring a petition of habeas corpus were unsuccessful. The US Supreme Court declined to grant him certiorari. Pleas for legal reconsideration came from the United Nations, international figures, and former president Jimmy Carter. Governor Richard Riley denied clemency. On January 10, 1986, Roach, was strapped into the electric chair and gave his last words: "To my family and friends, there is only three words to say: I love you." He then gave a thumbs-up sign, reportedly to signal he was ready to die. He was pronounced dead at 5:16 a.m. The case of Roach was brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which found by five votes to one that the United States Government had violated Article I (Right to Life) and Article II (right to equality before the law) of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man in executing Roach. This was the first time the United States was found to be in violation of its human rights obligations under the aforementioned Declaration.