UPDATE: Tommy Arthur … Stay Issued 30 Minutes Before Execution

by Steve Wiggins
1 comment

Tommy Arthur at a court hearing. (Date unknown)

UPDATE:  With 30 minutes to go before his scheduled execution the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay of execution for Tommy Arthur.

 

The death warrant for Arthur is  only valid for May 25. So if the temporary stay last past midnight, the state would have to seek a new execution date once the stay is lifted. 

HOLMAN PRISON ATMORE – Time may have run out for Tommy Arthur, the so-called “Houdini” of the death chamber. He is scheduled to die this afternoon at 6:00 PM. Convicted of Capital Murder for the 1982 murder of Troy Wicker, Arthur has been in jail for 35 years, awaiting his fate with the executioner, only to win in Court reprieve-after-reprieve.

Well, this time barring some unforeseen circumstance, Arthur will pay the price for his transgressions. He was convicted in 1983, but that conviction was overturned. While awaiting retrial, he escaped jail in 1986 by shooting a guard in the neck. He remained a fugitive for more than a month. A second conviction followed and also was overturned, but a third conviction stuck. The state set seven execution dates for Arthur between 2001 and 2016. All were delayed as a pro bono legal team fought his sentence. They were successful for decades, but according to legal experts, it looks like there’s no pathway left for Arthur, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence.

The Quad-Cities Daily has written several articles regarding Tommy Arthur. Here is one of them from February 24, 2012…

SHEFFIELD – It was just a chunk of concrete. Gene Lindsey must have stepped over it hundreds of times without noticing the name, barely visible, and the date. Out in the side yard of his home in Sheffield, out by the barbecue pit, the little slab was usually half-covered up with leaves or some dirt; so it’s no wonder.

Then one summer day while he was working outside, Gene finally noticed the concrete. He saw that better than 50 years ago, when it was only a rapidly hardening slump of cement, some kid had written his name in it, along with the date. Curious, Lindsey knelt down to get a better look, and brushed away the years of yard-flotsam. And there, the words, “Tommy Arthur July 17, 1950″ could be made out.

Tommy Arthur, convicted of contract-murdering a man in 1981, had his execution date set Thursday by the Alabama Supreme Court – for the fifth time. One of the most infamous killers from The Shoals, he is one of the longest surviving death row residents in Alabama history.

The concrete slab hearkens back to a time when Arthur was 7 years old. It is not certain whether Arthur ever lived in the house, or was just visiting relatives there when he wrote his name in the cement. We do know that some of his family members did indeed reside there.

We also know that over the years, Arthur would frequent the home, situated on the northern end of the city. Once, several years ago, Lindsey was contacted by one of Tommy Arthur’s family members who asked if she could take a tour of the place. He agreed and she came over. The woman told Lindsey that the house was directly connected to the 1981 killing, in that the murder weapon, a .22 caliber pistol, was hidden there. In fact she was the one who found the gun, taped to the back of a chest of drawers, and called the authorities.

What happened to the boy who wrote his name in the cement on that warm summer’s day? What happened in his life to turn youth’s innocence into psychopathic murderous intent? We will probably never know.

The concrete has been removed from the barbecue pit to discourage anyone from trespassing on the property. Lindsey doesn’t even live there anymore. But the story persists, quite unlike Mr. Arthur’s destiny.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related Posts

1 comment

Joyce G. Farmer May 25, 2017 - 12:10 pm

I thought this was the home Tommy Arthur grew up in.

Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.