Jackson Free Press

The state of Misssissippi has executed death-row inmate Benny Joe Stevens. Sunflower County Coroner Heather Burton pronounced Stevens dead at 6:22 p.m. Stevens is the first person executed in Mississippi this year.

In 1999, a Marion County jury found Stevens guilty of four counts of capital murder for the 1998 shooting deaths of Glenda Reid, Wesley Reid, Dylan Lee and Heath Pounds. Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, Stevens offered an apology in his final statement:

"I ask God to forgive me," Stevens said. "What I did was terrible. There's no forgiveness for it. It was terrible what I have taken from y'all. I can't replace it. … Don't let me be a stumbling block for your salvation. Don't let me do that. I'm not worth it. That's it."

Stevens, 52, told State Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps that he did not remember taking a shotgun and .357 magnum handgun to the home that Glenda Reid, his ex-wife, shared with her new husband, Wesley Reid, their 11-year-old son, Dylan Lee, and a 17-year-old daughter from Reid and Stevens' marriage, Erica Reid. In addition to killing his ex-wife, her current husband and their son, Stevens also killed Dylan Lee's friend Heath Pounds, 12, and wounded Erica Reid.

Following the execution, family members of Glenda Reid delivered a statement to the press saying, "While this does not bring closure to our pain, it is a step in our healing process."

"I am glad that justice has finally been carried out and that the order of the court has been fulfilled," Wesley Reid's sister, Dora Powell said in a statement.

Pounds' mother, Kathy Pounds, said in a statement, "Over the years, we have dealt with our grief and sorrow, and every time we have managed to move past it, another court date puts Benny Joe back on the front page. We are drawn back into all of our grief. Now maybe we will finally be able to move on and remember all the happy times with Heath."

Previous Comments

ID

163458

Comment

From the attorney general's office, verbatim: "The United States Supreme Court has just denied the stay for Benny Joe Stevens and, therefore, the execution will go forward. Our prayers are with the victim's family and the defendant's family." Attorney General Jim Hood State of Mississippi

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2011-05-10T15:25:43-06:00