This week in 2002
“…Get in church and get right with God. Jane, you know damn well I did not molest that kid of yours. You are murdering me and I feel sorry for you. Get in church and get saved. I really don’t know what else to tell you.”
— William Champpell, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas
Executed November 20, 2002
Fifty-one-year-old William Chappell was convicted of molesting a 3-year-old girl, and while the conviction was on appeal, he committed murder. Chappell received the death penalty for the retaliation killing of the girl’s aunt and grandmother. He shot the women in the face with a 9mm pistol to remove them as witnesses. He also shot the grandfather, who survived and identified Chappell as the offender. In addition, he attempted to burn down the victim’s home and threatened his former wife’s life because she testified against him.
This week in 1941
“OK”
— Juanita Spinelli (aka Ethel Spinelli, Elizabeth Juanita Spinelli), 52, convicted of murder, gas chamber, California
Executed November 21, 1941
A teenage runaway from abusive stepparents, Spinelli habitually held up and robbed at gunpoint while raising her three children in Chicago. She left for San Francisco, where she formed and trained a group of thugs into a crack team of professional criminals, with herself masterminding their schemes. During a botched restaurant robbery, which left a manager dead, Spinelli, fearing a possible snitch might lose his nerve, drugged one of her accomplices and dumped him in the Sacramento River to drown so that it would appear he had died in a swimming accident. Another member of her group confessed, implicating Spinelli, which led to her conviction. She spat curses at officials as she made her way to the chamber. Spinelli became both the first woman to be executed in California and the first to die by the gas chamber.
This week in 1903
“I have nothing to say except that I am innocent.”
— Peter Mortensen, convicted of murder, firing squad, Utah.
Executed November 20, 1903
Because of his cocky attitude, Mortensen was so unpopular with other prisoners that during an escape his fellow prisoners opened every cell but his. On the day of his execution he praised guards, the warden, and other officers involved in his case, and he declined an opiate and a cigar. After Mortensen was executed, pieces of the bullets were given to officers as souvenirs.
