The Nation - News from July 29, 1988

James Messer Jr. was executed in Georgia’s electric chair for beating and stabbing to death his 8-year-old niece when she fought his attempts to molest her. Messer, 34, was pronounced dead at 7:23 p.m. Thursday, Department of Corrections spokesman John Siler said. He became the 13th person to die in Georgia’s electric chair since the state resumed executions in 1983. The execution came just over an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 vote, refused to halt it.