NATION : Murderer Executed in Alabama
Arthur James Julius, turning both thumbs up as a “goodby to the world,” was executed early today in Alabama’s electric chair for raping and murdering his cousin while free on an eight-hour pass from prison in 1978.
Julius, 42, died almost nonchalantly at 12:21 a.m. inside the Holman Prison execution chamber, wearing a white sweat suit, flip-flop sandals and a purple ribbon given to him by an anti-capital punishment group.
Julius was the 119th person to be put to death in the United States, and the seventh in Alabama, since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. The execution was the 15th in the nation this year.
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