Appeals, Protests Fail to Halt Execution

William Andrews smiled broadly at relatives before his 18-year battle to escape death for his role in three murders ended Thursday with his execution by injection.

His death followed weeks of protests and several last-minute appeals.

“Thank those who tried so hard to keep me alive. I hope they continue to fight for equal justice after I’m gone. Tell my family goodby and that I love them,” Andrews, 37, was quoted as saying.

Andrews’ supporters, including Amnesty International and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, had argued that his life should be spared because he was not the triggerman during a 1974 robbery at Ogden’s Hi-Fi Shop. Five people in the stereo store were bound, forced to drink liquid Drano and shot, and three of them died.

Co-defendant Pierre Dale Selby, who admitted shooting the victims, was executed in 1987.

The NAACP also argued that Andrews and Selby, both black, were victims of racism because they were convicted by an all-white jury.

Prosecutors had argued that Andrews was just as guilty as Selby. One of the two survivors, Orren Walker, said Andrews had helped Selby pour the Drano and had threatened to shoot him. Prosecutors said the Drano alone would have killed the victims.

Andrews’ execution was Utah’s fourth since Gary Gilmore died before a firing squad in 1977.