Killer Struggles With Guards Before Hanging

Charles Rodman Campbell went to the gallows Friday without a word--but not without a struggle.

Campbell, 39, had to be subdued with pepper spray and strapped to a board before he could be hanged for the murders of two women and an 8-year-old girl.

Campbell was convicted of murdering Renae Wicklund, her 8-year-old daughter, Shannah, and neighbor Barbara Hendrickson at Wicklund’s home in 1982. He slashed the throats of all three.

Authorities called it a revenge killing. Campbell had been imprisoned for raping Wicklund in 1974 and was on a work-release program at the time of the slayings. Prosecutors said he killed Wicklund and Hendrickson for testifying against him at the rape trial.

Before the execution, prison guards subdued a defiant Campbell with pepper spray when he refused to get off the floor of his cell to be handcuffed for the move to a holding cell near the execution chamber.

Authorities said they found makeshift weapons in Campbell’s cell, including a piece of metal that was being honed into a blade.

He was carried to the gallows strapped to a board that held his body rigid so he would not collapse en route to the gallows or while waiting for the trap door to spring.

“He was conscious but he was being passive, like, ‘If you want to move me, move me,’ ” said Mary Christensen, an assistant to the prison superintendent.

“Justice was long in coming,” said Atty. Gen. Christine Gregoire. “If anyone deserved the death penalty, it was Charles Campbell.”

Outside the prison, death penalty supporters outnumbered opponents by about 4 to 1. At times, the mood was almost giddy, with people whooping and cheering as the execution neared.

Also on Friday, Stephen Nethery was executed by injection in Texas for killing a police officer. The 33-year-old Nethery, a self-described hell-raiser who said he found God while in prison, recited a short prayer and concluded: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Amen.”