Originally published on June 22, 1995

The state took 14 years to execute condemned killer Larry Griffin. He took four minutes to die.

Griffin, 40, was put to death at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday by injection at the Potosi Correctional Center. His execution marked the close of a 14-year legal battle that forced the U.S. Supreme Court to deliberate until 2:40 a.m. (St. Louis time) on last-minute appeals. The court's denials closed the door on Griffin's life. He was the 13th Missouri inmate to be executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. Griffin was the longest-serving inmate on Missouri's death row since that year.

Griffin was convicted of killing Quintin Moss in June 1980. Moss had been a suspect in the murder six months earlier of Griffin's brother, Dennis Griffin.

Griffin maintained his innocence until the end, pleading for his life not only in the courts but also to Gov. Mel Carnahan.

As prison guards prepared for the execution, Griffin's attorneys continued to flood the federal courts with appeals.

On Tuesday, Griffin spent the day talking with family, friends and his attorney. He watched two videos that he had requested - "The Jungle Book" and "The Return of the Jedi."

Griffin took sedatives and fell asleep at 9:30 p.m. His mood was one of resignation, said Tim Kniest, spokesman for the Department of Corrections. Other inmates remained calm, he said.

Shortly after 11 p.m., guards began escorting the 15 witnesses to the chamber for the execution, originally set for 12:01 a.m. But the witnesses were turned away when Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson - acting on Carnahan's behalf - ordered the execution halted while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the appeals.

One unidentified witness displayed a "Criminals Love Unarmed Victims" bumper sticker on his blue Ford Escort. He said he strongly favored the death penalty but wanted to witness an execution to see if it could change his opinion. He wouldn't comment afterward.

At 2:40 a.m., the justices ruled against Griffin. Wilson ordered the execution to proceed.

George Lombardi, the director of adult institutions, meticulously explained the execution procedure. Then 10 of the witnesses were led to seats outside the white brick execution chamber, in front of windows covered with miniblinds.

Five witnesses chosen by Griffin, including a doctor and another reporter, viewed from another side where they were hidden by a partition.

Long minutes later, the blinds were opened. All eyes were on Griffin's sprawled, motionless body on a black gurney. A doctor in a blue overcoat stood in a corner of the chamber monitoring Griffin, who appeared to be in deep sleep. Only the white sheet covering his chest moved as Griffin took each breath.

An officer loudly announced that a drug to knock out Griffin was being injected. Griffin's chest heaved, then fluttered.
A minute later, the officer said a second drug to stop his lungs was entering Griffin's body. Griffin snorted once, and his chest immediately appeared still.

A minute later, the third drug to stop his heart began flowing. A minute after that, he was dead.

The blinds closed, and the witnesses filed out.

On Aug. 11, 1981, a St. Louis judge sentenced Griffin to die. Since then, Griffin had appealed at least 15 times to various courts.

Griffin claimed Robert John Fitzgerald, a Boston man who has been convicted of 32 crimes, had recanted his testimony that Griffin was the shooter. Yet Fitzgerald, fearing perjury charges, would not give that testimony under oath, Griffin said. Griffin's defense also claimed another man had come forward to confess to the crime.

Griffin wrote the governor on Monday, pleading for his life. "I pray that you find out the truth before long," he wrote, "or otherwise I will surely be executed for something I just did not do."

Carnahan refused to intervene. He said after the execution: "The process of our judicial system has run its course."

Griffin was the second killer executed in Missouri this year. Emmitt Foster was executed May 3. Foster took 30 minutes to die, apparently because a leather strap on his arm was too tight.

Thirty-six death row inmates filed a suit in federal court that claims Foster's lengthy execution illustrates injection is unconstitutional because it is cruel and unusual. The suit resulted in a temporary order that had to be lifted before Wednesday's execution could take place.

Mae Etta Griffin said from her home in St. Louis before the execution that her son's body would be cremated. "I don't want to see him lying in a casket after being killed by the system," she said.