Charles Rodman Campbell - Execution

Execution

On April 14, 1994, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit lifted the stay of execution. On May 3, 1994, Campbell asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put another stay on his execution and rule on his claim that hanging was unconstitutional, but his request went unanswered. His execution was set for May 27. Then-governor Mike Lowry was an opponent of the death penalty, but upon hearing the details of Campbell's crimes refused to commute his sentence.

Twenty-four hours before the execution Campbell was given his last shower. His last meal was served two hours before the hanging took place, and he refused to eat most of it. The Wicklunds' family requested to view the execution, but they were turned down. He spent his last hours talking to friends and relatives, including his ex-wife and son. Campbell’s was the second hanging in 2 years, after serial child killer Westley Allen Dodd. When the time for his execution arrived, Campbell refused to cooperate and resorted to passive resistance, refusing to get up off the floor of his cell when instructed, finally having to be removed from his cell using pepper spray. Campbell wouldn’t stand up and Corrections officers had to strap him to a board. Afterwards, Campbell repeatedly rotated his head so that neither the cloak nor noose could be put on easily. It took prison officials 90 seconds to place a hood on his head and to fix the noose before the trap was opened. Later the authorities found a four-inch piece of metal in his holding cell which he had been sharpening into a blade.