IDAHO FALLS – Richard Leavitt’s face appeared relaxed, though his feet and fingers were fidgeting, as he entered the execution chamber on a gurney at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna.
It was around 10 a.m. on June 12, 2012. The 53-year-old Blackfoot man had been convicted 27 years earlier of murdering 31-year-old Danette Elg. In reports from the Associated Press , prosecutors said Leavitt stabbed Elg repeatedly at her home and then cut out her sex organs.
After years of appeals, Leavitt’s death warrant had been signed. He was now moments away from being the state’s second prisoner to be executed in seven months and the third since 1994.
Leavitt’s final appeal to stay the execution had been denied the night before, according to an old news report . His final meal consisted of baked chicken, french fries, and milk.
Now, six correctional officers, wearing surgical masks and black baseball caps, lifted Leavitt off the gurney and strapped him to the execution table.