Executions Scheduled for May 2012 in U.s

As of this writing, there are five executions scheduled for May 2012, here in the United States.

Michael Bascum Selsor is scheduled to die on May 1, 2012 for fatally shooting Clayton Chandler in a Tulsa, Oklahoma during a robbery of a convenience store.

He and an associate entered the store on September 15, 1975 and he shot Chandler while his associate, Richard Eugene Dodson shot store employee Ina Louise Morris several times.

Chandler died but Morris survived. A court sentenced Dodson to 50 years for robbery and 199 years for shooting with intent to kill.

Selsor, who was 21 years old at the time of the robbery, was sentenced to death for the killing of Chandler, plus 25 years for the robbery charge and 20 years for being a principal player in the shooting of Morris.

But the state’s death-penalty statute was declared unconstitutional, and Selsor’s punishment was modified to life in prison. He had served 22 years when he successfully won a new trial on appeal in 1996 after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that his convictions were “constitutionally invalid.”

He had the option of stopping appeals and serving the modified sentence. But the second trial resulted in a conviction and death sentence. Now, after 35 years after the robbery and murder charges, he is scheduled to die on May 1, this year.

Anthony Bartee of San Antonio Texas, was out on parole after serving almost 12 years of two sentences totaling 43 years for two convictions in 1983 of aggravated rape. He also had two convictions for theft in California in 1980.

On August 17, 1996, David Cook’s body was found in his home in San Antonio, Texas. He had been stabbed in th shoulder and shot twice in the back of his head. A neighbor told police that he heard gunshots the night before followed by the startup of Cook’s red Harley Davidson Motorcycle. Police found later that Bartee had stolen the victim’s motorcycle and his gun, which he had used to shoot him.

On May 15, 1998, a Bexar County jury convicted Bartee of capital murder. After a separate punishment proceeding, Bartee was sentenced to death on May 19, 1998.

Todd Wessinger: The scene is Calendar’s Restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on November 19, 1995 about 9:30 A.M. Todd Wessinger who previously worked at the restaurant, spoke to a bartender who was outside at the time and as they walked inside through the rear door, shot him twice in the back. Two employees escaped but he shot the morning manager, Stephanie Guzzardo, through the heart and she died instantly. He then took $7,000 in cash and then shot the cook, David Breakwell, who died in route to the hospital. The bartender survived even though he had serious injuries.