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CNN Live At Daybreak

Texas Inmate Scheduled to Die Today

Aired August 15, 2001 - 07:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: A 25-year-old man on death row is scheduled to die tonight for a murder he committed as a teenager.

The case is igniting debate right across the country, and here is CNN's Kelli Arena now on convicted killer Napoleon Beazley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is Napoleon Beazley a ruthless killer and danger to society, or a confused young man, who after one horrible incident no longer poses a serious threat?

NAPOLEON BEAZLEY: The D.A. and his assistant D.A., they paint this picture of me as being a bad monster, you know, this predator - this animal. But they couldn't bring anybody that knew me before this crime to come on to testify to say I was that person.

ARENA: Seven years ago, Beazley and two friends follow a prominent Tyler, Texas couple home, looking to carjack their Mercedes. Beazley shoots at 63-year-old John Luttig. The bullet grazes his head.

JACK SKEEN, SMITH COUNTY, TEXAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY: And he came back around as Mr. Luttig was on the ground and just walked up to him at point-blank range and shot him in the head. And that was the fatal shot, and then he rifled through his pockets to get the car keys.

ARENA: Beazley also aims his .45 at Luttig's wife, Bobbie, but misses. She crawls under the car and plays dead.

BOBBIE LUTTIG, VICTIM'S WIFE: I was wondering what the bullet would feel like as it went through my back.

ARENA: Beazley admits he was the shooter. At the time, he was 17, considered an adult under Texas law.

The man Beazley murdered was the father of a prominent federal judge, J. Michael Luttig. Critics charge if not for Judge Luttig's influence, Beazley would not be facing execution. The prosecution says the decision was justified.

SKEEN: And it was a very horrific premeditated, calculated cold-blooded execution.

ARENA: The murder was Beazley's first brush with crime, even though he admits he had started dealing crack cocaine. He was popular at school, even class president.

Beazley's two co-defendants recanted their testimony that Beazley had said he wanted to kill someone that night. Death penalty opponents say no other western nation executes someone the rest of the world considers a juvenile at the time of the crime.

AJAMU BARAKA, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: A child offender convicted of a crime, no matter how heinous, should not be subjected to a death sentence.

ARENA (on camera): Napoleon Beazley would be the 19th U.S. inmate to be executed for committing murder while under the age of 18.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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