Oklahoma executes baby killer

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ A man who brutally beat his girlfriend's baby boy to death 16 years ago died for the crime Thursday. <br><br>Daniel Juan Revilla was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at the Oklahoma

Thursday, January 16th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ A man who brutally beat his girlfriend's baby boy to death 16 years ago died for the crime Thursday.

Daniel Juan Revilla was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, minutes after executioners delivered a mix of drugs to stop his breathing and then his heart.

Mark Gomez of Altus was just 13 months old when he was killed in a beating so brutal it severed his liver.

Revilla, 34, denied intentionally harming Mark. He told authorities he panicked when he found the boy wasn't breathing and struck and accidentally scalded the child while trying to revive him.

The baby was bruised, burned and had cuts on his thighs and peeling skin on his chest and groin when he died. An autopsy showed swelling and bleeding of the brain, along with a severed liver.

The boy's father and four other family members came to the prison to see Revilla die.

``I feel that justice has finally been served _ not for me but for my son Mark,'' Juan Gomez said afterward.

Revilla, his face turned away from witnesses, shook his head ``no'' when asked if he had a final statement.

As the execution began, he turned his head and looked to the ceiling, closed his eyes and puffed out a last breath.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Revilla's last-ditch plea for a stay Thursday afternoon.

Revilla spent his final hours visiting with his brother and godmother. He ate his requested final meal _ three large hamburgers, two orders of fries, an order of jumbo shrimp, four mini pecan pies and a large cherry Coke, prison officials said.

At the time of the murder, Revilla was 18 and working on a farm. The boy's mother wasn't at home when Revilla said he found the child had stopped breathing.

Revilla told authorities he was trying to revive the baby when he struck him in the abdomen and then accidentally scalded him with hot water. He said he rushed from the bathroom and struck the boy's head on the door frame. He said he then tripped and fell on top of the boy.

Mark's mother, Michelle McElmurry, and two other witnesses testified that Revilla hated the boy because he was not his child.

She told of previous abuse, saying Revilla had shut the baby in a kitchen drawer, folded him in a hide-a-bed, dunked him in cold water and hung him by his ankles with duct tape.

Gomez said his son was a playful blue-eyed baby. The murder took place two days before he was to take custody of him, he said.

``I've got pictures of him from when we were together,'' he said. ``I look back at those times and I sob. It was a short time, but it was still a good time.''

Gomez said he wanted to witness the execution because he thought it might bring him peace.

``I do forgive Mr. Revilla,'' he said. ``He was young at the time and I don't think he realized what he did until it was too late. And I feel very sorry for his family for the loss of their son.''