Man faces execution in death of elderly woman

No appeals were pending late Monday for Eddie Leroy Trice, 48.

Trice was scheduled to be put to death with a lethal dose of drugs at 9 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Trice was handed the death sentence for the Feb. 14, 1987, slaying of Ernestine Jones, 84, in her northeast Oklahoma City home.

Prayer vigils were planned by death penalty opponents but there was no word Monday on any plans for additional protests for the first of seven executions scheduled for January.

Authorities said Trice entered Jones' home just after midnight through a bedroom window and beat Jones with a martial arts weapon, called nunchakus, before making off with $500.

Jones received blows to the head, fractured jaw and cheek bones, broken ribs and fingers and contusions to the heart and lungs. She was also raped.

Jones' 63-year-old retarded son, Emanuel Jones, was also severely beaten after attempting to come to his mother's aid, according to police.

Trice's roommate called police after Trice returned home with a lot of money and claimed to have whipped a homosexual with his nunchakus. The roommate said Trice had hidden his bloody clothes in a nearby abandoned house.

Trice was arrested four days after the murder and later confessed, said Oklahoma City police inspector Eric Mullenix. He was sentenced to death in June 1987.

"I have not the words to describe the brutality and savagery of what I observed in the crime scene," Mullenix wrote in October to oppose clemency for Trice. Mullenix said Trice never showed remorse. The state Pardon and Parole Board rejected the clemency request in November.

An attorney for Trice was unavailable for comment Monday but was expected to witness his execution.

Jones' daughter, a son and a great-grandson were expected to be witnesses, said Charlie Price, a spokesman for state Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

Jurors ruled that the death penalty was warranted because the crime met four of eight aggravating circumstances.

Trice had a previous felony conviction involving the use of threat of violence and knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person during the crime.

Jurors also said the killing was a heinous, atrocious or cruel act and deemed Trice a continuing threat to society.

For his last meal, Trice requested fried chicken, potatoes with onions, sweet potato pie, hot rolls and a Coke, said Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the state corrections department.

The last meal was to be served at noon or 5 p.m. Tuesday, whichever time the inmate preferred, Massie said.