Board rejects clemency for death row inmate

Thursday, April 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- The state Pardon and Parole Board has rejected the clemency request of Charles Adrian Foster, who faces execution May 25 for the 1983 beating and stabbing death of Muskogee grocer Claude Wiley.

Foster gave the board an Easter card he colored with the Virgin Mary's picture on the front and declared he was innocent during Wednesday's hearing. He insinuated that his wife, Eula Mae Collins, was the real killer. She pleaded guilty to charges of accessory to the fact and grand larceny.

Several witnesses described Foster as a gentle, compassionate Christian man who has spent his time in prison studying the Bible. Two nuns from Minnesota spoke on his behalf.

"I'd rather see 20 guilty men set free than one innocent man put to death," said Sister Carol Neuburger said.

Wiley's niece, Donna Maria Banks Loggins, told the board that Foster didn't deserve to live.

"My uncle never, never harmed anyone, and these people are talking about how he's (Foster) got religion," Loggins said.

"He brutally, brutally murdered my uncle, and he's been on death row 17 years."

The board voted 4-0 to deny the clemency request.