Killer chooses electrocution to protest

RICHMOND Earl Bramblett chose the electric chair for his execution to make a point.
The drifter on death row for killing a family of four said yesterday that the Virginia legal system has failed him, and that he wants his execution tonight to reflect the “premeditated murder” that it is.
“I’m not going to lay down on a gurney and have them stick a needle in my arm and make it look like an antiseptic execution taking place as a result of a fair trial,” Bramblett said in a telephone interview from the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.
If his final appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Mark Warner are denied, Bramblett, 61, would be only the third Virginia inmate to be electrocuted since prisoners were given a choice in 1995.
Bramblett was convicted in 1997 of shooting Blaine Hodges, 41, and his daughters, Winter, 11, and Anah, 3, and strangling Teresa Hodges, 37. The four were found dead in their burning Vinton home Aug. 29, 1994.
Prosecutors said Bramblett murdered the family because he feared Mr. Hodges was about to tell police that Bramblett had sexually molested Winter.
Bramblett maintains police colluded with prosecutors to concoct a case against him based on circumstantial evidence. He said police had been trying to connect him for years with the disappearance of two other young women in the Roanoke area.
“A cover-up occurred during my trial and continued on through the … appeals,” he said. “Everybody who testified lied under oath using a script of lies. That’s how the police work in Virginia.”
Prosecutors tied Bramblett to the scene using .22-caliber bullet casings they said matched cartridges found in his truck and pubic hair belonging to Bramblett that was found in the girls’ bed. They also played tape recordings of Bramblett describing his sexual attraction to Winter and his fear that he would be framed for molesting her.
“The first thing prosecutors did was to portray me as paranoid and delusional,” he said.
Tracy Turner, an inmate held in jail with Bramblett, testified that Bramblett confessed to the killings. But Turner has since recanted, stating in an affidavit that “Bramblett never said anything to me to indicate, expressly or implicitly, that he had anything to do with any of the Hodges’ deaths.”
Bramblett said Tuesday that even his own defense team suppressed evidence that could have been used on appeal to prove his innocence. He said he has tried unsuccessfully to fire his court-appointed attorneys on several occasions.
“I don’t talk to them, they don’t talk to me,” Bramblett said describing their current relationship.
Yet his lawyers continue to work on his behalf.
According to their clemency petition sent to the governor, Turner’s admission alone should be grounds for a new trial. They also contend there were others who had a motive to kill Mr. Hodges, such as drug dealers or a mentally ill man who worked with him. Jennifer Givens, one of Bramblett’s attorneys, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Roanoke County Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Leach, who has worked on the case from the beginning, said none of Bramblett’s claims is based in reality and he was “grasping at anything and everything” he could.
“Every piece of evidence we found pointed at Earl and nobody else,” he said. “Earl Bramblett committed the crime, and we proved it.”
Mr. Leach denied that any evidence had been tampered with, or anyone had been told to lie. “I can tell you that point blank,” he said.
As for Turner’s recanting, Mr. Leach said Turner might have been upset he didn’t receive more special treatment from prosecutors in return for his help.
Turner is “lying about how it all happened,” Mr. Leach said. “The state police did not feed him information. I know that didn’t happen.”
Bramblett is spending time with his family as he awaits his scheduled 9 p.m. execution. He has little hope for a stay.
The electric chair would be his final protest.
“The people most responsible for the fraud of my trial don’t care how I die,” he said.