JACKSON — Convicted killer William Earl Lynd had no last words Tuesday evening for the brutal 1988 Berrien County murder of Virginia "Ginger" Moore. Asked by Warden Hilton Hall if he wished to make a final statement, Lynd said, "Nope." Asked if he wished to have a prayer offered on his behalf, Lynd said, "no."
Fifteen minutes later, Lynd was silenced forever as he was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 7:51 p.m. Tuesday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. The first inmate executed in the nation since the United States Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection was constitutional.
Any public thoughts or remorse he may have felt, Lynd took to the grave. He remained as silent as he did during his 1990 trial as quiet as he's been on death row for 18 years.
Lynd was executed for the Dec. 23, 1988, murder of his live-in girlfriend, Ginger Moore. He shot her three times in the face and head before burying her body in a shallow grave in Tift County. From there, he traveled to Ohio where, two days later, he shot teacher Leslie JoAnn Starkey during a botched Christmas Day robbery; she died of cardiac arrest triggered by the anesthesia used for her gunshot wounds.
Lynd traveled to Texas, where his brother convinced him to return to Georgia and surrender. On New Year’s Eve 1988, William Earl Lynd surrendered to the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department.
In February 1990, a Berrien County jury found Lynd guilty and sentenced him to death for the murder and kidnapping of Moore.
The warden read the death sentence and the court order before the execution process began. Lynd listened. His eyes moving around the chamber, his body already strapped by his ankles, knees, waist and restraining harness crossed over his shoulders and chest to a gurney. His arms were extended out and down, not so much as a crucifix but so they resembled the outward limbs of a peace sign. Each arm was strapped in several places, obscuring his skull tattoos. Once the tubes were inserted in each arm, one set of tubes as a back-up measure, Lynd unclenched his fists and each hand was taped flat, palms up, to the gurney’s arm extensions.
Lynd had said nothing as six correctional officers escorted him into the chamber as officials watched from three rows of pews through a window from an adjoining room. As the guards, nurses and chaplain asked him questions, Lynd gave one-word answers but mostly nodded or shook his head.
The gurney was elevated so he could see the witnesses in the gallery and they could see him. Witnesses included two members of Ginger Moore’s family, former Berrien Sheriff Jerry Brogdon who took Lynd’s New Year’s Eve 1988 confession, and former Alapaha District Attorney Robert Ellis who tried the state’s case against Lynd. The condemned inmate’s family members typically are not permitted to witness the execution; Lynd had met with his sister and girlfriend earlier Tuesday afternoon.
Lynd’s family visitation was followed by a physical examination at approximately 4 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., he ate a little more than half of his last meal: two pepper-jack, barbecue burgers with crisp onions, two baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon and cheese, and a strawberry milkshake. His mood improved throughout the afternoon. He met with Warden Hall and the chaplain.
At about 6 p.m., Lynd accepted a sedative offered to condemned inmates. He refused the opportunity to leave a recorded final statement.
In the chamber, he was calm but alert. His eyes followed whoever was working on his restraints or the tubes in his arms. For a brief instance, before the reading of the court order and the administration of the chemicals that would put him to sleep, paralyze him then stop his heart, he made an odd facial expression, his mouth opening, his head tilting up and back, like a gasp escaping from his mustached mouth. Then his face was expressionless again. There were no tears. No pleas. No final words. No prayers.
At 7 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the final plea. The state Attorney General’s Office gave the final go at about 7:15 p.m. The drugs were administered at 7:34 p.m. Lynd seemed to battle the sodium pentothol that finally put him asleep. Snores and a gasp, sputters and the grinding of teeth were the final sounds of William Earl Lynd.
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