Earl Wesley Berry

Earl Wesley Berry (May 5, 1959 – May 21, 2008 ) was an American convicted kidnapper and murderer. He was on Mississippi's death row with 64 others but was issued a stay of execution in October 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court. He was ultimately executed on May 21, 2008.

Early life Based on court testimony, Berry was a disturbed suicidal young man who reportedly attempted to swallow a razor blade at one time, and who had spent time in mental institutions for paranoid schizophrenia. His IQ was estimated to be well below average.

Criminal record Berry had seven prior convictions between 1979 and 1981: two escapes, two grand larceny convictions, perjury, burglary, and simple assault on a law enforcement officer.

During early 1979, Berry was stopped in Maben, MS by then Chief of Police Jimmy McLemore for a traffic offense. During the stop, McLemore attempted to take Berry into custody. A fight ensued with Berry being shot in the stomach, arm and a ricochet to the back of the neck as he attempted to flee. (Berry v. McLemore, US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit No.81-4106).

Murder and trial Berry was convicted and sentenced to death by a Chickasaw County jury for the November 29, 1987, murder of Mary Bounds. The victim was kidnapped and beaten to death after leaving her weekly church choir practice, and her body was found just off a Chickasaw County road near Houston, Mississippi. Berry admitted to the killing, and the confession was used against him at trial. He had admitted that he intended to commit rape but had changed his mind. He also changed his mind after telling her she would be freed and drove her to a second wooded location and used his fists to beat her to death. The victim died as a result of repeated blows to the head.

Berry used his grandmother's car and later drove to her house, disposed of a pair of mismatched tennis shoes along the way, burned his bloodied clothes, and wiped the vehicle he had used of any blood stains with a towel, which he threw into a nearby pond. Berry's brother, who was at the house, witnessed some of this suspicious behavior. On December 5, 1987, he called investigators and told them what he had observed. The next day, Berry was arrested at his grandmother's home and soon confessed to the crime.

Police found the tennis shoes that Berry had discarded and also recovered the bloodied towel from the pond. Berry was indicted for the murder and kidnapping of Mary Bounds, and as a habitual criminal on March 1, 1988.

Berry had stated in 2007 that he has no remorse for the crime.

He was subsequently scheduled to die by lethal injection on October 30, 2007, at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.

Execution The U.S. Supreme Court denied both Berry's appeals of his execution on May 21, 2008. Just hours before his execution, Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps described Berry as somber and serious, realizing his death was imminent and giving up hope that the U.S. Supreme Court was going to grant either of his last-minute appeals.