Citations:
Wallace v. State, 893 P.2d 504 (Okla. Crim. App.) (Direct Appeal).
Wallace v. Oklahoma, 516 U.S. 888 (1995) (Cert. Denied).
Wallace v. State, 935 P.2d 366 (Okla. Crim. App.) (PCR).
Wallace v. Oklahoma, 521 U.S. 1108 (1997) (Cert. Denied).
Wallace v. Ward, (E.D. Okla. 1999) (Habeas).

Internet Sources:

Oklahoma Department of Corrections

Oklahoma Attorney General

Death Penalty Institute of Oklahoma

George Kent Wallace was executed via lethal injection by the state of Oklahoma on August 10, 2000. He was pronounced dead at 9:27pm. Wallace was the 11th man executed by the state this year and the 30th since Oklahoma resumed executions in 1990. The only previous year in which Oklahoma executed more people was in 1933, when 14 persons were executed.

Background

On December 10, 1990, George Wallace, then age 50, from Fort Smith, Arkansas, was arrested. He was charged with the December 9, 1990, kidnapping and attempted murder of Ross Allen Ferguson, 18. Ferguson escaped despite multiple stab wounds and being bound in handcuffs and leg irons. Wallace was held on a $1.5 million bond.

Police reports indicate that Ferguson was picked up in a grocery store parking lot in Van Buren, Arkansas, by a man who posed as a police officer. He was then taken to a pond east of Greenwood. Ferguson fled his kidnapper after being stabbed at least six times. He pretended to be dead, then jumped up and pushed down his attacker. Ferguson ran to the car and left his attacker stranded at the pond. He reached a home where residents called the police. Ferguson was taken to a hospital where he was in stable condition. Wallace was arrested later that night walking in the area of the abduction. Ferguson identified him in a lineup. Isidro Hernandez, 19, also reported that a man claiming to be a police officer tried to pick him up, but Hernandez said he "talked his way out of it." Another kidnapping victim, James Branson, 18, told police that a man posing as a plainclothes officer picked him up and took him to the Le Flore County pond. Branson was shackled and handcuffed but was set free because of his persistent kicking and screaming.

On December 20, 1990, The body of Alonzo Don Cade, 12, was found in a gas-well pit near Fort Chaffee. Cade had last been seen alive on November 24, 1990, at a Westark Community College basketball game. Wallace was questioned regarding two bodies previously found in a Le Flore County pond. Mark Anthony McLaughlin, 14, was last seen on November 11, 1990, at a Van Buren convenience store. His body was found the next day. William Eric Domer, 15, was found on February 23, 1987. Wallace led authorities to a pasture near Seminole, Oklahoma, where a .22-caliber pistol was found after a three hour search. According to Le Flore County district attorney investigator Claudie Higgins, McLaughlin and Domer were shot in the back of the head with a small-caliber weapon.

Wallace was also questioned, but not charged, regarding the 1976 death of Jeffrey Lee Foster and the 1982 death of Thomas Stewart Reed, both occurred in Forsyth County, North Carolina. Wallace moved to Fort Smith in 1986. Before then, he lived in North Carolina. Wallace was sentenced to three life prison terms, plus 60 years, after pleading guilty to abducting four Arkansas teenagers and trying to kill one of them. First degree murder charges were filed in Oklahoma where authorities said they would seek the death penalty. Wallace waived extradition.

A Le Flore County district judge, Michael Lee, entered an innocent plea for Wallace and set a competency hearing. The judge ordered a mental competency evaluation. The report, from the Carl Albert Mental Health Center in Heavener, indicated that Wallace was able to "appreciate the nature of the charges� and rationally assist in the preparation of his defense." The judge ordered further psychiatric tests. Doctors at Eastern State Hospital said that Wallace was competent to stand trial. Wallace�s attorney, Jeff Smith, entered an innocent plea, but also advised the court that his client wanted to plead guilty. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty based on Wallace�s previous felony convictions, claims that Wallace would be a continuing threat to society, and the crime alleged was "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel."

Wallace took the witness stand and told the judge he wanted to die as quickly as possible. The judge issued two death sentences, one on each count. According to Smith, Wallace ignored his advice about pleading guilty and personally orchestrated a lack of defense. On March 27, 1995, the state Court of Criminal Appeals set Wallace�s execution for May 26, 1995. The court decided that Wallace could waive his presentation of mitigating evidence. This execution was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Wallace to file a petition for the high court to review his case. The petition was denied on October 2, 1995.

On October 29, 1995, the state Court of Criminal Appeals set Wallace�s execution for December 1, 1995. The state Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution on November 21, 1995, because Wallace changed his mind and wanted to appeal his convictions.
Wallace filed his application for Post-Conviction Relief on June 3, 1996. On June 19, 1996, the court issued an order granting additional time to comply with the rules of the court. Wallace filed his revised application on July 9, 1996. On March 18, 1997, the court issued an Order Denying Post-Conviction Relief, Denying Request for Evidentiary Hearing and Discovery, and Denying Extension of Time to Amend.

Wallace commenced a habeas action in federal district court and again moved for discovery and evidentiary hearing. The federal district court denied all relief and denied a certificate of appealability. Wallace appealed to the Tenth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. On September 10, 1999, his appeal was rejected. On June 9, 2000, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set Wallace�s execution date for August 10.

Clemency Hearing

Wallace waived his right to a clemency hearing by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. Of the 29 inmates executed previously, 22 have sought clemency. All petitions for clemency have been denied. Since capital punishment was reinstated in Oklahoma, this was the 22nd clemency hearing held for a death row inmate. There has never been a vote in favor of clemency.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

George Kent Wallace, who was convicted of abducting and murdering 2 teenage Arkansas boys and dumping their bodies in Oklahoma, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 10. Wallace, 59, pled guilty to 2 murders in Oklahoma and later confessed to two murders in North Carolina. Charlie Price, a spokesman for Attorney General Drew Edmondson, said that no legal barriers remain between Wallace and his date with the executioner. "No, there are no appeals outstanding," Price said. "We don't see anything to stop this."

Wallace was handed a death sentence in 1991 for the murders of William Von Eric Domer, 15, of Fort Smith, Ark., and Mark Anthony McLaughlin, 14, of Van Buren, Ark. The teens' bodies were found 3 years apart in the same pond near Pocola in LeFlore County. Both had been beaten and then shot. Wallace, a former truck driver in Fort Smith, lured his victims by impersonating a police officer before driving them to rural areas and killing them. Wallace plans to meet Thursday with Allen Gentry, an assistant sheriff in Forsyth County, N.C. As a convict in 1996, Wallace confessed to the 1976 murder of Jeffrey Lee Foster and the 1982 murder of Thomas Stewart Reed, Gentry said. Wallace asked Gentry to meet with him on Thursday. Gentry said there were no outstanding cases involving Wallace in North Carolina but that he felt the need to come anyway. "When I talked to him in 1996, he said he might talk to me about a case in Oklahoma involving federal property," Gentry said. Although he said Oklahoma, Wallace could have been referring to the death of 12-year-old Alonzo Cade. Cade's body was found in a gas-well pit in Fort Chaffee -- federal property -- just east of Fort Smith.

Gary Grimes, the sheriff of Sebastian County, Ark., at the time of Wallace's arrest, said Wallace was the prime suspect in Cade's death. Cade's body was discovered shortly after Wallace was captured in December 1990. His death remains unsolved. As of Wednesday, Wallace had not requested to speak to Grimes. Current Sebastian County Sheriff Frank Atkinson, who arrested Wallace, plans to attend Thursday's execution. Wallace spent more than 3 decades using the authority of phony badges to pick up unsuspecting teenage boys, who he would then beat with paddles and -- in at least 4 cases -- later kill.

While trying to continue that violent streak, Wallace finally met his match in a young man who "played possum," survived 6 stab wounds and then made a daring run to freedom. Wallace had been attempting to do the same when he picked up Ross Alan Ferguson, then 18, on Dec. 9, 1990. According to reports at the time, Ferguson was in the lot of a Van Buren grocery store when Wallace approached him. He identified himself as an officer and told Ferguson he was wanted in connection with a nearby robbery. Wallace shackled Ferguson's hands and ankles and drove him to a remote location in Sebastian County. As they were driving, Ferguson said he tried to ask why he was being taken to such a remote location. Once there, Wallace climbed into the back seat and began beating Ferguson. After the beating, he walked the young man toward a pond. On the way there, he stopped and stabbed Ferguson 5 times in the back and once in the arm. Ferguson said he played possum, pretending to be dead as Wallace dragged him over the rocks to the bank of the pond. There, Wallace took off the shackles and readied to throw the body into the pond. Ferguson jumped up and knocked Wallace to the ground. He then took off running for Wallace's car. He said he fell countless times before he got to the car. He credited God for picking him up and guiding him the last 10 feet to the car. Once there, he locked the doors. Ferguson said he watched as a shocked Wallace stood outside the car panting. To his amazement, the car keys were still in the ignition. Ferguson drove to a nearby house for help. Then Chief Deputy Sheriff Frank Atkinson was one of the officers who responded to the call. Along the way to the home where Ferguson had fled, Atkinson said he found Wallace walking in a ditch that ran along by the highway.

Ferguson, who is now a paramedic in Arkansas, and Atkinson, who is now Sebastian County sheriff, are 2 of the people scheduled to view Wallace's execution. 7 members of the families of Domer and McLaughlin are also planning to attend the execution, according to the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office. 8/11/00 - Nine members of the 2 boys' families attended Thursday's execution. Ross Alan Ferguson, whose escape led to Wallace's capture, also witnessed the executions, along with his wife and father. "It has been a long time coming," Ferguson said. "I'm here to honor Eric and Mark. That's why I'm here. "I want him executed for what he did to them -- not me."

ABOLISH Archives (The Tulsa World and Rick Halperin)

Dressed in dark clothes, toting handcuffs and ankle shackles, and flashing a mail-order badge, George Kent Wallace terrorized a strip of the Arkansas-Oklahoma border a decade ago and left 2 teenage boys dead. Dressed in the light-blue garb of an inmate and covered from the waist by a thin blanket, Wallace succumbed to the executioner's needle Thursday night. Wallace declined to offer any last words, merely mouthing "I love you" to 1 of his witnesses. He was pronounced dead at 9:27 p.m.

Immediately after he was declared dead, one of his victims' family members exulted with a clap and a few quick words. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" came a woman's voice from behind the darkened glass of the viewing room.

Wallace, 59, murdered William Von Eric Domer, 15, and Mark Anthony McLaughlin, 14, at a rural location near Pocola in eastern Oklahoma. Both victims had been beaten, then shot. While in prison, Wallace also confessed to 2 murders in North Carolina. Domer's body was discovered Feb. 22, 1987, in a pond near Pocola in LeFlore County. He had been kidnapped a few miles away in Fort Smith, Ark., on Feb. 17. McLaughlin's body was found Nov. 12, 1990, in the same pond. He had been reported missing from Van Buren, Ark., earlier that day. After being arrested Dec. 9, 1990, for a similar abduction in which the intended victim managed to escape, Wallace confessed to the murders of the boys.

Wallace, who posed as a police officer in order to abduct his victims, received a death sentence for each murder. 9 members of the 2 boys' families attended Thursday's execution. Ross Alan Ferguson, whose escape led to Wallace's capture, also witnessed the executions, along with his wife and father.
"It has been a long time coming," Ferguson said. "I'm here to honor Eric and Mark. That's why I'm here. "I want him executed for what he did to them -- not me."

Since his conviction, Wallace confessed to two murders in North Carolina, authorities said. In 1996, Wallace confessed to the 1976 murder of Jeffrey Lee Foster and the 1982 murder of Thomas Stewart Reed, said Allen Gentry, Forsyth County, N.C., assistant sheriff.

Wallace was the 1st inmate to be executed at 9 p.m. Since reinstating the death penalty, executions in Oklahoma had taken place immediately after midnight on the date scheduled. The early hour had been used as a means to ensure that executions were carried out on the proscribed day. Earlier this year, the Department of Corrections announced that it would be moving executions to the evening of the day they were scheduled. "We believe it will meet the needs of the victims' families better, so they're not forced to make long drives home so early in the morning afterward," Massie said. "It'll be closer to a normal workday for staff."

Wallace becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma the the 30th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. 3 women and 135 men remain on the state's death row. Wallace also becomes the 59th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA, and the 657th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Shawnee Online

Inmate Changes Mind on Appeal of Death Sentence

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- One of two Oklahoma death row inmates who appeared in federal court in an effort to have their executions moved up apparently has changed his mind, officials say. George Kent Wallace appeared Tuesday before federal District Judge Michael Burrage and rescinded a letter he wrote to the court asking that his execution date be set, a court clerk said.

Wallace, of Fort Smith, Ark., pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of William Von Eric Domer, 15, of Fort Smith, and Mark Anthony McLaughlin, 14, of Van Buren, Ark. Their bodies were found in the same pond near Pocola in Le Flore County, Dormer's in 1987 and McLaughlin's in 1990. In 1991, Wallace had asked to waive his appeals, reports said. In 1995, he changed his mind a month before his scheduled Dec. 1 execution, records show.

National Catholic Reporter Online

"Witness to an Execution," by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy. (January 19, 2001) Oklahoma City - Last summer, Fr. Bryan Brooks, Tulsa priest and coordinator for the Office of Prison Ministry with the Tulsa diocese, witnessed the execution of George K. Wallace. He did so at the request of Wallace�s appellate attorney. An inmate is allowed seven witnesses, and Wallace had no family members to attend.

�It was,� said Brooks after a long silence, �a very difficult experience. There is nothing that I can compare it to. There was no question of his guilt, but the actual experience was very intense as well as disgusting.� Wallace had murdered two young men and was a prime suspect in three other homicides. �It was particularly difficult,� said Brooks, �because the men killed were the same age as my nephew.� Brooks was required to be at the penitentiary an hour before the execution. He was taken to the H-unit and then to a witness chamber reserved for those observing on behalf of the inmate. �The victims� families were in a separate room,� he said. After the blind was raised, a microphone was placed in front of the strapped-down Wallace, and he was asked if he had any statements to make. Wallace did not. It took him three minutes to die, Brooks said.

�I felt very numb,� said Brooks who, as a priest, has seen people die before. But the circumstances were different. �In hospital emergency rooms, I have seen people die while others are trying to keep them alive.� �Sterile� is the word Alyson Carson uses to describe executions at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. As victim witness coordinator for the Attorney General�s Office, she has observed at least 11 executions. Her job is to guide family members of the victim through the appeals process right up to the execution. �If we have a family that didn�t know the execution date, we do everything possible to let them know what is going on.� For some families, Carson said, the time in the witness chamber is their first �reunion� since the murder, because family members often �stay away from one another� after a homicide. The execution brings �relief,� an assurance that they don�t have to hear the criminal�s name again, she said. �Every time they hear the person�s name it brings them back to the crime.� Carson is impressed with the efficiency of the execution process at McAlester. �Once you�re there, everything is ready to go. The Corrections Department is very professional. They allow him or her to say a very few words and then go to sleep. That�s it.�

For appellate lawyer Janet Chesley, the execution of her client Charles Foster was �such a surreal thing.� �There is a long narrow room. There is a venetian blind in front of you. You kind of file in. The press comes in. It was so hard for me to believe this was happening.� Chesley doesn�t know if Foster was scared. �Charles had an IQ of 64 and a deep abiding faith,� she said. On the day he died, she spent the afternoon with him. He told her � to watch for that feeling� after his execution. �My soul is going to fly by and wave to you.�

APBNews

"Police Impersonator Executed in Oklahoma.

(August 11, 2000) Convicted of Two Murders, Suspected in Four Others - McALESTER, Okla. (AP) - A former truck driver who lured his victims by impersonating a police officer was executed Thursday for the deaths of two Arkansas teens. George Kent Wallace, 59, was given a lethal dose of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Wallace pleaded guilty in 1991 in the deaths of William Von Eric Domer, 15, of Fort Smith, Ark., and Mark Anthony McLaughlin, 14, of Van Buren, Ark. The teens' bodies were discovered almost four years apart -- in 1987 and 1990 -- in the same pond just across the state line in Oklahoma.

North Carolina killings - Wallace also confessed to killing two men in North Carolina -- Jeffrey Lee Foster in 1976 and Thomas Stewart Reed in 1982. He was suspected in the death of another boy in Arkansas and had indicated he would meet with authorities about the death of 12-year-old Alonzo Don Cade of Fort Smith, but later decided against it. The boy's body was found in 1990 in a pond. Wallace was arrested after an 18-year-old supermarket employee managed to escape after being stabbed in the back and arm.

Eleventh execution this year in Oklahoma - The man, now 28, told police Wallace had said he was a police officer and was arresting him. He said Wallace put him in handcuffs and leg irons, then drove him to a pond and attacked him. He managed to escape by leaping into the car and driving away.

Wallace's execution was the 11th this year in Oklahoma, the most in a year since the state executed 14 men in 1933.

Mayhem.Net

August 11, 2000 - George Kent Wallace - Former truck driver George Kent Wallace, 59, was executed by lethal injection for the deaths of two Arkansas teens. Wallace pleaded guilty in the deaths of William Von Eric Domer, 15, of Fort Smith, Ark., and Mark Anthony McLaughlin, 14, of Van Buren, Ark. The teens' bodies were discovered in 1987 and 1990 in the same pond just across the state line in Oklahoma. Wallace also confessed to killing two men in North Carolina - Jeffrey Lee Foster in 1976 and Thomas Stewart Reed in 1982.

Wallace indicated he would meet with authorities about the death of 12-year-old Alonzo Don Cade of Fort Smith, but later decided against it. The boy's body was found in 1990 in a pond. Wallace was arrested after an 18-year-old supermarket employee managed to escape after being stabbed in the back and arm. The man, now 28, told police Wallace had said he was a police officer and was arresting him. He said Wallace put him in handcuffs and leg irons, then drove him to a pond and attacked him. He managed to escape by leaping into the car and driving away.