CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally (Release #66)(10-21-71B){593} Nashville, Tenn. (614)742-5470 Feb. 5, 1998

by United Methodist News Service

Karla Faye Tucker, executed on Feb. 3 for hacking a man and woman to death during a 1983 break-in, became the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War and the first nationwide since 1984.

Worldwide publicity over Tucker's case, including pleas for mercy from Pope John Paul II and TV evangelist Pat Robertson, focused on her transformation from a drug-crazed teen-age prostitute to a soft-spoken, born-again Christian.

The U.S. Supreme Court and Texas Gov. George W. Bush refused appeals to save her life.

Only 49 women are among 3,365 death row inmates nationwide.

Nationally, since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume, 431 men and one woman have been executed -– 144 of them in Texas, by far the most active death penalty state.

Nationwide, the first woman executed was Velma Barfield, a born-again Christian who was put to death in North Carolina in 1984 for lacing her boyfriend's food with rat poison.

The United Methodist Church officially opposes capital punishment and urges its elimination from all criminal codes. Official policy is made for the church by a quadrennial legislative body known as the General Conference. The statement on capital punishment is included in the Social Principles, Paragraph 68F of the church's Book of Discipline.