Toni Jo Henry

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Toni Jo Henry (born January 3, 1916 at Shreveport as Anna Beatrice McQuiston , † November 28, 1942 in Lake Charles ) was an American murderer and the only woman who was executed on the electric chair in the state of Louisiana .

Life

Anna Beatrice McQuiston, who grew up in difficult social circumstances, was addicted to drugs at the age of 16 and became a prostitute. She later worked as a prostitute in a brothel in Shreveport under the nickname "Toni Jo". Here she met 26-year-old Claude Henry in 1939, who worked as a prize boxer under the name "Cowboy Henry" . The two married on November 25, 1939. In January 1940, Claude Henry was sentenced to 50 years in prison for manslaughter by a Texas court and was imprisoned in Huntsville, Texasimprisoned. Before they got married, he was involved in a gunfight; a projectile from his gun had killed a man. He himself had pleaded for self-defense.

Together with the convicted 23-year-old Harold Burks, Toni Jo Henry planned to steal a car, rob a bank and then free her husband from prison. On February 14, 1940, the seemingly harmless couple were hitchhiked to the 41-year-old Joseph P. Calloway. Near Lake Charles, Henry and Burks robbed Calloway's clothes, money, and car under threat of gun violence. Toni Jo Henry ordered Calloway to kneel down and killed him at close range with an aimed revolver in the face. Harold Burks, who planned a robbery but no murder, then left. Toni Jo Henry went to her aunt and made a full confession in front of the police.

On March 29, 1940, she was sentenced to death by hanging by a court in Lake Charles . After a revision, the judgment was confirmed in a second main trial in February 1941. Another request for revision was rejected in January 1942. Meanwhile, the method of execution had been changed from hang to electrocution in the state of Louisiana . With the death sentences pending against Toni Jo Henry, her lawyers appealed against the legality of an electric chair enforcement. This complaint was denied by the state's Supreme Court. Harold Burks was also sentenced to death in a separate trial.

In prison, Toni Jo Henry was baptized by Pastor Wayne Richard (1913 - 2005) and became a practicing Catholic . On November 23, 1942, Claude Henry made a failed escape attempt in Texas with the aim of freeing his wife. One day before the execution, on November 27th, Toni Jo Henry was allowed to speak to her husband on the phone. She told him to lead a decent life in the event of early release. On November 28, 1942, Toni Jo Henry was executed shortly after noon in Lake Charles Prison. It was the sixth execution after the abolition of the gallows in Louisiana using the electric chair brought from Angola Prison to Lake Charles. Harold Burks was also executed using the same electric chair on March 23, 1943.

Claude “Cowboy” Henry was released on parole in early 1945 after serving five years in prison. Just a few months later, on July 15, 1945, he was killed in a shootout.

Media reception

The fact that a petite young woman was the perpetrator of a brutal robbery created increased media interest from arrest to execution. A press photo taken a few hours before the execution of Toni Jo Henry smiling and wearing a white dress on death row found widespread media coverage. The same applies to a photo of her wearing a headscarf (before electrocution, the hair of the person to be executed is shaved off) on the way to the electric chair.

After the case had been largely forgotten for decades, a new reception in the media began after 2000. Lawrence King (2001) and Norman German (2008) each published a historical novel on the case. The Munich musician and producer Lennart produced an album with 18 tracks about the life and death of Toni Jo Henry in 2008 . Amnesty International is the patron of this project . Also in 2008, director Tom Anton made a feature film called The Pardon about the case with Jaime King as Toni Jo Henry and TJ Thyne (as Pastor Wayne Richard), Jason Lewis (as Cowboy Henry), John Hawkes (as Harold Burks) and MC Gainey . The film premiered on July 23, 2010 at the Stony Brook Film Festival at Stony Brook University . The film was released in Germany in 2013 under the title "Unforgiven - The death sentence of Toni Jo Henry" on DVD.

Novels

  • Lawrence King: Stone Justice, Casting the Last Stone. 1st Books, Bloomington 2001, ISBN 0-75965-011-X .
  • Norman German: A Savage Wisdom. Thunder Rain Publishing, Thibodaux 2008, ISBN 0-96545-696-X .

Music album

Lennart : Toni Jo Henry. Lennart Music, Munich 2008.

Movie

  • The pardon. USA 2013, directed by Tom Anton.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wayne Raymond Richard on himandus.net Accessed May 15, 2010.
  2. ↑ Cowboy Henry on boxrec.com. Accessed May 15, 2010.
  3. ^ Toni Jo Henry's Date with Death.Retrieved May 15, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Henry, Toni Jo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McQuiston, Annie Beatrice (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American murderess
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH at Shreveport
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1942
Place of death Lake Charles