Double murderer put to death

COLUMBIA — An Alabama man who broke out of jail 16 years ago and fatally shot a police officer and another man in the midst of a crime spree was executed by lethal injection Friday in South Carolina's death chamber.

Thomas Treshawn Ivey, 34, of Union Springs, Ala., was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. He was put to death for killing Tommy Harrison, a 38-year-old Orangeburg police sergeant.

Ivey, whose bid for a stay was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court about an hour before he was put to death, made no final statement.

He kept his eyes trained on the ceiling as the drugs were administered, blinking several times but never looking to his left, where several witnesses looked on. A few moments later he closed his eyes, exhaled several times and did not move again.

Earlier in the day, prison officials said Ivey used the blade from a disposable razor to cut himself on the neck. The wounds were not considered serious, and officials kept him strapped in a chair until he was brought to the death chamber.

Ivey wore a white bandage on his neck, and he was clad in a white paper gown during the execution. Inmates usually wear a dark green prison uniform during executions.

Several straps across his chest and over his shoulders and arms kept Ivey immobile.

Authorities said Ivey's crime spree began in January 1993, when he and another inmate escaped from the Barbour County Jail in Clayton, Ala., where Ivey was being held on a murder charge.

Ivey and Vincent Neuman busted out of jail, stole a truck and drove to Columbia, Neuman's hometown.

There, authorities said the pair kidnapped businessman Robert Montgomery, who was working downtown with his janitorial service. Ivey and Neuman drove Montgomery to rural Orangeburg County.

Neuman later testified that while there, Ivey shot Montgomery in the head and chest, killing him.

Two days later the pair visited a mall in Orangeburg, where a clerk accused them of trying to pass a stolen check. Harrison responded to the call but let Ivey go when he determined that it was Neuman who was trying to use the check.

Ivey told police that a handgun in his pocket fired accidentally as he walked away, and the bullet ricocheted off the floor, hitting Harrison in the leg. Ivey said he then panicked and shot the officer five more times, according to court records.

Neuman, now 40, testified against Ivey and is serving a life sentence for murder. Ivey was convicted and sentenced to death for both murders, but Friday's execution was for Harrison's death.

Ivey is the 42nd person executed in South Carolina since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.