David Wilson (died 20 July 1998) was a convicted

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

er and the second person to be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

since it became a sovereign state in 1983. In February 1996, Wilson and Clement Thomas were convicted of beating a

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...

to death in 1994. Wilson was sentenced to death by the trial judge, and his appeal was rejected by the appeal court. After the appeal court's judgment,

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Sir

Cuthbert Sebastian Sir Cuthbert Montraville Sebastian (22 October 1921 – 25 March 2017) was the second governor-general of Saint Kitts and Nevis from 1996 to 2013. He was appointed Governor-General in 1995 and was sworn in on 1 January 1996. While in office, he ...

signed Wilson's

death warrant An execution warrant (also called a death warrant or a black warrant) is a writ that authorizes the execution of a condemned person. United States In the United States, either a judicial or executive official designated by law issues an ...

, and he was executed by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

on 20 July 1998. It was the first execution in Saint Kitts and Nevis since 1985. Wilson's execution was controversial because it was carried out before he was able to appeal his case to the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, which is the

supreme court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

for Saint Kitts and Nevis.

References

*Hans Göran Franck, Klas Nyman, and William Schabas (2003). ''The Barbaric Punishment: Abolishing the Death Penalty'' (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers ) p. 118

External links

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

"St Kitts and Nevis: First hanging in 13 years – a backward step for the Caribbean"
press release, 1998-07-20, accessed 2008-08-08 1998 deaths People executed by Saint Kitts and Nevis by hanging Executed Saint Kitts and Nevis people 20th-century executions by Saint Kitts and Nevis People executed for murder People convicted of murder by Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis people convicted of murder Year of birth missing {{SaintKittsNevis-bio-stub