David Thomas Dawson
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David Thomas Dawson (20 October 1957 - 11 August 2006) was a convicted murderer.
[edit] The Crime
David Thomas Dawson broke into a family's Billings, Montana motel room on April 18, 1986. Dawson forced the Rodstein family to go to his room at the motel, which was located right next door to their own room. He bound the family of four with tape, gagged them, and took their money. Over the next two days, Dawson strangled three of the four family members: David Rodstein (father), his wife Monica Rodstein and their 11-year-old son Andrew Rodstein. 15-year-old Amy Rodstein was found alive in Dawson's motel room two days after the murders.
[edit] Sentencing and execution
The trial for Dawson came to a close in February 1987. The jury deliberated about 14 hours and returned with guilty verdicts for three counts of deliberate homicide, four guilty verdicts for kidnapping each member of the Rodstein family, and a guilty verdict for robbery. Dawson waived the ability to appeal his conviction and sentence.
Dawson was executed by lethal injection on August 11, 2006 under the authority of the state of Montana, the first execution in Montana in more than eight years.
