| Sedley Alley | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 16, 1955 |
| Died | June 28, 2006 (aged 50) Nashville, Tennessee |
| Charge(s) | Murder Kidnapping Rape |
| Penalty | Death |
| Status | Executed |
| Children | David and April McIntyre |
Sedley Alley (August 16, 1955 – June 28, 2006) was convicted of abducting, raping, and murdering 19-year-old United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins near Naval Air Station Memphis in Millington, Tennessee.
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Alley, a civilian married to an enlisted member of the military, abducted Collins while she was jogging near the Millington base late in the evening of July 11, 1985. After beating Collins, repeatedly striking her on the head with a screw driver, strangling her, and raping her, he inserted a 31 inch tree limb into her vagina with such force that it punctured a lung. He was arrested in his on-base housing. He first said he had accidentally ran her over on his way to get more liquor while she was jogging. Alley confessed that morning, giving a lengthy description of his actions. He then accompanied investigators on a tour of his route and correctly pointed out the tree where he left her body and from which he obtained the limb.
Alley pleaded insanity, saying that he had multiple personality disorder, but was convicted of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and capital murder. He maintained the insanity defense during his post-conviction appeals from 1985 until 2004, when he began to claim innocence. He filed a number of unsuccessful motions in state and federal courts to allow access to evidence for DNA tests which he asserted would prove his innocence. He also claimed that the lethal injection protocol would cause him pain and suffering and would therefore qualify as an unconstitutional punishment.
Despite an 11th-hour barrage of petitions from his defense team and a last-minute stay of execution ordered by a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Alley was executed by lethal injection at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee at 2:12 a.m. on June 28, 2006. The state had planned back-to-back executions of both Alley and serial killer Paul Dennis Reid, but Reid received a stay.
Reporter Janice Broach of WMC-TV in Memphis said his last words were, "Yes, to my children. April, David, can you hear me? I love you. Stay strong." Alley then thanked the prison chaplain and said, "I love you, David. I love you, April. Be good and stay together. Stay strong." He blew kisses through the window. His daughter said, “I love you, Dad, it’s OK,” His last meal was Pizza pockets, ice cream, iced oatmeal cookies and milk. He was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m 06-28-2006. The Collins family did not view the execution. Sedley Alley was the second person executed by lethal injection in Tennessee, the first was Robert Glen Coe on April 19, 2000. Prior to 2000, there was a hiatus of nearly 40 years in state mandated executions after William Tines was executed in Tennessee's electric chair, "Old Sparky," on November 7, 1960.