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INDIANA - Federal death
row inmate attempts suicide
July 2, 2001 - Newsday
A federal death row inmate
who befriended Timothy McVeigh attempted
suicide the night before
the Oklahoma City bomber was executed, the
inmate's attorney said
Monday.
David Hammer, who is diabetic,
tried to kill himself by injecting insulin
directly into one of
his veins, but the attempt was detected and he was
treated, said attorney
Ronald Travis.
Officials at the U.S.
Penitentiary in Terre Haute, where McVeigh was
executed on June 11,
would not confirm or deny the report, citing privacy
concerns.
Travis said he had gotten
no warning that his client was considering
hurting himself. "I know
he was deeply troubled by it (execution). I
know that he and Mr.
McVeigh apparently had become very close," Travis
said.
In a daily journal published
on a death row inmates' Internet site,
Hammer wrote that he
made the suicide attempt the night of June 10.
McVeigh was put to death
by injection at 7 a.m. the next day.
"I keep wondering how
long until my own date with the executioner will
arrive," Hammer wrote.
"I wish I were dead right now, but I'm not.
Death would be a welcome
relief."
Dan Dunne, spokesman for
the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, would not speak
specifically about Hammer.
He said inmates requiring daily injections
have the necessary equipment
brought to their cells and are allowed to
administer the medicine
themselves. The equipment is then returned to
prison personnel.
Hammer was sentenced to
death for strangling his cellmate at the federal
prison at Allenwood,
Pa. Before that, he had faced a total of 1,200 years
for crimes that included
attempted murder and kidnapping.
Hammer has said that he
and McVeigh met when they were being flown to the
prison at Terre Haute,
and they later had adjacent cells.
Hammer has already faced
one execution date, Nov. 15, 2000. The execution
was delayed to allow
him to appeal his sentence. No new date has been set.
On the Net: Death Row Speaks: www.deathrowspeaks.net
(source: Newsday)
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