TERRE HAUTE, IN – Former OTR trucker Alfred Bourgeois, 56, was executed this Friday after waiting 17 years on death row.
Alfred Bourgeois, a former truck driver from Louisiana, was executed via lethal injection on Friday. The capital punishment was for the savage rape and murder of his two-year-old daughter that happened in 2002. Even though there was a last-minute bid by Burgeouis’ lawyers for clemency, it was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Bourgeois was found guilty of “physically and emotionally torturing and then beating to death his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter” in June 2002.
His legal team argued that Bourgeois was intellectually disabled. If it was accepted, it would have made him ineligible for the death penalty under federal law. However, it was denied.
Not too long after the last-minute bid was denied, Bourgeois was put to death. He was pronounced dead on Friday, at 8:21 p.m. EST.
The Friday execution of Bourgeois was the 10th federal death row death since President Donald Trump ordered Attorney General William Barr to resume federal executions in July after a 17-year hiatus of the punishment.
Executions will resume until Trump leaves the POTUS office in January. This represents the end of a 130-years precedent of pausing any pending executions during a presidential transition. Three more executions are to take place during the transition.
In Bourgeois’ last words, while strapped to a gurney, he did not apologize for the killing. Instead, he insisted that he did not do the savage act.
“I ask God to forgive all those who plotted and schemed against me, and planted false evidence,… I did not commit this crime,” said Bourgeois.
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The Crime Bourgeois Committed
Bourgeois “became enraged and repeatedly slammed the back of her [his daughter’s] head into the truck’s window and dashboard, killing her,” is in the official documentation of the Department of Justice.
He “grabbed her by her shoulders and slammed the back of her head into the front and side window area around the dashboard four times.”
This reaction was a result of the two-year-old tipped her potty chair in the cab of his truck while he was parking.
A few weeks before the incident, Burgeous was granted temporary custody of Jakaren. This was following a paternity that test identified him as her father, and he was ordered to pay child support.
He took the daughter over the road with him and his wife.
According to the Department of Justice, while on the trip, “Bourgeois systematically abused and tortured her — including by punching her in the face, whipping her with an electrical cord, and burning the bottom of her foot with a cigarette lighter.” The abuse also included beating with a belt and baseball bat.
After the killing, additional research proved Burgeios raped the child.
It took a Texas jury around two hours to find Burgeouis guilty and sentence him to death in March 2004.
The Day of the Execution
As the lethal injection containing pentobarbital started flowing through IV into both of Bourgeois’ arms, he looked at his spiritual adviser. He was at a corner of the execution chamber with a Bible in his arms. Bourgeois gave the adviser a thumbs-up, to which the person raised his thumb in reply.
Moments later, Bourgeois turned his look at the glass standing between him and the media, witnesses, and officers. He allegedly grimaced and furrowed his eyebrows. Then, he began to exhale, and his stomach started to quiver uncontrollably.
Five minutes later, the heaving in his stomach stopped and his body became still. 20 minutes later, Bourgeois was pronounced dead.
The 10th Federal Death-Row Inmate Put to Death Since July
The execution of Alfred Bourgeois marks the 10th Federal death-row inmate put to death since federal executions have been resumed. As a reminder, President Donald Trump, after a 17-year hiatus on the punishment, ordered capital punishment to be resumed.
Bourgeois was the second death-row inmate executed the last week. Brandon Bernard, 40, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday. The Supreme Court also rejected a last-minute bid by his attorney for clemency.
Bernard was a former gang member who got sentenced for the killing of Todd and Stacie Bagley in June 1999.
A lot of petitions were sent to make an exception for Bernard, who was only 18-years-old when he got sentenced. Still, he was executed by lethal injection.
Before the execution, Bernard said: “I’m sorry. That’s the only words that I can say that completely capture how I feel now and how I felt that day.”
