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after cutting a screen. After ransacking the home, he was preparing to leave when Ruby Miller intercepted him in a bedroom, aiming a shotgun at him. Bruner confessed to grabbing the gun from her before she could fire it and hitting her with an unspecified object (later confirmed to have been the claw end of a hammer) when she started screaming until she fell over. He also claimed that he never intended to strangle Miller with the silk stocking and that his intention was to cover her eyes with it. Bruner claimed that after parking Miller's car at a church in downtown
Huntington, he walked home and had just recently arrived when police went to his house to arrest him.
271:. In one of Bruner's appeals to the Supreme Court of West Virginia in October 1958, he argued unsuccessfully that it was prejudicial to show the jury a gruesome photograph that a police officer had taken of Miller's dead body at the crime scene. Initially, the United States Supreme Court refused to review Bruner's case, after which Bruner's execution date was scheduled for December 12, 1958; however, Justice
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had occurred on May 22. Bruner was also a suspect in a third burglary and an armed robbery. The police who searched Bruner found a pair of keys on his person; the keys belonged to Miller's car. Bruner told police that he had parked the car in a certain parking lot in
Huntington, and officers found the car in that lot. Police found another pair of keys on Bruner that matched a locker at a
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Bruner was arrested for the murder approximately one hour after the body was discovered. At the time of Bruner's arrest, police did not suspect him in the murder of Ruby Miller; he was arrested based on a telephone tip due to his involvement in a separate burglary of one of Miller's neighbors, which
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granted Bruner a week-long reprieve to reschedule the execution for April 3. After all of Bruner's appeals were rejected, Governor
Underwood was the final person remaining who could save Bruner's life; one of Bruner's brothers made a direct appeal after talking to Governor Underwood for ten minutes
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Although Bruner was the final person to be executed in West
Virginia, he was not the last to receive a death sentence; at least one person was sentenced to death after Bruner. Ernest Stevenson was sentenced to death in West Virginia in 1961, but he delayed his death sentence with appeals until the
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The same day of the murder, shortly before midnight, Bruner made a confession after hours of questioning. Police prepared a written statement, which Bruner refused to sign until 4:30 pm the following day. In the statement, Bruner confessed to entering the Miller household through a bathroom window
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against Bruner. Subsequently, Common Pleas Judge John W. Daniel granted Bruner's motion to have the court provide a mental examination to adjudge his competency to face the death penalty. On June 11, 1957, Common Pleas Judge John W. Daniel revealed that he had been receiving phone calls from an
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found Bruner guilty of first-degree murder. Under West
Virginia law at the time, first-degree murder verdicts came with automatic, mandatory death sentences unless the jury recommended mercy. As Bruner's jury did not recommend mercy, he was sentenced to death. The death sentence was formally
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reported that the prosecutor, Russell L. Daugherty, and his wife had both received similar threatening phone calls from an unknown female who identified herself as Bruner's wife, stating that if her husband received the death penalty, then the prosecutor and his wife would be in danger.
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granted Bruner a stay of execution two days prior to allow time for further appeals, and for Bruner's U.S. Supreme Court appeal to be heard. On
January 12, 1959, Bruner's U.S. Supreme Court appeal was rejected; he had attempted to argue that his constitutional rights under the
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quit his case, declining to represent him. One of them quit only nine days before the trial's start date. Because of the threats to the prosecutor and the judge, there were over 20 police officers present in the courtroom every day during Bruner's trial.
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On May 27, 1957, Ruby H. Miller, a 58-year-old wealthy church worker who sometimes accompanied her husband to his office to help him with his contracting work, returned to her
Huntington home from the office in late morning. She found Elmer Bruner
311:. Bruner's execution was witnessed by 18 prison officials, doctors, and newspaper reporters. After receiving four separate shocks, two prison physicians pronounced him dead at 9:10 PM, eight minutes after he received the first shock.
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that the police called to the home shortly after the body was discovered found the cause of death to be "destruction of the brain. . . . caused by a very hard instrument." The pathologist also found that Miller was
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on
January 18, 1918. On November 13, 1956, less than a year prior to committing the murder that led to his execution, Bruner married Norma Gertrude Morris; the two were married until his death. The couple lived in
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unknown male; according to Daniel, this man threatened to harm Judge Daniel if Bruner were to receive a death sentence. Although Judge Daniel informed the police of the phone calls, he told a
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Bruner's final, last-ditch appeal was rejected by U.S. District Judge Harry F. Watkins in March 1959. Ultimately, Bruner's execution date was set for March 27, 1959, but since that day was
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pronounced on August 2, 1957, with Bruner's first execution date being scheduled to take place on
September 27, 1957; however, Bruner's appeals delayed the execution for almost two years.
128:, as the state abolished the capital punishment six years after his execution. Bruner was convicted of the May 1957 murder of 58-year-old Ruby H. Miller, who walked in on Bruner
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296:, advocated on Bruner's behalf that afternoon. Ultimately, Underwood refused to intervene, stating that he would only take action if new evidence suggested Bruner's innocence.
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157:. Bruner had an extensive criminal record, having been "in and out of correctional institutions" from the age of 10 onward. At the time of the murder, he worked as a
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were violated prior to his trial due to police not having a warrant to search the locker containing the stolen valuables from the Miller household.
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her with a silk stocking, which was still wrapped around her neck when her husband returned home later that same afternoon and found her body. A
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Bruner's trial was scheduled to begin on June 22, 1957. In the days leading up to Bruner's trial, two of his potential
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In 1965, West
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On June 29, 1957, Bruner's trial concluded. The same day, after deliberating for four hours, the all-male
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bus station; when police searched that locker with Bruner's permission (albeit without an official
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her house and was then beaten to death. Bruner's trial and conviction took place in 1957, although
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488:"State v. Bruner :: 1958 :: Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Decisions"
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after she was murdered, although Bruner was never charged for it.
626:. Hinton, West Virginia: Hinton Daily News. UPI. 5 February 1959
363:"West Virginia Vital Research Records - Marriage Records Search"
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the day prior to the execution, and a church group based out of
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604:. Hinton, West Virginia: Hinton Daily News. UPI. 30 March 1959
457:"Last Prisoner Executed in W.Va. Murdered a Huntington Woman"
391:"West Virginia Vital Research Records - Death Record Details"
698:"'Thy Brother's Blood': Capital Punishment in West Virginia"
582:. Beckley, West Virginia. The Raleigh Register. 13 June 1957
116:(January 18, 1918 – April 3, 1959) was a convicted American
516:. Beckley, West Virginia. The Raleigh Register. 6 June 1957
459:. Huntington, West Virginia. The Huntington Herald-Dispatch
651:. Somerset, Pennsylvania. The Daily American. 4 April 1959
538:. Hinton, West Virginia. Hinton Daily News. 12 June 1957
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Russell L. Daugherty announced that he would seek the
677:. York, Pennsylvania. Associated Press. 4 April 1959
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reporter, "I look on it as a joke." On June 16, the
696:Bumgardner, Stan; Kreiser, Christine (March 1996).
299:On April 3, 1959, Elmer Bruner was executed in the
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758:People executed by West Virginia by electric chair
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315:abolition of the death penalty in West Virginia.
161:taking on odd jobs; he was also out on parole.
558:"More Threats Received In Cabell Murder Trial"
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338:List of most recent executions by jurisdiction
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136:delayed his execution for almost two years.
763:People convicted of murder by West Virginia
514:"Accused Murderer Will Undergo Mental Exam"
768:20th-century executions of American people
702:West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly
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624:"Governor Withdraws Lilly's Appointment"
425:"Bruner Convicted, Faces Electric Chair"
343:List of people executed in West Virginia
649:"Elmer Bruner Electrocuted; Slew Woman"
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333:Capital punishment in the United States
174:the house. Miller armed herself with a
263:Bruner appealed his case twice to the
215:Shortly after Bruner was charged with
602:"Time Running Out; Bruner has 1 hope"
16:Last person executed in West Virginia
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753:American people executed for murder
560:. Beckley Post-Herald. 16 June 1957
427:. Beckley Post-Herald. 30 June 1957
328:Capital punishment in West Virginia
269:Supreme Court of the United States
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748:1957 murders in the United States
536:"Unknown Person Threatens Judge"
305:West Virginia State Penitentiary
62:West Virginia State Penitentiary
455:Halperin, Rick (28 May 2007).
265:Supreme Court of West Virginia
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155:Cabell County, West Virginia
120:. He was the last defendant
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230:United Press International
294:Charleston, West Virginia
244:court-appointed attorneys
144:Elmer Bruner was born in
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74:Executed by electrocution
580:"Bruner Trial June 22"
259:Appeals and execution
153:, a city located in
235:Beckley Post-Herald
217:first-degree murder
92:First degree murder
289:Cecil H. Underwood
114:Elmer David Bruner
23:Elmer David Bruner
675:The York Dispatch
671:"Slayer executed"
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172:burglarizing
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130:burglarizing
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56:(1959-04-03)
743:1959 deaths
738:1918 births
309:Moundsville
287:, Governor
285:Good Friday
273:Earl Warren
184:pathologist
732:Categories
349:References
221:Prosecutor
151:Huntington
140:Early life
35:1918-01-18
395:WVCulture
367:WVCulture
322:See also
180:strangle
159:handyman
122:executed
118:murderer
716:23 July
681:23 July
655:23 July
630:23 July
608:23 July
586:22 July
564:22 July
542:22 July
520:22 July
498:23 July
463:23 July
431:23 July
400:23 July
372:23 July
303:at the
176:shotgun
134:appeals
492:Justia
64:, U.S.
45:, U.S.
211:Trial
189:raped
102:Death
718:2021
683:2021
657:2021
632:2021
610:2021
588:2021
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544:2021
522:2021
500:2021
465:2021
433:2021
402:2021
374:2021
252:jury
146:Ohio
51:Died
43:Ohio
29:Born
307:in
124:by
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