Newton Carlton Slawson

Case identity

Newton Carlton Slawson

Status / outcome

Slawson was executed by lethal injection in Florida on May 16, 2003.

Background

Slawson was white, male, with brown hair and blue eyes. His height was 5'07'' and weight was 164. His birth date was 10/10/1954.

Slawson used illegal drugs habitually for years and had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. He also had a mental quirk causing him to continuously think about disemboweling women. Slawson began drawing pictures of mutilated bodies when he was eleven years old. He discussed his problem with a psychologist while in the Navy, and the psychologist told him that drawing was "a useful tool for actualizing his aggressive tendencies" without actually harming anyone. Slawson explained that the psychologist told him to continue to draw but not to identify the pictures with anyone and to destroy the magazines after he drew on the pictures.

Slawson was found to have been abused as a child, and the trial court found that he was capable of acts of kindness and could be a friendly person.

The offence

On April 11, 1989, Peggy Williams Wood, her husband Gerald Wood, and their two children, Jennifer Wood (age four) and Glendon Wood (age three), were murdered in their home. Also lost was the eight and one-half month fetus that Peggy Wood was carrying.

At around 10:00 p.m. on April 11, 1989, Peggy Wood was discovered lying on her parents' back porch. She had been shot twice—once in the abdomen and once in the back—and cut from the base of the sternum to the pelvic area. Her right thigh also had been cut several times. Still conscious, Peggy Wood told her mother: "He killed Gerry and the kids." When asked "who," Peggy answered: "Newton did it. Newton killed Gerry and the kids." Peggy Wood died a short time later.

Gerald Wood and the two children were found dead upstairs in the couple's apartment. All three died as a result of gunshot wounds. Gerald Wood had been stabbed in the abdomen after dying from a gunshot wound to the back that entered the heart. At the foot of the couch where Gerald's body was found, the body of the couple's unborn baby was discovered. The fetus had two gunshot wounds and several lacerations caused by the injuries to the mother.

Investigation and evidence

Slawson was apprehended later that night. A .357 revolver, later determined to be the murder weapon, was found in his automobile. A magazine with incisions drawn on the abdominal area of nude women also was found.

Arrest and statements to detectives / trial testimony

After his arrest, Slawson told detectives that he went to the Woods' residence on the day of the murders. He took a six inch knife and a .357 revolver. At Gerald's request, Slawson put the gun in the bathroom so the children would not get it. He gave the knife to Gerald Wood to use to cut rock cocaine. Gerald Wood offered to sell Slawson some of the cocaine, but Slawson refused the offer.

When Peggy said Slawson might be the police, Slawson went to the bathroom to get his gun so he could leave. When Slawson returned, Gerald Wood got up with the knife in his hand. According to his statement, Slawson shot Gerald and may have shot Peggy at that time. As Slawson proceeded to the children's bedroom and shot them, Peggy Wood was screaming. After shooting the children, he returned to the living room and shot Peggy again. Slawson then inserted his knife into Peggy Wood's abdomen and cut upward, causing the fetus to be expelled.

At trial, Slawson testified that he believed he killed the Wood family but did not remember doing it. He believed Gerald Wood had put drugs in his beer, causing him to feel odd and to believe he was locked in the apartment. He remembered stabbing Gerald and standing in the kitchen with the gun in his hand. He remembered determining that Gerald and Peggy were dead and trying to save the baby by making the incision into Peggy's abdomen.

According to Slawson's testimony, when he determined that the baby was not going to survive, he left intending to commit suicide. He later returned to the scene to see if he had, in fact, killed the family, and was arrested soon thereafter.

Slawson also testified about his "habit" of drawing incisions on pictures of nude women.

Trial

Slawson was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of killing an unborn child by injury to the mother.

During the penalty phase, a jury recommended that the court impose four sentences of death (DA-R. 2144-47). The trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and imposed four sentences of death for the first-degree murders. The trial court found prior violent felony convictions for each murder based on the contemporaneous killings. As to the murder of Peggy Wood, the trial court found the aggravating circumstance of heinous, atrocious or cruel.

Slawson was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment for manslaughter of the unborn child.

Mitigation and aggravation found by the trial court

The trial court found the following statutory mitigating factors:

1. no significant history of criminal activity, though Slawson used illegal drugs habitually for years;
2. the capacity to conform conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired;
3. the murders were committed while Slawson was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance.

As nonstatutory mitigating factors, the court found that Slawson was abused as a child and was capable of acts of kindness and could be a friendly person.

Appeals

Slawson appealed both his convictions and sentences.

Florida Supreme Court (direct appeal)

Slawson v. State, 619 So. 2d 255 (Fla. 1993). The Supreme Court held: (1) police did not violate defendant's rights under Edwards v. Arizona by advising him of his rights and insuring that he understood them, after he made equivocal request for counsel before being advised of his rights; (2) it was not fundamental error for state's expert witness to testify that in his opinion insanity and impairment defenses are "a charade"; (3) trial court properly considered evidence of circumstances of prior violent or capital felony in weighing aggravating factor for sentencing purposes; and (4) trial court properly found that aggravating circumstances outweighed mitigating circumstances.

The Supreme Court affirmed. PER CURIAM. The convictions and sentences of death were affirmed.

Citations also included: cert. denied, 512 U.S. 1246 (1994).

Motion to correct sentence

Slawson v. State, 796 So. 2d 491 (Fla. 2001).

Outcome / final status

Slawson dropped his appeals and fired his attorneys. His execution was set in Florida on May 16, 2003, with the lethal injection carried out that day.

In connection with the execution process, a temporary stay was issued so that three psychiatrists could examine whether Slawson was competent to be executed; the psychiatrists reported that he was aware of what the death sentence meant. The stay was lifted.

Slawson gave no final statement. When asked whether he had any last statement, he told the warden, "No, sir."

Other details

Victims and ages

• Gerald Wood, age 23
• Peggy Wood, age 21
• Jennifer Wood, age 4
• Glendon Wood, age 3
• The fetus: eight and one-half months old

Last meal

A plate of battered fried scallops and a Coke was Slawson’s final meal.