John Frederick Thanos

Case information

John Frederick Thanos (c. 1951 – May 17, 1994) was executed in Maryland by lethal injection on May 17, 1994.

Timeline

• April 5, 1990 — Thanos was mistakenly released from the Eastern Correctional Institution in Somerset County.
• Late summer 1990 — Thanos fatally shot three Maryland teen-agers during a week of crime.
• Aug. 31, 1990 — Thanos was sentenced to death for the murder of a third youth on the Eastern Shore.
• Labor Day 1990 — Thanos shot Billy Winebrenner and Melody Pistorio in the head during a robbery at a convenience store in Middle River.
• 1990 — Thanos was convicted of the murders of Billy Winebrenner, Gregory Allen Taylor, and Melody Pistorio.
• May 7 — A hearing took place in which Thanos’s family tried to prove he was incompetent.
• May 15, 1994 — Maryland prepared for its first execution in 33 years.
• May 17, 1994 — Thanos was executed by lethal injection.
• June 3, 1992 — Thanos’s sentencing proceedings continued.

Background

Thanos was convicted in 1992 of the murders of Billy Winebrenner, Gregory Allen Taylor, and Melody Pistorio.

At his trial, Thanos taunted the families of his victims. During his sentencing hearing for the murder of Winebrenner and Pistorio, he said he wished he could dig up their bodies and defile their corpses.

“I don't believe I could satisfy my thirst yet in this matter unless I was to be able to dig these brats' bones up out of their graves right now and beat them into powder and urinate on them and then stir it into a murky yellowish elixir and serve it up to those loved ones,” Thanos said during his sentencing hearing for the murder of Winebrenner and Pistorio.

Thanos waived his appeals and refused to fight his death sentence after he was convicted and sentenced to die.

The offence

Thanos fatally shot three Maryland teen-agers during a week of crime in 1990.

For the murder of two Baltimore County youths, Thanos shot them in the head during a robbery at a convenience store in Middle River on Labor Day 1990. The youths were Billy Winebrenner (16) and Melody Pistorio (14).

He also killed Gregory Allen Taylor (age 18). Lois Dennis’s 18-year-old son, Gregory Taylor Jr., was killed by Mr. Thanos.

During the period following his mistaken release, he had served nearly four years of a seven-year prison sentence for robbery.

Investigation

Two mental health experts testified that Thanos suffered from a borderline personality disorder characterized by poor self-identity, impulsive rages and self-mutilation.

Thomas Goldman, a Washington psychiatrist, testified that the disorder stemmed from a chaotic family life with an abusive father. Goldman testified that the father once punched Thanos in the groin and another time twisted his wrist so tightly that he cracked a bone.

“The father was out of control, doing all kinds of things that constitute psychic torture,” Thomas Goldman said.

Lawrence Donner, a psychologist from Baltimore, testified that Thanos’s personality disorder prevented him from conforming his behavior to the requirements of the law.

“He is a very seriously disturbed individual,” Lawrence Donner said.

Neil Blumberg, a psychiatrist and rebuttal witness for the state, agreed that Thanos suffered from the personality disorder but said he was not substantially impaired when he shot the two teenagers in the head.

Blumberg testified that Thanos’s videotaped confession indicated that the slayings were planned rather than impulsive.

“He clearly is not psychotic,” Neil Blumberg said about Thanos’s statements on the videotape.
“He clearly is rational.”

Trial

Thanos was convicted by a jury of the two youths’ murders.

He had already been sentenced to death for the murder of a third youth on the Eastern Shore on Aug. 31, 1990. All three murders occurred after Thanos was mistakenly released from the Eastern Correctional Institution in Somerset County on April 5, 1990.

During his sentencing proceedings, Thanos threatened his two attorneys and their families. He called Baltimore County Deputy State's Attorney Sue Schenning a "hysterical woman" and said he had cast a spell of cancer on her female organs.

Thanos also called the youths’ family members cowards for not trying to kill him in revenge for murdering the teenagers. The family members declined to comment.

The sentencing hearing for the murder of Winebrenner and Pistorio was to continue on Wednesday.

Thanos, aged 45 in May 1994, was wearing a navy blue skullcap decorated with a Playboy bunny during his sentencing proceedings.

Sentencing

Thanos was condemned on three counts.

At his sentencing hearing, the judge asked Thanos for his preference, “Death or Life imprisonment without the possibilty of parole.” Thanos answered.

“Life in prison with the possibility of escape!” Thanos answered.

At another point in his sentencing hearing, he told the judge:

“Their cries bring laughter from the darkest caverns of my soul,” Thanos told Garrett County Circuit Court Judge Frederick A. Thayer in a speech during the second day of his sentencing proceedings for the murder of two Baltimore County youths.

“I don't believe I could satisfy my thirst yet in this matter unless I was to be able to dig these brats' bones up out of their graves right now and beat them into powder and urinate on them and then stir it into a mercury yellowish elixir and serve it up to those loved ones,” Thanos said.

Thanos’s sentencing hearing involved a speech during the second day of his sentencing proceedings for the murder of two Baltimore County youths at Garrett County Circuit Court Judge Frederick A. Thayer.

Appeals

He renounced petitions filed by his mother and sister.

At a hearing on May 7, Thanos’s family tried to prove he was incompetent. A judge rejected the claim, and his family dropped further appeals.

Outcome

Thanos was executed in 1994 by the state of Maryland by lethal injection.

He became the first person to be executed in Maryland since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated.

His last word was “Adios”.

Aftermath

Maryland’s first execution by lethal injection occurred on May 17, 1994.

Maryland prepared for its first execution in 33 years, with the condemned prisoner, John Frederick Thanos, scheduled to die by lethal injection between 12:01 A.M. on Monday through midnight on May 22.

A law passed in 1922 forbade advance public notice of executions in Maryland. Only the Corrections Commissioner, Richard Lanham, knew the date and time.

Under the death warrant, official witnesses including selected journalists were to be notified of the execution three hours beforehand and were required to agree not to divulge the information to anyone.

Families of the victims and the public were not to know about the execution until it was over.

Lois Dennis said:

“As far as I'm concerned, I don't think it's fair that neither one of us will be told when the execution will be taking place, on what day that it will be taking place, and we will not be allowed to be there,” Lois Dennis said.

Mary Ellen Barbera, deputy chief of the Maryland Attorney General’s criminal appeals division, said:

“I'm not aware there has been any litigation to test that, but my understanding is that it would withstand challenge, because there are strong governmental reasons to allow for the secrecy,” Mary Ellen Barbera said.

Joe Riener, coordinator for Let Live, said:

“The main thing is the state is going about killing someone,” Mr. Riener said.
“How they do it, when they do it, is not as much of a concern as them doing it.”

Mr. Thanos confessed to killing Mr. Taylor and two Baltimore County teen-agers, and he had refused to file any appeals after renouncing petitions filed by his mother and sister.

At the hearing May 7, Thanos said:

“I did it, I was sentenced, I accept that,” Thanos said.

Before the execution, he was to be moved into a windowless holding cell in the death house, and he was not to receive a special last meal, only the same fare served to other prisoners.

As of Thursday before the execution, Thanos was in his cell in Maryland’s Supermax, the state’s top-security prison.

Other details

Thanos was described as a hostile defendant, publicly berating his lawyers when they brought up claims of childhood abuse by his father.

Thanos was aged 42 at his sentencing hearing in June 3, 1992 reporting, and aged 45 in May 1994 preparations for the execution.

The case information included: “M RACE: W TYPE: T MOTIVE: CE-felony MO: Shot robbery victims age 14-18 DISPOSITION: Condemned on three counts; executed May 17, 1994.”

Victims listed for the execution included Billy Winebrenner, Gregory Allen Taylor, and Melody Pistorio.