Arkansas Death Row Inmate Won't Get Life Term: Parole Board

VARNER, AR — Arkansas death row inmate Jack Greene beat Sidney Burnett in 1991 with a can of hominy, stabbed him and then shot him, killing Burnett. On Thursday, members of the state Parole Board said Greene doesn't deserve to have his sentence reduced to life in prison.

Greene is slated to be executed Nov. 9 at the Cummins Unit prison at Varner, near Little Rock. The board said Thursday it would recommend that Gov. Asa Hutchinson allow the death sentence to stand. In emotional and graphic testimony before the board Wednesday, three of Burnett's daughters likened Greene to a dog and a terrorist.

Prosecutor David Gibbons told the parole board that Burnett and his wife, Edna, had taken in Greene and his girlfriend and given Greene work. Burnett's daughters said Greene turned on the family after Edna Burnett helped the girlfriend escape Greene's abuse. (For more information on Green's case and other Across Arkansas stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Gibbons said Greene could have killed Burnett quickly, but didn't.

"The purpose was to torture that man," Gibbons said, describing Burnett being beaten and stabbed and having his face slit from his mouth to his ear.

"That man felt every bit of that," Gibbons said. Only late in the attack did Greene shoot Burnett with a .25-caliber pistol. "To kill him would have been a snap."

Greene's lawyers told the panel that Greene is mentally ill and that his execution would be unconstitutional. Greene appeared before the board Wednesday with rolled up tissue stuck in both ears and his left nostril. What appeared to be blood stained the skin below his left ear.

The board said it would recommend against clemency in a two-line statement, as is its custom. It said the vote was unanimous, 6-0.

By KELLY P. KISSEL, Associated Press

Photo credit: KTHV-TV via AP