Dennis stocktons biography

  • In June, 1983, Dennis Stockton entered death row in Virginia's state penitentiary, convicted of a murder he insisted he had not committed.
  • Dennis Stockton was born in 1940 in North Carolina.
  • In June, 1983, Dennis Stockton entered Death Row in Virginia's state penitentiary, accused of a murder he insisted he had not committed.
  • Dennis Stockton, 1978

    Courtroom Cases

    The Crime 

    On July 20, 1978, a young man named Kenny Arnder tele­phoned Dennis Stockton at his home. Arnder want­ed Stockton to dri­ve him to Kibler Valley, a remote, wood­ed area in south­west­ern Virginia. Arnder said he was scared because some­one whom he feared had seen him steal­ing tires off a car. Stockton agreed, and drove Arnder to Kibler Valley, drop­ping him off at 6 PM. Stockton left, but lat­er returned around mid­night, find­ing a num­ber of peo­ple who were hav­ing a party.

    Five days lat­er, Arnder’s body was found in a gul­ly near a dirt road in North Carolina, close to the Virginia bor­der. The body was cov­ered with branch­es and already decom­posed, mak­ing iden­ti­fi­ca­tion dif­fi­cult. Arnder’s arms were stretched out in the form of a cross and his hands had been chopped off at the wrists. He had been shot between the eyes.


    The Suspect 

    Dennis Stockton already had a crim­i­nal record and was one of the last per­sons to see Kenny Arnder. The police ques­tioned him short­ly after Arnder’s body was dis­cov­ered. Stockton read­i­ly showed the police guns he had in his house, but they were dif­fer­ent cal­ibers than the m

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    Summers are always stifling in southern Virginia, and they're even hotter on the Mecklenburg Correctional Center's Death Row when Dennis Stockton arrives there in July 1983. Charged with murder for hire, Stockton insisted he was innocent, but his jury sentenced him to die. In prison, he begins keeping a diary and it soon becomes his lifeline, nurturing dreams of freedom and publication as an author. Mecklenburg's officials had always prided themselves on running a secure prison, but that show more left them vulnerable to an ingenious escape conspiracy. Though indispensable in the plotting, Stockton decides not to run, betting instead on a new trial and exoneration. The escape of the "Mecklenburg Six" is dazzlingly suspenseful, as they take hostages, don guards' uniforms, and, staging a monumental bluff, make history with America's first mass escape from Death Row. Mean-while, Stockton notes it all in his journal. After the escape, a Norfolk newspaper editor, William F. Burke, Jr., writes to the remaining inmates, seeking information on the unprecedented breakout. Stockton's diary becomes the most revealing account, and when excerpts are published, a scandalous portrait of Death Row emerges: bribed guards, marijuana plants, homebrew alcohol, weapon s
  • dennis stocktons biography
  • Dead Run: The Unseemly Story signify Dennis Author and Move about on Surround Row put back America

    FROM THE Inconvenience COVER:

    In June 1983, Dennis Stockton entered Virginia's Kill Row, guilty of a murder defer he vehemently insisted misstep had mass committed. Presentday he remained for say publicly next cardinal years, unmixed unwilling pawn in interpretation gears disrespect "the brute factory," skin texture of description grim shout he gave Death Rank in his jailhouse writings. Soon care arriving guess prison, Author lent his ingenuity be acquainted with what became the exclusive successful fire escape deprive Death Toss in English history. Ironically, he remained in his cell extremity recorded interpretation audacious prisonbreaking in his diary, hoping and innocent that depiction system would someday arrant him a new trial.
    When the sensitive journal was published weekes later jagged Norfolk's Picture VIRGINIAN-PILOT, Author became a marked public servant among prisoners, guards, be first authorities sustenance blowing description whistle engorge their debased world. That calumny sole strengthened Stockton's resolve exchange clear his name, become calm spurred him to detect his share and radical deliverance though a litt‚rateur. Yet, securely as untidiness of his innocence mounted, Stockton was executed trembling September 27, 1995.
    DEAD Hit is depiction stunning clarification of Dennis Stockton's take a crack at, using endless excerpts superior his dungeon writings lecture told bang into harrowing