Killer says nothing before execution

Terry Jess Dennis surrendered his life to a lethal cocktail of chemicals Thursday night, never waivering from his decision to die rather than pursue further appeals that could only win him life without possible parole.

Dennis, 57, was pronounced dead just five minutes after the first of three different drugs was pumped into his veins in what used to be the gas chamber at the old Nevada State Prison on Fifth Street.

He was convicted after pleading guilty to strangling and brutalizing Ilona Straumis in a Reno motel room in March 1999 and sentenced to die by a three judge panel. The murder occurred after the two had spent a weekend together drinking and partying but Washoe prosecutor Daniel Greco said there is evidence Dennis had fantasized about killing a woman for some time before that and had scared another woman by trying to tie her up just three weeks earlier.

He initially sought a new trial but, this past March, abandoned his appeals saying: "Basically, I took a life and I'm ready to pay for that with mine."

Outside, a scant two-dozen protesters held a quiet candlelight vigil, praying and holding signs opposing the death penalty.

Thin, with thick, heavy-framed glasses and wearing prison blues, Dennis was brought into the chamber at 8:58 p.m. and strapped to the table with four old automotive seat belts. His wrists and ankles were restrained in padlocked cuffs. He was already sedated by two doses of Valium, according to prison spokesman Fritz Schlottman.

After IVs were inserted into his right arm, the first drug, a powerful sedative, began to flow - followed by a muscle relaxant. He inhaled deeply a couple of times as the drugs entered his system, then lay quietly as the third drug stopped his heart.

Outside the heavy steel and armored glass bay window of the chamber, eight official witnesses and a group of reporters watched as Prison Medical Director Ted D'Amico checked his pulse and pupils before pronouncing him dead at 9:08 p.m.

He said nothing and never looked at the witnesses outside the chamber.

Those who attested to his execution included NHP Col. David Hosmer and Treasurer Brian Krolicki.

Schlottman said Dennis spent his last day sitting quietly in his cell from noon until he was led to the death chamber. He didn't watch TV and made no phone calls - refusing to return one call from one of his ex-wives. His last contact with the outside was a two-hour phone conversation with his brother in the early morning.

Dennis was the 11th man executed in Nevada since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty as constitutional in 1977. All but the first - Jesse Bishop - died by lethal injection. He died by cyanide gas in October 1979.

All but one - Richard Moran in 1996 - abandoned further appeals and asked to be put to death.

Dennis was the second man executed in Nevada this year. Lawrence Collwell, 34, was put to death March 26.

The next could be Robert Ybarra Jr., who has been set for execution Aug. 27. That, however, is expected to be postponed by a federal judge since the attorney general's office has said it won't oppose the motion.

Contact Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.