A Man Chose Electrocution After Killing His Sons

A man was executed by electrocution for his four sons' murder. That was the first time since 1960 an electric chair was used to perform execution in Tennessee state.

Daryl Holton, 45 year old father of four children, was accused of murder of his sons aged 4, 6, 10 and 12 in 1997. He blindfolded all his sons, asking not to move, and shot them dead. After that he brought himself to police.

After mental health examination it was proved that Holton suffered from deep depression at the time of committing the crime.

The reason for such a serious crime was his belief that his children did not deserve to be brought up by their mother who suffered from alcohol addiction and had an abuse history.

After leaving his military job, when Holton had to spend most of the time overseas, he came back home to take custody of his children. However, his wife won the case. In 1997, his wife disappeared until the end of the year not long before the tragedy happened.

Holton had chosen electrocution over less cruel methods of execution realizing he had to pay a high price for the crime. Most executions in US are performed through lethal injection since the death penalty was brought back in 1976 by US Supreme Court. The last electrocution took place in 2006 in Virginia and still it is a rare case.

Prison officials said the execution went well and the man died immediately.