Cop-Killer Dies in Chair As Cops Cheer

It is not very often that members of Law Enforcement gather en masse outside of a jail whilst an execution was taking place.  But this happened outside Starke Maximum Security Prison on January 30th 1985 when James Raulerson went to the chair.  Raulerson had spent ten years on Death Row, using every legal wrangle his lawyers could, to avoid the inevitable.  Raulerson, 33, had robbed a restaurant in Jacksonville but two Police Officers came upon the robbery. The resulting shootout left rookie cop Michael Stewart dead.  His partner, Jim English, managed to avoid injury.

    Numerous cops gathered outside the prison and started cheering as the hum of the generator began.  A short time later, an ambulance carrying the body of Raulerson, left the jail, and all the cops stood in a line, and started cheering and clapping as the ambulance drove by.  Undoubtedly, many people were appalled by this behaviour but is it understandable that every day, they put their lives on the line to ensure people can go about their daily lives, free from assault, murder or rape, at the hands of twisted felons do not care the slightest about the maimed and dead they leave in their path?  Another cop killer who went to the chair was James Hutchins, who was executed by lethal injection on March 16th 1984 in North Carolina.  He murdered three Police Officers.  Cops complained that Hutchins died far too easily, unlike their colleagues.