ROLL SOUGHT FORGIVENESS BEFORE DEATH

POTOSI, Mo. -- In his final statement before execution, Gary Lee Roll expressed remorse for murdering three Cape Girardeau family members in 1992 and the pain his crimes caused their relatives and his own family. He asked for forgiveness.

Roll, 48, of Cape Girardeau had been on Missouri's death row since 1993 after pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree murder for killing Sherry Scheper and her sons Curtis and Randy Scheper during a robbery at their home. Roll died by injection early Wednesday morning at the Potosi Correctional Center.

Gov. Mel Carnahan rejected Roll's petition for clemency at approximately 8 p.m. With no last-minute court appeals pending, the governor's action ended any chance for a stay.

With Roll prepared in the execution chamber, the Department of Corrections received the order to proceed at 12:01 a.m.

At 12:02 a.m., the first of three drugs was administered. The first drug, sodium pentathol, rendered Roll unconscious. His eyelids fluttered several times and he breathed heavily once before his eyes slowly closed.

The next two drugs -- panronium bromide, which stops breathing, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart -- were then administered at one-minute intervals. The attending physician pronounced Roll dead at 12:07 a.m.

At a briefing for media witnesses following the execution, a corrections department spokesman read a handwritten statement from Roll, which Roll prepared just prior to his execution.

"My hope is that all men, and the Nation of Israel should return to their God and that I have found peace in the Messiah Jesus," Roll wrote.

"I failed my family and I want to say to you that this and hating is the worst thing that a man can do, and the only way to peace is through forgiveness.

"As I have stated with great remorse before and now is that I am very sorry for any and every hurt I have caused the Schepers, especially Tammy and Ron, and all others involved and hope and pray that peace will come to them through forgiveness, and may God bless all life in Jesus' name."

Ron Scheper Sr., the ex-husband and father of Roll's victims, another family member and a family friend all witnessed the execution.

Tammy Scheper, to whom Roll also referred in his statement, did not attend. She is the daughter and sister of the victims.

The Scheper family declined to make a statement after the sentence was carried out.

In a statement read by Department of Corrections Director Dora Schiriro, Carnahan extended his sympathy to the Scheper and Roll families. The governor said that after examining the clemency request and the case history, he found no cause for halting the execution.

"I find nothing to justify setting aside the result of the judicial proceedings," Carnahan said. "I reaffirm my solemn oath to uphold the law."

In his final hours, Roll visited with his mother, brother and sister as well as his attorney and spiritual adviser. Of that group, only the spiritual adviser, a nondenominational clergyman whom corrections officials did not identify, witnessed the execution.

His final meal consisted of a T-bone steak, Caesar salad, onion ring and a Diet Coke.

On Aug. 9, 1992, Roll and two accomplices, all intoxicated on alcohol, marijuana and LSD, set out to commit robbery for money and drugs. In the course of the robbery, which netted the assailants $214 and 12 sandwich bags of marijuana, Roll killed Randy, 17, Curtis, 22 and Sherry Scheper, 47, in their home at 31 N. Henderson St.

On Aug. 30, 1993, Roll pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and robbery. Roll, a 1969 graduate of Cape Girardeau Central High School and an honorably discharged Army veteran, had no prior arrests.

His accomplices -- John G. Browne Jr., 29, and David Rhodes, 26 -- are both serving life sentences at the Farmington Correctional Center for their parts in the crime.

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