Thomas Edwin Loden Jr Wiki – Thomas Edwin Loden Jr Biography

Thomas Edwin Loden Jr, a Mississippi man, is to be executed on Wednesday night, December 14, for raping and killing a teenage girl.

The incident took place on June 22, 2000, when Leesa Marie Gray’s car had a flat tire on a country road as she was leaving work after dark. He will now become the second inmate to be executed in Mississippi in 10 years.

He will receive a lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, after being on death row since 2001. The man pleaded guilty to capital murder, rape and four counts of sexual assault.

A federal judge refused to further block the state from carrying out the execution, in a late-night ruling on December 7. There is also a lawsuit pending from Loden and four Mississippi death row inmates over the state’s lethal injection protocol.

“It is not Mr. Loden’s intention at this time to file any legal challenge,” one of Loden’s attorneys told The Associated Press.

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Thomas Edwin Loden Jr Age

The age of Thomas Edwin Loden Jr is 58 years.

Thomas Edwin Loden Jr, Accused of murder and rape of Leesa Marie Gray

Gray, 16, was working as a waitress at her uncle’s restaurant in the northeast region of the state and would soon be starting her senior year of high school, ABC News reports.

After Gray’s vehicle broke down, Loden, a Marine Corps recruiter, noticed her stranded along with her family members on the highway around 10:45 p.m. m. In an interview with investigators, Loden stopped and began to speak to the teen:

“Don’t worry. I am a marine. We do these kinds of things.”

“Loden was discovered lying on the side of a road with the words ‘I’m sorry’ etched on his chest and apparent self-inflicted lacerations to his wrists,” according to court documents on the afternoon of June 23, 2000.

He later confessed to his wrongdoing in September 2001. Loden had told the victim’s friends and family during his sentencing: “I hope they have some sense of justice when they leave here today.”

Wanda Farris, Gray’s mother, refers to her daughter as a “carefree, always smiling” teenager. She wanted to be a teacher one day, “She wasn’t perfect, now mind you. But she tried hard to do the right thing.”

“Clearly something in him broke for him to commit such a horrible crime. Mr. Loden immediately regretted it. Shouldn’t there be room for grace and mercy in a situation like this?” said Mitzi Magleby, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi chapter of Ignite Justice, an organization that advocates for criminal justice reform. Read More